As I peruse Alibaba for all sorts of fun and interesting electric vehicles, I often stumble across seemingly outlandish products that often have a real use case behind them. The best of those make it into the recurring Awesome Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week column, and that’s precisely where this man-carrying drone lands today.

To be fair, I’m not sure the main purpose of this flying EV is to carry people.

They do advertise it with a few images of a person suspended beneath it to show off the drone’s carrying capacity. And at least one of the photos seems like it’s actually non-recreational as the guy appears to be in the process of accessing a communications tower platform.

I guess for those who don’t want to spend half an hour climbing a ladder to change a light bulb or swap a connector, a drone might be a shortcut to some of these difficult access areas. It could also open up the worker pool for that job to not only people with Popeye’s forearms.

But manned work doesn’t seem like the main use case for a heavy-lift drone like this.

Instead, it appears to me that it’s primarily a work drone designed for utility tasks where you’d want to lift a serious amount of weight in tools or supplies.

The stated 200 kg (440 lb) weight-carrying capacity is quite impressive, especially since the unit only weighs 40 kg (88 lb) by itself. But you’ll want that extra lift potential for a number of its other advertised uses, such as a water sprayer for cleaning tasks or a heavy-lift drone for moving supplies in mountainous or otherwise hard-to-reach areas.

Some companies even seem to use them to clean wind turbine blades.

Interestingly, the drone can either run off of its 16 on-board batteries or can be tethered to an electrical cable for continuous flying. For longer duration jobs like window washing, that’s probably the better way to go.

The batteries only offer 20 minutes of flying time, and replacing 16 batteries with freshly charged units would probably take you another 20 minutes on the ground. That limited battery flight time also means that if you are going to use it to carry workers up onto aerial platforms, you better not take the scenic route.

The drone does come with three parachutes that can automatically deploy if it enters free fall, which makes me feel only marginally better about hanging onto that rope ladder and going for a ride.

The factory also advertises that the controls can be run tethered, so you don’t have to use radio frequency in areas where it might be jammed. That has me a bit worried about what other uses they’re envisioning for a heavy-lift drone like this, but I’ll leave that for another day.

With an advertised price of US $5,000, it also seems weirdly affordable. I have no idea what the going rate for a man-lift drone is these days, but I probably would have guessed more than that. You can barely buy an electric motorcycle for that much, and those only move in a single plane.

Of course, the catch is that you have to buy two of them, as that’s the minimum order quantity from the seller. So if you’re crazy enough to strap into one of these things, you better find an equally crazy friend for the second one.

And in case it wasn’t yet clear, please don’t actually try to buy one of these from Alibaba. This column is a tongue-in-cheek exercise in exploring just how amazing and interesting the world’s largest EV provider’s catalog of wacky vehicles has become. But I am certainly not encouraging anyone to run the financial and emotional gauntlet of trying to buy something expensive on Alibaba. I’ve been there and done that, and it’s not for the timid.

China’s first major sodium-ion battery energy storage station is now online, according to state-owned utility China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage.

The Fulin Sodium-ion Battery Energy Storage Station entered operation on May 11 in Nanning, the capital of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in southern China. Its initial storage capacity is said to be 10 megawatt hours (MWh). Once fully developed, the Station is expected to reach a total capacity of 100 MWh.

The state utility says the 10 MWh sodium-ion battery energy storage station uses 210 Ah sodium-ion battery cells that charge to 90% in a mindblowing 12 minutes. The system comprises 22,000 cells.

Once the project reaches 100 MWh, it could release 73,000 MWh of clean energy each year. That’s enough to power 35,000 households and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 50,000 tonnes annually.

In an interview with China Central Television, Gao Like, a manager at the Guangxi branch of China Southern Power Grid, said that the energy conversion efficiency of its sodium-ion battery energy storage system exceeds 92%. It’s comparable to the efficiency of common lithium-ion battery storage systems, at 85-95%.

Chen Man, a senior engineer at China Southern Power Grid, said [via the South China Morning Post] that once sodium-ion battery energy storage enters the stage of large-scale development, its cost can be reduced by 20-30%. He continued:

This can be achieved through further improvements in the sodium-ion battery structure, manufacturing process, material utilization, and cycle life, thus lowering the energy storage cost per kilowatt-hour of electricity.

Large-scale sodium-ion batteries are gaining momentum due to their lower cost and abundance of raw materials compared to lithium-ion batteries. The challenges with sodium-ion batteries have been lower energy density and shorter lifespans that can limit efficiency and long-term performance in large-scale applications.

Read more: A new sodium-ion battery breakthrough means they may one day power EVs

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If you’ve been eyeing a new Rivian R1T, now may be the time to start shopping. Rivian is offering R1T lease rates as low as $559 per month, which is even cheaper than the Nissan Titan.

After introducing leasing for the R1T last November, Rivian is already offering some massive savings opportunities.

Rivian is offering R1T lease configurations for as low as $559 per month. That’s for a new 2024 Rivian R1T Standard Adventure Package and includes $7,500 in lease cash.

The offer is for a 36-month lease with 30,000 total miles with $7,454 due at signing. That amounts to $766 per month. Total vehicle pricing totals $71,700, including Dual Motor AWD, 21″ Wheels, LA Silver Paint, Black Mountain interior, and a $1,800 destination fee.

Although the Nissan Titan’s MSRP is about $24,000 cheaper, the Rivian R1T is still the better lease deal.

Nissan has the 2024 Titan listed at $659 for 36 months. That’s with $5,949 due at signing, according to online research firm CarsDirect. The offer is based on an MSRP of $52,380 for the SV 4×2 Crew Cab model and 10,000 miles a year, which amounts to $824 a month.

Rivian R1T is not the only EV lease getting cheaper

The difference maker is the incentives. We’ve seen it with other models like the Hyundai IONIQ6/5 and Kona Electric.

Kia is also offering up to $12,000 off 2024 EV6 and EV9 models with massive stackable incentives.

GM cut prices on its Blazer EV, while deliveries of the new Equinox EV are now underway. The Equinox EV (2LT) currently starts at $43,295, but the $34,995 (1LT) version will be available later this year. With the $7,500 credit, the Equinox EV can be bought for as little as $35,795.

Rival Ford also slashed prices on the Mach-E by 17% earlier this year, driving triple-digit volume growth. Meanwhile, Ford has introduced several incentives for the F-150 Lightning as it looks to keep its title of top-selling EV pickup in the US.

With up to 410 miles range, an 83.9″ long extendable tailgate, up to 11,000 lbs towing, and a 0 to 60 mph sprint in 3 seconds, the R1T is built to upgrade your next adventure.

Rivian added R1S leasing options in January. The Rivian R1S can be leased for as little as $639 per month. That’s also for 36 months (30,000 miles total), with $8,534 due at signing.

Rivian’s R1S electric SUV was the seventh best-selling EV in the US last year, topping the Ford F-150 Lightning and Tesla Model X, as demand for large electric SUVs continues to grow.

If you’re ready to see what Rivian has to offer at some of the lowest prices so far, we can help you get started. You can use our links below to view deals on the Rivian R1S and R1T in your area.