The coolest e-bikes, e-scooters, electric micro-cars, and more that we saw at Micromobility America
Micromobility America returned to the San Francisco Bay Area earlier this month to showcase the latest micromobility products, highlight new releases, offer test rides, hear from insightful company leaders and politicians, and basically nerd out about electric mobility.
From new e-bikes and e-scooters to innovative electric roller skates and even electric micro-cars, there was a bit of everything under the sun.
And with a combination of company meet and greets, test rides, and speakers, the event had a wide range of engaging activities for anyone interested in the latest forms of micromobility and the policies that surround those devices and companies.
The event included some of the most interesting, innovative, and eye-catching mobility products out there, and I was on-site to take it all in over two days.
Here’s a collection of some of the coolest stuff I saw, listed in alphabetical order to avoid choosing favorites. (That’d be like asking who your favorite child is!)
Apollo Scooters
The team from Apollo was on site to show off their latest innovative electric scooters, including their newest models of the Apollo City and the Apollo Pro. Both of these scooters employ more of a ground-up design than we’ve seen from most electric scooter companies.
Instead of throwing together a bunch of à la carte parts, Apollo designs its scooters itself, ensuring they not only have the most unique e-scooters out there but that they also address the ever-growing mass of community feedback they receive from their tens of thousands of electric scooter customers.
I made sure to take a spin on the Apollo City Pro, having previously reviewed the slightly lower spec Apollo City. Both are fast and comfortable e-scooters that employ the company’s variable regenerative braking, meaning you can basically forgo touching the mechanical brakes entirely, instead relying on the motor’s regenerative braking to slow and stop the scooter. The Apollo Pro’s fancy features like wireless phone charging and surround lighting make it a standout in the industry — even before you consider the 43 mph (70 km/h) top speed!
Artful Design Group’s Airglide electric scooter
I’ve seen a lot of different types of micromobility products but never anything quite like this. While still a prototype, the Airglide electric cargo scooter was on site to show off what could be possible with a seated cargo e-scooter.
In addition to offering plenty of space for cargo in the front bucket, the scooter is designed with a saddle for comfortable seated riding and even collapses down into a cart that can be wheeled around through a grocery store to do your shopping.
Don’t expect to find this one in stores this year, but the future could see big things for a small-yet-mighty folding e-scooter like this.
Aventura X electric scooter
Vespa vibes without the Vespa price! The Aventura X electric scooter has all of the old-timey charms of a classic Piaggio-style scooter, yet with a $3,300 price tag that is around half the cost of a Vespa Elettrica electric scooter.
I had the chance to test ride one, which you can see in my video from the event above.
The scooter isn’t the fastest out there, maxing out at just 30 mph (48 km/h). But it’s a fun, smooth, and easy-to-manage ride that will have you enjoying the slower pace of life.
It’s just so much fun that you’re not thinking “I wish this thing went faster.” Instead, you’re mostly wishing you had a beautiful girl on back en route to a picnic in the Italian countryside.
I’m not sure it will rival a CSC Monterey, but it gets close.
Bo electric scooter
Bo’s electric scooter looks like the designers threw out the conventional Chinese electric scooter that everyone seems to build these days and, instead, drew up their own idea of how e-scooters should be built.
The head tube is basically as tall as the stem, giving them a much wider spacing between steering bearings and resulting in a much stiffer and safer-feeling scooter.
The body panels give it a sleeker appearance too, making it look as good as it feels.
Big props to the designers on this one!
Boaz Bikes
I had a blast meeting the team behind Boaz Bikes, and it was quite obvious that their passion for their product and service really shines through.
The takeaway message that they kept coming back to was safety. They operate as a rental service, but they also sell their micromobility vehicles to people that enjoy the unique form factor and want to own instead of rent.
Despite the name, these “bikes” are actually scooters. They have a low seating position that allows riders to feel stable, with a low center of gravity, and easily put both feet on the ground if they need to quickly regain their balance.
With suspension, baskets, lights, fenders, and disc brakes, the little scooters have basically everything a rider needs in a small utility scooter. Plus, the max speed of 30 mph on the private version makes these a fast urban vehicle that can easily replace a car.
I didn’t get a chance to hop on one of these at the show, and now I regret it. They look so awesome – I really need to try one out. Maybe I’ll get lucky after they read this, and they’ll want me to do a review on it in Florida. Fingers crossed!
Eli electric micro car
The Eli electric micro isn’t a car at all, but rather is listed as a quadricycle where it is already sold in Europe.
That puts it in a class of vehicles that fall somewhere between motorcycles and cars, enjoying the more lax regulatory environment of the former and the enclosed weather protection of the latter.
In the case of the Eli, it drives around at a max speed of around 25 mph (40 km/h) and offers a carlike interior, complete with a micro-trunk in the back for a couple of backpacks or other small cargo.
The Eli was definitely one of the largest electric vehicles at Micromobility America, but it was still quite small compared to real cars.
Interestingly, the glass doors give it a larger interior feeling than it deserves, making the cramped interior feel much roomier.
I had the chance to give one of the first Eli vehicles a quick test drive last year in Milan, which you can see in my brief video below.
Escend Blades electric roller skates
These Escend Blades are absolutely wild and push the lower end of the micromobility size spectrum even further.
The concept is simple. They’re like roller skates – but electric. That’s it. Small, light, effective.
They use electric skateboard parts, including an e-skate controller to wirelessly communicate with the skates. That gives riders a thumb-controlled throttle and brake dial in their hand, without requiring a tether or wired connection.
It seems like there are dedicated boot versions and also naked skate platforms like those old-school roller skates that strapped onto kids’ shoes from the 1950s.
Faction’s driverless Arcimoto
Faction was at Micromobility America with its driverless Arcimoto designed as an autonomous delivery vehicle.
It’s pretty trippy to look inside and realize that both seats have been replaced by a giant, open area for cargo and goods.
The Arcimoto FUV platform is already quite striking, but a robotic version is straight-up SciFi if you ask me.
More “normal” Arcimoto FUVs were also at the show, including one that the company let me borrow for a couple of days to use as my wheels while I was in San Francisco. Flying over the bridges at 80+ mph and getting looks from drivers around me was definitely a highlight of the trip, but I’ll have more on my few days of driving an Arcimoto FUV soon.
Hunter Boards
South American electric skateboard startup Hunter Boards showed off its latest highly-engineered electric skateboard at Micromobility America.
The board uses what appears to be a modified double wishbone suspension system that is more at home on large four-wheeled vehicles than skateboards.
It looks like a mechanical engineering student’s dream and gives the boards a futuristic yet still mechanical vibe.
Combined with the high performance and removable batteries, the design helps make these Hunter electric skateboards memorable in the industry.
JackRabbit
The JackRabbit brings a smile to my face every time I see one.
Referred to as a micro-bike, these are technically seated electric scooters due to the lack of pedals.
They may look funny with that short wheelbase, but they have pretty good performance.
They get up to 20 mph and have ranges of over 10 miles, despite their tiny batteries, meaning they’re great for short city commutes when riders want the stability of a bike but the size and lightweight design of a scooter.
I had the distinct pleasure of reviewing one of these earlier this year, where I learned just how much fun this micromobility device can be.
You can check it out in my video review below. Trust me, you’re going to want to see me ride this thing. It’s not a circus bear on a tricycle situation, but it’s not the farthest thing in the world from that either.
Nimbus One
This is another one of those “What is it?” type of micro-EVs. The Nimbus One falls somewhere in the Velo-bike/micro-car/leaning e-trike trifecta. It’s another example of a vehicle that pushes the limits of what we consider to be micromobility.
The enclosed design makes it great for inclement weather that would cause many people to leave their bikes in the garage. But the narrow size and leaning design mean it operates more like a bike than a car, which should appeal to car-shunning cyclists.
And of course, the electric drive makes it easy and, more importantly, environmentally sustainable, which everyone should appreciate.
I can’t say for sure what it’s actually like to pilot. But I can agree that it’s fun to look at!
Pytes batteries
These guys say they’re the third largest battery suppliers in the micromobility business.
Frankly, based on the list of e-bike companies they rattled off as their customers, I’m surprised they aren’t in the first or second spot.
They were on-site to show off their wide range of batteries for electric bikes, scooters, and other micromobility devices.
It seems they make just about every type of battery under the sun. And bonus points, they’re fans of my videos! From now on I’m going to tell people, “Yeah, well you may not have heard of me, but I’m big in China!”
Veo Apollo
Tons of companies offer shared electric scooters or e-bikes. Lime and Bird at the big ones for many people, but dozens of other companies compete in the space.
No one has a two-seater e-bike quite like Veo though, who just rolled out the Veo Apollo in a debut at Micromobility America.
The Class 2 e-bike has a 750W motor in the rear wheel and gets up to a top speed of 20 mph.
It makes it easy to avoid calling for an Uber or Lyft – instead, take a friend with you on the back of a shared micromobility device. Right on!
WAU Bikes
Sorry, WAU, you guys really screwed yourself when it comes to alphabetical order, getting left near the end of this post. That’s a shame because your bikes deserve to be at the top of so many lists.
Between the slick-looking battery case (with a 100-mile range battery!) and the neat frame-mounted rear lights, these are some awesome e-bikes that I really want to test out.
Those taillights even do double duty as turn signals and brake lights, and they are actually large and wide enough to serve those roles well, unlike many tiny gimmicky turn signals we’re starting to see on other e-bikes.
Weel
Last but definitely not least on the list is Weel, an innovative e-bike that offers something akin to Tesla Autopilot, but for e-bikes.
It’s designed to help riders who lack the skills or confidence to safely ride a bike and uses a steering tube motor to help adjust the steering for riders and keep the bike stable. Computer vision helps riders stay on course by tracking the edges of bike lanes and avoiding obstacles.
The bike is also designed to remove as many traditional hardware components from the bike as possible. For example, instead of a typical moving brake lever, the Weel bike’s brake lever is fixed and uses a strain gauge to measure how hard it is pulled.
It’s a wild and completely novel design. Time will tell whether or not the bike will be commercially viable when it eventually hits the market.
Make sure you check out my video of the event, embedded below. There, you’ll see all of these companies up close, plus even more!
And if you live across the pond, keep your calendar marked for June 8-9, 2023, when Micromobility Europe returns to Amsterdam!
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Environment
Why OPEC+ is accelerating oil production as prices are tanking and tariffs hammer markets
The Phillips 66 Company’s Los Angeles Refinery in California.
Bing Guan | Reuters
The oil price outlook is being hit with more bearish forecasts on the back of U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping and market-hammering tariff announcements. Businesses and investors worry that a trade war and lower global growth lies ahead.
Goldman Sachs on Thursday reduced its December 2025 forecasts for global and U.S. benchmarks Brent crude and WTI by $5 to $66 and $62 a barrel, respectively, “because the two key downside risks we have flagged are realizing, namely tariff escalation and somewhat higher OPEC+ supply.”
The bank also cut its forecasts for the oil benchmarks in 2025 and 2026, adding that “we no longer forecast a price range, because price volatility is likely to stay elevated on higher recession risk.” Analysts at S&P Global Market Intelligence predict that in a worst-case scenario, global oil demand growth could be slashed by 500,000 barrels per day.
JPMorgan, for its part, raised its recession odds for the global economy to 60% for this year, up from a previous forecast of 40%.
Markets were therefore stunned when OPEC, which produces about 40% of the world’s crude oil — along with its non-OPEC allies that together comprise OPEC+ — chose not only to go ahead with its previously held plans to increase oil production, but also to nearly triple the expected increase figure.
Eight key OPEC+ producers on Thursday agreed to raise combined crude oil output by 411,000 barrels per day, speeding up the pace of their scheduled hikes and pushing down oil prices. The group — Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman — was widely expected to implement an increase of just under 140,000 barrels per day next month.
The news pushed oil prices 6% lower.
OPEC+ bullishness and appeasing Trump
Several factors underpin the oil-producing alliance’s decision. One is that the group is bullish on oil demand later in the year, putting it firmly in the minority as investor outlooks sour and fears of a global slowdown worsen.
The eight OPEC+ members behind the production decision cited “the continuing healthy market fundamentals and the positive market outlook” in their statement Thursday, saying that “this measure will provide an opportunity for the participating countries to accelerate their compensation.”
The statement added that “the gradual increases may be paused or reversed subject to evolving market conditions.”
Another likely reason for the group’s move has to do with another T-word: the man in the White House, who during his first term in office and from the very start of his second, has loudly demanded that the oil producer group pump more crude to help bring down prices for Americans.
“First of all, this is partly about appeasing Trump,” Saul Kavonic, head of energy research at MST Marquee, told CNBC’s Dan Murphy on Friday.
“Trump will be putting pressure on OPEC to reduce oil prices, which reduces global energy prices, to help offset the inflationary impact of his tariffs.”
OPEC officials have denied that the move was made to appease Trump.
Compliance and market share
Meanwhile, as compliance is a major issue for OPEC+ — with countries overproducing crude beyond their quotas, complicating the group’s efforts to control how much supply it allows into the market — the move could be a way to enforce that, according to Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy and MENA research at RBC Capital Markets.
“We think a desire by the OPEC leadership to send a warning signal to Kazakhstan, Iraq, and even Russia about the cost of continued overproduction underlies the decision.”
Helima Croft
head of global commodity strategy and MENA research at RBC Capital Markets
“We think a desire by the OPEC leadership to send a warning signal to Kazakhstan, Iraq, and even Russia about the cost of continued overproduction underlies the decision,” Croft wrote in a note published Thursday. She referenced the March 2020 oil price war, when Saudi Arabia flooded the market with supply to tank oil prices and forced Russia back into compliance after Moscow initially refused to curb production to help the alliance stabilize prices. The price war caused Brent crude prices to go as low as $15 a barrel.
The production increases are also “an example of OPEC increasing their market share,” Kavonic said, adding that it “ultimately does come at the expense of the United States [shale] patch,” which U.S. producers likely will not be too thrilled about.
What happens next?
OPEC+ appears confident about the market turning a corner in the coming months on the assumption that oil demand will increase in the summer and the tariff wars will be resolved in the coming months, said Nader Itayim, editorial manager at Argus Media.
“These countries are largely comfortable with the $70, $75 per barrel band,” Itayim said.
What comes next depends on the trajectory of the tariffs and a potential trade war. Oil dropping into the $60 range could force pauses or even a reversal in OPEC+ production increase plans, analysts say – although that is likely to be met with resistance from countries like Iraq and Kazakhstan that have long been itching to increase their oil production for their own revenues.
Whatever happens, the group maintains the flexibility to adapt its plans month by month, Itayim noted.
“If things don’t quite go the way they imagine, all it does take, really, is a phone call.”
According to a Tesla Semi customer, the electric truck program is suffering more delays and a price increase that is described as “dramatic.”
Tesla Semi has seen many delays, more than any other vehicle program at Tesla.
It was initially unveiled in 2017, and CEO Elon Musk claimed that it would go into production in 2019.
In late 2022, Tesla held an event where it unveiled the “production version” of the Tesla Semi and delivered the first few units to a “customer-partner”: PepsiCo.
More than 3 years later, the vehicle never went into volume production. Instead, Tesla only ran a very low volume pilot production at a factory in Nevada and only delivered a few dozen trucks to customers as part of test programs.
But Tesla promised that things would finally happen for the Tesla Semi this year.
Tesla has been building a new high-volume production factory specifically for the Tesla Semi program in a new building next to Gigafactory Nevada.
The goal was to start production in 2025, start customer deliveries, and ramp up to 50,000 trucks yearly.
Now, Ryder, a large transportation company and early customer-partner in Tesla’s semi truck program, is talking about further delays. The company also refers to a significant price increase.
California’s Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee (MSRC) awarded Ryder funding for a project to deploy Tesla Semi trucks and Megachargers at two of its facilities in the state.
Ryder had previously asked for extensions amid the delays in the Tesla Semi program.
In a new letter sent to MSRC last week and obtained by Electrek, Ryder asked the agency for another 28-month delay. The letter references delays in “Tesla product design, vehicle production” and it mentions “dramatic changes to the Tesla product economics”:
This extension is needed due to delays in Tesla product design, vehicle production and dramatic changes to the Tesla product economics. These delays have caused us to reevaluate the current Ryder fleet in the area.
The logistics company now says it plans to “deploy 18 Tesla Semi vehicles by June 2026.”
The reference to “dramatic changes to the Tesla product economics” points to a significant price increase for the Tesla Semi, which further communication with MSRC confirms.
In the agenda of a meeting to discuss the extension and changes to the project yesterday, MSRC confirms that the project went from 42 to 18 Tesla Semi trucks while the project commitment is not changing:
Ryder has indicated that their electric tractor manufacturer partner, Tesla, has experienced continued delays in product design and production. There have also been dramatic changes to the product economics. Ryder requests to reduce the number of vehicles from 42 to 18, stating that this would maintain their $7.5 million private match commitment.
In addition to the electric trucks, the project originally involved installing two integrated power centers and four Tesla Megachargers, split between two locations. Ryder is also looking to now install 3 Megachargers per location for a total of 6 instead of 4.
The project changes also mention that “Ryder states that Tesla now requires 600kW chargers rather than the 750kW units originally engineered.”
Tesla Semi Price
When originally unveiling the Tesla Semi in 2017, the automaker mentioned prices of $150,000 for a 300-mile range truck and $180,000 for the 500-mile version. Tesla also took orders for a “Founder’s Series Semi” at $200,000.
However, Tesla didn’t update the prices when launching the “production version” of the truck in late 2023. Price increases have been speculated, but the company has never confirmed them.
New diesel-powered Class 8 semi trucks in the US today often range between $150,000 and $220,000.
The combination of a reasonable purchase price and low operation costs, thanks to cheaper electric rates than diesel, made the Tesla Semi a potentially revolutionary product to reduce the overall costs of operation in trucking while reducing emissions.
However, Ryder now points to a “dramatic” price increase for the Tesla Semi.
What is the cost of a Tesla Semi electric truck now?
Electrek’s Take
As I have often stated, Tesla Semi is the vehicle program I am most excited about at Tesla right now.
If Tesla can produce class 8 trucks capable of moving cargo of similar weight as diesel trucks over 500 miles on a single charge in high volume at a reasonable price point, they have a revolutionary product on their hands.
But the reasonable price part is now being questioned.
After reading the communications between Ryder and MSRC, while not clear, it looks like the program could be interpreted as MSRC covering the costs of installing the charging stations while Ryder committed $7.5 million to buying the trucks.
The math makes sense for the original funding request since $7.5 million divided by 42 trucks results in around $180,000 per truck — what Tesla first quoted for the 500-mile Tesla Semi truck.
Now, with just 18 trucks, it would point to a price of $415,000 per Tesla Semi truck. It’s possible that some of Ryder’s commitment could also go to an increase in Megacharger prices – either per charger or due to the two additional chargers. MSRC said that they don’t give more money when prices go up after an extension.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the 500-mile Tesla Semi ends up costing $350,000 to $400,000.
If that’s the case, Tesla Semi is impressive, but it won’t be the revolutionary product that will change the trucking industry.
It will need to be closer to $250,000-$300,000 to have a significant impact, which is not impossible with higher-volume production but would be difficult.
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