Why Is There So Much Tribalism In Alternative Fuels? There Are 39 Trillion Reasons (Part 2 Of 2)
In the first half of this pair of articles on the challenges of internecine squabbling among those focused on replacing fossil fuels, I covered the $39 trillion worth of reasons why the fossil fuel industry is trying incredibly hard to pretend that it has a future as an energy delivery industry, why electrification is the answer to almost everything, and why biofuels are the answers to what electricity can’t do.
Now it’s time for hydrogen and synthetic fuels.
Hydrogen
Next we have hydrogen. Hydrogen is indeed the most abundant element in the universe, however, the thing that isn’t said clearly is that it’s tightly chemically bound to other things, and doesn’t float around freely in a harvestable form. And it does indeed have a high energy density by mass, but unfortunately it has a terrible energy density by volume, which more than counterbalances the mass side of the equation. We have to get it from fossil fuels, which are, after all, hydrocarbons, or from water, which is two hydrogens and an oxygen. Both of those things require a lot of energy, and there are a bunch of negative externalities for several of the processes.
First off, there’s black, gray, and blue hydrogen. About 99% of all hydrogen created and used today comes from fossil fuels, and it’s black. Making hydrogen from natural gas produces 10x the mass of CO2 as of produced hydrogen. Making hydrogen from coal produces 20–35x the mass of CO2 as of hydrogen. End to end, because of process efficiencies, methane leakage, and the like, more greenhouse gases are created for the energy in hydrogen than if we just used the fossil fuels directly.
The false promise of blue hydrogen is that all of those negative externalities will be centralized into a gas reformation or coal gasification facility, where the CO2 can be captured as it is emitted, and the chemical and particulate pollution can be scrubbed sufficiently from the effluents. The $39 trillion in profits fossil fuel industry really, really loves this, because it means that they can keep an enormous amount of their revenue and profits, as long as someone else pays for the capture and sequestration of the CO2 and other pollutants. As a result, there’s an awful lot of fossil fuel money and lobbying pushing hard for a hydrogen economy.
And as stated, carbon capture and sequestration is a money pit of extremely limited value. 50 years of investment in CCS has resulted in the biggest CCS ‘wins’ pumping CO2 out of the ground in one place and pumping it back into the ground in another, typically with lots of government money, and almost entirely for enhanced oil recovery, which produces more CO2 than was sequestered. The total scale of all carbon capture and use globally is five to seven orders of magnitude off the scale of our CO2 emissions problem. Making hydrogen from fossil fuels just makes the CO2 emissions higher, and the scale problem just gets worse. You can understand why the fossil fuel industry doesn’t like that part of the story being told.
The second form of hydrogen is green hydrogen. In this pathway, renewable electricity is used to electrolyze water into hydrogen and oxygen, putting energy in to break the chemical bonds and get hydrogen out. Then the hydrogen can be compressed to ten thousand pounds per square inch to get it down to a usable volume, or chilled to 24 degrees above absolute zero to turn it into a somewhat manageable liquid.
Hydrogen burns fairly cleanly, combusting with oxygen to make water again. However, burning hydrogen creates the nitrous oxides mentioned above, as burning anything in our atmosphere does. That’s because nitrogen is 78% of the atmosphere and oxygen is 21%. Burning anything releases heat and causes the nitrogen and oxygen from the air to combine in various ways, with the associated negative externalities of smog-precursors and high global warming potential gases.
Hydrogen fuel cells are like electrolyzers run in reverse. Instead of burning hydrogen, you run it through the cell, recombine it with oxygen and get some energy and waste heat from the process, but without nitrous oxides, which is nice.
The problem with green hydrogen is that it’s both inefficient and ineffective. Creating hydrogen from water loses at minimum 20% of the energy required for the process. Compressing and/or chilling it loses more. Transporting it is inefficient, with piping it, for example, taking three times the energy as for natural gas. When it’s burned, it’s like fossil fuels in that we get relatively low grade heat back, which means waste heat and entropy. Burning it for heat produces nitrous oxides still, and unless you directly need heat, converting it to electricity has a bunch of losses. Hydrogen fuel cells produce waste heat and at best are 60% efficient at getting the remaining energy out.
Hydrogen has some other problems for distribution. It embrittles harder steels, so a lot of existing pipelines and pumps can’t be reused and would have to be replaced at great expense. And electronics don’t like hydrogen much, so in many places the electronics for monitoring and controlling distribution have to be replaced too. And for use, hydrogen doesn’t directly replace natural gas in appliances, so brand new appliances — which don’t exist as manufactured commodity items today, by the way — must be purchased and installed.
Electricity turns into heat or mechanical energy for motion very efficiently. But the same ‘energy’ of heat, unless it’s extremely hot, doesn’t turn into mechanical energy efficiently. The technical term is exergy, which is the percentage of the energy in something which can actually be usefully used. Low grade heat has poor exergy, while electricity has high exergy.
Electrification types, like me, point out that all of that inefficiency and ineffectiveness is avoided by using the electricity from renewables more directly. Tie things to the grid wherever that’s possible — and there close to 100,000 kilometers of electrified rail in the world, for example — and use batteries which are 80%+ efficient and very easy to charge from ubiquitous wires we already have in place. Use electric heat pumps and induction stove tops and electric arc furnaces for all the things we need heat from.
What this comes down to is that hydrogen isn’t fit for purpose directly for virtually any transportation form, to burn for heat of any quality, or for grid storage of electricity. Its inefficiencies and effectiveness challenges compared to electrification or biofuels mean that it’s unlikely to be used directly.
That’s okay, by the way, because we need green hydrogen for fertilizer and other chemical processes. But using it for heat, storage, or transportation makes no sense.
And here’s another source of confusion and contention. Green hydrogen is being deployed as a bait and switch for blue hydrogen. The fossil fuel industry is telling everyone who will listen, and politicians who are often happy to take their money, that if we just use black hydrogen for heating and transportation now, they’ll make it blue soon with a lot of taxpayer money, and then eventually we can have green hydrogen economy.
It’s a massive delaying tactic and governmental money grab by the fossil fuel industry.
Of course, there are the other people, the ones who read Rifkin’s Hydrogen Economy in 2000 or so, and never did the math. There are a lot of people heavily intellectually and fiscally invested in the hydrogen economy, and they spend a lot of time advocating for hydrogen pathways instead of direct electrification. The side that does electrolyzers have a good value proposition and should be listened to. The side that does fuel cells, not so much. They all want a piece of that $39 trillion, after all.
And there are countries and industrial giants that perversely love hydrogen for transportation, causing confusion. Some now very old men in Japan’s government and Toyota got together in the 1990s and decided that hydrogen was the answer, and 30 years later they have to die off before new blood can change to electrification without causing them to lose face. Germany’s chemical industry loves hydrogen, and they have salt caverns, and as a result they have a dream of dunkelflaute storage of hydrogen in the caverns, and the odd distinction of being the only country in the world where it’s possible to conveniently own and drive a hydrogen fuel cell car anywhere in the country because they have hydrogen stations all over the place. That filling network was naturally heavily subsidized by the German government, and is barely used. Hyundai has managed to capture some Korean governmental officials and is trying to recreate the Japanese debacle, as well as in smaller scale it’s national nuclear debacle.
Lots of fossil fuel money, investor’s money, and fan bois are spending a lot of time and energy promoting hydrogen for things it’s not useful for. And governments are getting sucked in by the massive fossil fuel lobbying effort, hence a bunch of the contention.
Synthetic Fuels
Finally, we have synthetic fuels. In the best case scenario, these fuels take CO2 from waste emissions and hydrogen from electrolysis of water and combine them into hydrocarbon fuels. It’s entirely chemically possible, and has been done, to make gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.
Synthetic fuels have pretty much the same negative externalities as biofuels.
- CO2 (a lot less, but still present)
- nitrous oxide (N20) with a global warming potential 265x that of CO2
- nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which is a chemical precursor to smog
- particulate matter
- unburned hydrocarbons aka black carbon with global warming potentials thousands of times that of CO2, but typically less than bunker fuel
However, the kicker with synthetic fuels is that everything I wrote about the inefficiencies of hydrogen as a fuel apply doubly to synthetic fuels. After all the trouble of making it, compressing or chilling it, storing it, and possibly shipping it, then you have to use another lossy process to combine it with CO2 (which is also high energy to produce), and typically more processes to get it into a final usable form. By the time you get to the end of the process, the energy is like cocaine you buy from some guy on a street corner, stepped on so many times that you get barely any of the original substance.
What synthetic fuels have going for them is that they can be a bit cleaner than biofuels because there’s none of that messy biology and its convoluted organic chemicals in there, and like biofuels and fossil fuels, you can carry it in buckets, pipe it, and store it. The end result is effective, but deeply inefficient, and inefficiencies means that it will always be a lot more expensive.
But the final problem is when you use the synthetic fuel. Typically, they are burned, replacing gasoline, diesel, bunker fuel or kerosene in places where fossil fuels are used now. And that very expensive synthetic fuel’s remaining energy mostly turns into waste heat, with 15–20% efficiencies in cars, and better in bigger engines, but still below 50%. All that energy to make the synthetic fuels, and then you throw most of it away. This is just like fossil fuels, but since almost all the energy to make them was done millions of years ago by biological and geological processes, we haven’t cared. But when we make our own fuels from scratch, economics makes us care a lot.
Advocates of electrification point out that avoiding all of that hassle makes a lot more sense. Advocates of biofuels point out that biofuels are a lot cheaper, use a lot less energy to make, and have virtually the same advantages as synthetic fuels, and remember all the people advocating for biofuels.
Fossil fuel companies get in the mix too. They love synthetic fuels because they perpetuate things which burn fossil fuels, and they know that no one will ever pay for synthetic fuels when they can buy fossil fuels vastly more cheaply. Lots of baiting and switching, lots of ‘blended’ fuels with subsets of synthetic fuels mixed with fossil fuels, lots of lobbying.
This doesn’t mean we won’t make synthetic hydrocarbons, but they won’t be put in engines and burned for the most part. Power-to-X (P2X) will be for many industrial feedstocks, but power-to-fuel will be supplemental to biofuels.
So that’s the reason why there’s all this tribalism in alternative fuels. There’s a $39 trillion in annual profits in the industry up for grabs. The current players in the industry want to keep it all, and want to create as much confusion about alternatives as possible, and want to ensure that alternatives chosen can also use their products.
Other people, who actually want to solve the negative externalities problem and avert horrific outcomes from global warming, are fighting to be heard above the millions and billions of PR and lobbying.
In the end, the laws of thermodynamics will win. Hype doesn’t stand a chance against reality in the long term. But it’s an uphill battle, because the vast majority of people involved in the debate don’t understand or accept the laws of thermodynamics, but live on hope instead.
Here are some of my publications and podcasts where the subject is dissected in detail:
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The 2025 Can-Am Origin electric motorcycle is the pinnacle of fun, just as long as your good time can fit into 69 miles of riding between charges. What it lacks in long-distance range, it makes up for in versatility, rugged style, and instant torque that’s ready for the road and trail. Each twist of the throttle delivers immediate electric propulsion. Its futuristic design and stealthy motor hum make the Origin a dual-sport machine pulled from tomorrow that wonderfully celebrates Can-Am’s two-wheeled heritage of decades past. I also spent some time on the road with the more approachable Can-Am Pulse, a standard street bike with a slight range advantage.
Can-Am style and comfort through technology
The Can-Am Origin is unlike any electric motorbike that has entered my garage. Its tall stance, 21-inch front and 18-inch rear wheels, and high ground clearance practically beg to be taken off your routine street routes. Can-Am simultaneously delivers an infotainment system on a dual-sport bike that, respectfully, makes much more expensive electric motorcycles look like tech dinosaurs in comparison.
The Origin’s dashboard has specs that every electric motorcycle company should copy. Equipping this system to an electric dual-sport feels like a total luxury. The Origin features a giant 10.25-inch color touchscreen with BRP Connect and a clean user interface that automatically switches between light and dark mode and adjusts brightness. In addition to a digital speedometer, you can quickly switch between ride modes, view battery status, check estimated range, and more.
Ride modes include Normal, Sport, Rain, Eco, two different Off-Road modes. You can toggle traction control and fine-tune front and rear regenerative braking independently, each with Off, Mid, and Max settings. Controls are accessible via the touchscreen when parked or through handlebar-mounted thumb controls while riding.
The UI adapts to show either large gauges or a split between speedometer and infotainment applets. Bluetooth connects the bike and your phone, and Can-Am has included built-in wifi for over-the-air software updates. These are the kinds of features you’d expect on a premium electric motorcycle in 2025, but they’re not guaranteed.
For iPhone users, there’s Apple CarPlay integration. Two caveats: first, the system uses USB-A instead of USB-C, so newer iPhones will require an adapter or a USB-A to USB-C cable that supports data, not just charging. Second, it only supports wired CarPlay, not wireless, despite the bike having both wifi and Bluetooth radios onboard.
Those two complaints aside, the CarPlay integration is next-level. The touchscreen is responsive when parked, and everything remains fully controllable through the handlebar controls while riding. Access to apps like Maps, Music, Messages, and Phone while on the move is a real convenience. There are also motorcycle- and EV-specific apps with CarPlay are right at home on the Can-Am system.
There are no built-in speakers, so Can-Am relies on Bluetooth audio outputs. The setup is clever, supporting two output channels: one for the rider and one for the passenger helmet comms systems. I experimented by tossing a Bluetooth speaker onto the handlebars and was surprised to find it worked well in sub 50 mph environments as an open-air audio solution.
My only real hardware gripe on a bike that otherwise outshines much of its competition is the lack of self-canceling turn signals. Not every bike has them, but every bike that lacks them is missing out. There’s nothing less cool than riding around with your blinker still flashing. Fortunately, the dash clearly displays active signals. Still, I initially thought the right indicator light on the dash wasn’t working until I realized a single cable runs directly in front of it from my seated position. It’s a small, oddly specific problem that may be specific to my loaner bike, but I can’t quite position the cable differently.
Overall, I give the look and tech a 9.75 out of 10 for delivering both style and features that I actually want and use.
How the Origin feels to ride
At 5’10” with a 30-inch inseam, I find the Origin’s seat height tall yet correct for a dual-sport bike. Throwing a leg over feels a bit like saddling up on a horse, and once I’m on, it’s immediately comfortable. I can straddle the bike confidently, with my left foot planted on the ground and the other hovering around the rear brake. Any taller, and it might feel like a stretch; any shorter, and the ride position wouldn’t feel as commanding. The elevated stance provides a clear, confident view of the road or trail ahead, and the headlight system works adequately. It sets the Origin apart from the lower, more compact feel of traditional street bikes.
With this bike, Can-Am delivers an awesome mix of rugged reality and futuristic aesthetic. The Origin’s angular black-and-white bodywork and tall riding position regularly invokes the feeling of a stormtrooper hovering through the moon forest of Endor on a speeder bike. That particular vibe is especially strong at speed, where the elevated stance and electric torque make it feel like you’re gliding just above the terrain. At lower speeds, the illusion shifts. The stealthy motor hum fades behind the subtle roll of tires on pavement, creating a sensation much like quietly cruising up on a skateboard. It’s stealthy, smooth, and serene.
In terms of performance, the Origin tops out at 79 mph for me, providing plenty of speed for highway rides. Can-Am rates the 0-60 mph acceleration at 4.3 seconds, but frankly this bike feels like it might toss you overboard if you push it that quickly. Can-Am estimates range of up to 90 city miles and 71 mixed environment miles. On one test ride, I ran the battery from 100 percent to 1 percent over the course of 2.3 hours, covering 58.7 miles at an average speed of 24 mph, according to the bike stats.
According to my stats, it was many more hours of fun in the sun with a break for lunch at the park by the water in between riding sessions. That ride was done entirely in Sport mode with regenerative braking turned off, and it returned an average energy consumption of 9 miles per kilowatt-hour. It’s a solid showing for an electric dual-sport, especially considering the aggressive mode and lack of regen for the most reactive and relaxed ride.
Sometimes I love the feel of regenerative braking on electric cars and motorcycles. It can add to the feeling of responsiveness. I found regen on this bike to feel a bit more tight and underpowered for my liking, but it’s there as an option for extending range. With regen turned off entirely, the Origin felt significantly more loose and natural to ride. On the Origin I consistently opted to leave both front and rear regen off. We’ll see how the Pulse feels when I test that model next.
I must have logged over 500 miles across four weeks with the Origin. The lasting impression is that when you gain muscle memory for how the bike responds to throttle spin and body movement, riding the Can-Am Origin feels like playing an amplified electric guitar. Every incremental finger and palm positioning has a result, and when you find your rhythm, suddenly you’re creating music.
The other piece of the Can-Am Origin experience that I didn’t anticipate is the conversational aspect. Electric vehicles are still novel to many, and electric motorcycles are an absolute enigma to most. “Can it get wet?” is still the classic question that many ask. But from day one to day 28 of test riding the Can-Am Origin, it was the brand itself that got people asking me about the bike.
My takeaway is that people have a real affinity for the Can-Am brand as well as a nostalgia for the days of two-wheeled Can-Am motorbikes. When they learn that Can-Am is back on two wheels in the form of a bad-ass looking electric dual-sport motorcycle, people react like they just met a the much younger version of a celebrity in their home town. It’s a fun thing to experience.
Can-Am has earned its place as an electric motorcycle brand to consider
The Can-Am Origin is an incredibly thoughtful and fun take on what an electric dual-sport can be. It pairs rugged styling with a high-tech, feature-rich interface, offers plenty of real-world performance, and never stops turning heads while doing it without trying. From its futuristic design and surprisingly refined touchscreen to the tall, confident riding position and intuitive handling, the Origin is a complete package, so long as your expectations around electric motorcycle range are in check.
Priced starting at $14,999, the Origin slots in competitively against other premium electric motorcycles, though it leans more toward adventure and off-road versatility than urban street performance. It doesn’t quite reach the power or fast-charging capability of more premium priced machines, yet it undercuts in price and adds very useful touches like Apple CarPlay, OTA updates, and dual regen tuning.
If money were no object, I’d gladly keep one in the garage. It’s just flat-out fun to ride. From quick errands and joyrides to weekend backroad escapes, the Origin is a thrill machine that leaves you smiling between rides. Can-Am has a huge selection of first-party accessories to customize your bike as well. This configuration above makes me drool.
Range will be the limiter on machines like this for a while, and while around 70 miles between charges is enough for plenty of use cases, it still has to be a part of the conversation when talking recommendations. But here’s the thing: despite that limitation, electric motorcycles are a ton of fun right now. And if you’ve got either a high pain tolerance for early adoption or healthy access to good charging infrastructure, you can absolutely push them further.
The Origin is compatible with both Level 1 (standard wall outlet) and Level 2 (240V) charging, but not Level 3 DC fast charging. Can-Am rates Level 2 charging at 0 to 80% in 1.5 hours and 0 to 100% in 3.5 hours. In practice, that translates to plugging in and waiting a few hours between fun sessions. For some riders, that’s no big deal, especially if spending time at your destination is part of the trip.
I certainly don’t live along the great electric freeway of California, but my coastal stretch of highway in South Mississippi is populated with electric charging stops.
In my testing, I used the Can-Am Origin for a roundtrip airport commute from home in Ocean Springs, MS to Gulfport, MS, and back. The airport was outside of the travel-there-and-back-without-charging range, but free charging infrastructure at the airport parking garage made it no problem. I rode there, parked, charged during my trip, and returned from the other side of the country to a full battery. So yes, it’s capable of handling local duties. But if long range is central to your riding lifestyle, it’s something to plan around. I think lower speeds and paid charging solutions along the way would allow me to reach New Orleans and return home, but I haven’t set out on that path with this bike.
The Origin isn’t perfect, but it’s arguably best in its category, well-executed, and just damn cool to experience. Can-Am absolutely executed on creating a great electric motorcycle experience despite not being solely focused on EVs or two-wheeled machines.
Can-Am Pulse experience
After 600+ miles on the Can-Am Origin, I had the chance to put some miles on a 2025 Can-Am Pulse electric motorcycle. My key takeaways? Both are excellent electric motorcycles with equally great CarPlay integration. The Pulse is more approachable with a low riding position and slightly more range. The larger storage capacity is also appreciated compared to the somewhat tight space on the Origin.
If I were choosing which to purchase without extensive riding experience, the Can-Am Pulse is absolutely the bike I would gravitate toward. It’s just a great standard street bike with awesome technology at a competitive price.
Above is a look at the redesigned CarPlay experience coming in September 2025 to iPhone in iOS 26, as seen on the Can-Am Pulse display. The new design flexibility makes CarPlay look more at home next to Can-Am’s UI that always appears on a third of the display. Since Can-Am supports CarPlay, the infotainment system will receive free upgrades as Apple enhances the iPhone-powered feature.
Can-Am also supports free over-the-air software updates to the bike itself. Updates are downloaded over wifi and installed using the built-in system on the bike. No visits to the dealership or firmware updates over USB drives required.
Here’s how both bikes compare on paper:
| Feature | Can‑Am Origin | Can‑Am Pulse |
|---|---|---|
| Starting MSRP | $14,499 | $13,999 |
| 0–60 mph | 4.3 sec | 3.8 sec |
| City range | 90 miles | 100 miles |
| Combined range (WMTC) | 71 miles | 80 miles |
| Charging (20→80 %) | 50 min (Level 2) | 50 min (Level 2) |
| Peak power | 47 hp (35 kW) | 47 hp (35 kW) |
| Continuous power | 27 hp (20 kW) | 27 hp (20 kW) |
| Torque | 53 lb‑ft (72 Nm) | 53 lb‑ft (72 Nm) |
| Dry weight | 412 lb (187 kg) | 390 lb (177 kg) |
| Seat height | 34 in (865 mm) | 30.86 in (784 mm) |
| Suspension travel | Front/rear 10 in (255 mm) | Front/rear 5.5 in (140 mm) |
| Drive modes | 6 modes (Normal, ECO, Rain, Sport, Off‑Road, Off‑Road+) | 4 modes (Normal, ECO, Rain, Sport+) |
Find more about Can-Am Origin and Pulse electric motorcycles here.
Electrek’s Take
I still think the Can-Am Pulse is the easier recommendation for most people, and you can kit it out as much as the Origin. Yet after around a month with each bike, I can’t help but think more about the Pulse. Can-Am really built a fun machine with that bike, especially with its commanding riding position and rugged style.
I would love to see a version with Level 3 charging speeds and greater range to expand the road trip potential, but both machines are super if your commute or leisure route works with the specs.
For now, Can-Am has delivered more than any other electric motorcycle maker when it comes to a giant display with CarPlay integration, attention-grabbing style, and options for two different riding preferences.
Want to learn more about the world of electric motorcycles and other two-wheeled EVs? Catch up on expert Micah Toll’s constant coverage, and subscribe to Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast for weekly updates.
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There’s something about the joy of playing around with Tonka trucks in a sandbox that men really never grow out of. Sure, we grow up, get real jobs, and most of us never take the toys back out of the dusty, long-forgotten box. But the desire is still there. And if you gave just about any former boy and reluctant adult the option, I’d be dollars to donuts they’d gladly play around with the life-sized version of their childhood construction toys in a heartbeat.
If that sounds like fun, then I’ve got good news for you. I just found the coolest grown-up toy construction vehicle and it’s unlike anything you’ve seen before. I’d argue that it slots in nicely as a perfect example of some of the coolest and weirdest things you can find from China’s endless supply of innovative EVs. So, for your viewing pleasure, I submit this week’s Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week: the Octo-dumper!
I really don’t know how to describe this vehicle. I’ve been at a loss for words before in this column, but at least there’s usually a general class of vehicle that these things fit into.
In this case, I’m hesitant to call it a dump truck – partly because it appears to be all dump and no truck.
It’s remote-controlled, so you could call it an RC vehicle, but the fact that I’ve seen cars smaller than this rig makes me hesitant to lump it in with the remote-controlled toys.
Then there’s the 8×8 setup here. The last time I saw an eight-wheeled vehicle like this was, ironically, it was a mobile crane that was unloading one of my containers full of fun Alibaba construction equipment. Wow, I didn’t expect to come full circle there so quickly.
But despite being unable to quite classify this dumper, I still love everything about it, and I kind of want one.
Measuring around six feet long (197 cm), it seems capable of carrying a fairly large load. They rate it for 2,200 lb (1,000 kg) of cargo, and it looks every bit ready for it.
The top speed of 9 mph (15 km/h) might not hold up when fully laden, but this isn’t exactly a vehicle built for speed. Or comfort, for that matter. It’s built for by-god gettin’ stuff done! And with a claimed 5.4 kWh of battery capacity, it’s going to be quietly hauling your junk around for a good long time before it needs a recharge.
The cargo bed appears to have the classic pickup truck tailgate in the rear, though it also adds a pair of side gates like an old Corvair 95 Rampside pickup, except that the side gates run the full length. Finally, the front also has a tailgate–err, frontgate? Basically, it’s gates all around to turn this thing into a rolling flatbed capable of carrying just about any oversized junk you can think of!
Just don’t start tipping it up while you’ve got all those gates down or you might lose your load. That’s right, don’t forget that this is also a dumper! Not just a transporter around a job site, you can unload your dirt, mulch, gravel, friends, or whatever you carry in here with the push of a button.
Now I’m not exactly sure what I’d do with one of these if I owned one, but I’m sure I could find plenty of uses. You never realize what you can do with an octo-dumper until you own one, and then it’s suddenly like, “How did I ever manage without this thing!?”
Now it will set you back more than a Tonka truck. But I’d argue that the sticker price of $2,482 is a small price to pay in order to have the coolest vehicle in the neighborhood! Just try not to think yet about the thousands and thousands of dollars in fees, import charges, shipping, and other expenses of actually receiving one of these in the West. Instead, think of the fun hayrides you could give the neighborhood kids, at least assuming their parents signed the extensive liability waiver that this thing would probably require.
Speaking of liability though, before any of you get the bright idea to try one of these, please be warned that I’m telling you that’s a bad idea. As I always try to remind my readers during these fun tongue-in-cheek Alibaba articles: don’t actually try to buy one of these things. Seriously. These wild-looking Chinese EVs may be fun to look at, but this is just a lighthearted weekend column where I dig through Alibaba’s bizarre and fascinating collection of electric vehicles. While I’ve had a few successful (and fun) purchases from the site, I’ve also been burned more than once – so it’s definitely not for the faint of heart or anyone on a tight budget.
That’s not to say some brave (or stubborn) readers haven’t taken the plunge anyway, ignoring my caution and venturing into the unknown. But please don’t be the one who gambles and ends up with empty hands and a lighter wallet. Consider this your official heads-up – I’ve warned you!
For now, let’s enjoy how awesome it is that something like this octo-dumper exists, and leave it at that. Until next time, and until the next weird Alibaba EV, this is Micah signing off.
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Italian electric motorcycle manufacturer Energica has just been handed a lifeline. Previously owned by US company Ideanomics, the famed motorcycle brand entered insolvency late last year after a period of financial duress prevented it from making payroll and continuing production.
Now, a new group of investors from Singapore has stepped in to take over.
The news was shared on Energica’s YouTube channel, and the company confirmed on LinkedIn that “The judicial process undergoing the sale of Energica has received an offer with a significant deposit from investors based in Singapore.” Energica says that the investors, who so far remain unnamed, “are enthusiasts that believe in, and share the common values of Energica.”
While it’s not certain how the buyout and revival will unfold, it appears that Energica is planning on getting the band back together. “If the process comes through successfully,” the company explained, “the same team behind Energica will be entrusted to run the operations, and we will continue creating cutting-edge technologies for our customers.”
With many of Energica’s impressive electric motorcycles already in circulation from years of sales leading up to the 2024 bankruptcy, the company seems focused on starting by supporting those riders. ” Our first order of business is to support the customers and community. The judicial process will be completed in 60 days, and we will continue to share updates during the time.”
Energica rose to fame by building high-performance electric motorcycles in Modena, Italy, and was one of the early pioneers in the premium electric two-wheeler space. Its lineup includes models like the Experia electric touring bike and the Ego sportbike. The company previously supplied race bikes for the MotoE World Cup until Ducati took over the role in 2023.
After being acquired by US-based Ideanomics in 2021, Energica initially benefited from an injection of capital that helped expand production and dealer networks. But Ideanomics itself has faced serious financial trouble, becoming unable to invest in the future of Energica.
Energica’s future prospects seemed dim at the time of its insolvency in 2024, but the uncertainty appears to be clearing with the hope that new owners can breathe fresh life into the company.
Even so, Energica’s core competency is building the fastest, most powerful, and longest range production electric motorcycles the world has ever seen, and that’s not exactly an inexpensive enterprise. Combined with current market trends that favor smaller, lighter, and less expensive commuter-spec electric motorcycles, it begs the question of whether or not a newly revived Energica will find a receptive market, or whether the company will be forced to expand the scope of its products to match better the type of electric motorcycles that are selling today.
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Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
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Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
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