Weird Alibaba: Time to take this electric mobility scooter off some sweet jumps
One of the best things about scouring Alibaba for awesomely weird electric vehicles is that many of them seemingly start from something rather normal. There’s nothing strange about an electric tour bus, until it comes shaped like a tiger. Stuffed animals are rather normal, until engineers added wheels, motors and batteries to make them rideable. And a mobility scooter for old folks is a pretty common sidewalk vehicle, until you add enough seats to make it into a party bus for old folks.
And that’s what we’ve got here, a stretch limo version of a Rascal scooter.
It’s just odd enough to make it into this week’s edition of the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week.
Old people scooters are normally single-seater affairs, but this bad boy has a claimed “three to four” seats. The rear bench appears to be larger, but a couple frail grannies could probably squeeze in together up front.
The larger rear bench would be perfect for picking up their boys toys Milton and Edward for a night on the town. And by “night” I of course mean early evening. Can’t miss that Early Bird Special at the local eateries down in Del Boca Vista!
This old people party bus doesn’t slouch on the specs, either. You can get it outfitted with a range of motors with up to 1,000 watts of power. They say it can climb a 30º incline, which is almost certainly false, but I’m going to give it to them. Taking these honest Alibaba vendors at their word, those are some impressive specs.
I’ve got more expensive 28 mph electric bikes that have smaller motors than that!
There doesn’t appear to be any mention of a top speed for the mobility scooter, but that’s probably because it’s so fast they can’t legally print the specs. I’ll bet this bad boy is a blur when you put the pedal to the plastic.
That’s probably why they overspec’d the brakes, with front and rear disc brakes and regenerative braking.
I love all the accessories, too. There’s a storage basket up front, mirrors, a windshield wiper, optional rain curtains, a full light package and beautifully padded seats. It just needs a cane rack on back like a rifle holder and you’ll be set!
The batteries are 60V lead acids, which is some pretty old tech, but you could easily swap in some 12V lithium battery bricks to get some modern energy storage in this mobility scooter turned fun-mobile.
With 60V worth of lithium in this oversized mobility scooter and 1,000 watts worth of power beneath you, there could be some serious fun to be had.
Our graphics guy seems to think this geriatric go-kart belongs in the skate park and I don’t disagree.
I’d grind the edge of that bowl all day in this thing, making every Dorothy, Agnes and Harriet in the park weak in the knees. The designers obviously built it for extreme riding, which is why they put scooter tires on it instead of flat tires. They knew you’d be leaning this up on two wheels for hard cornering!
With that kind of stunt driving, you could be picking up blue hairs left and right in this thing. And fortunately there’d be enough seats for all of them too!
For a cool price of just $899, this hot-rodded mobility scooter limousine won’t break the bank either. That’s perfect for a pensioner’s fixed budget, and even leaves them with enough cash left over to really accessorize those rims.
It’s been a while since I made any big electric vehicle purchases on Alibaba, and I absolutely don’t need this mobility scooter. But somehow and for some reason I kind of want to get one. I’m sure that inquiring about the shipping cost will be a cold splash of water to the face and wake me out of that dream, but until then I can at least imagine being the coolest dude in Florida under 75.
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Block jumped more than 5% on Monday, leading a rally in shares of fintech companies as analysts downplayed the threat of JPMorgan Chase’s reported plan to charge data aggregators for access to customer financial information.
The recovery followed steep declines on Friday, after Bloomberg reported that JPMorgan had circulated pricing sheets outlining potential fees for aggregators like Plaid and Yodlee, which connect fintech platforms to users’ bank data.
In a note to clients on Monday, Evercore ISI analysts said the potential new expenses were “far from a ‘business model-breaking’ cost increase.”
In addition to Block’s rise, PayPal climbed 3.5% on Monday after sliding Friday. Robinhood and Shift4 recorded modest gains.
Broader market momentum helped fuel some of the rebound. The Nasdaq closed at a record, and crypto rallied, with bitcoin climbing past $123,000. Ether, solana, and other altcoins also gained.
Evercore ISI’s analysts said that even if JPMorgan’s changes were implemented, the most immediate effect would be a slight bump in the cost of one-time account setups — perhaps 50 to 60 cents.
Morgan Stanley echoed that view, writing that any impact would be “negligible,” especially for large fintechs that rely more on debit, credit, or stored balances than bank account pulls for transactions.
PayPal doesn’t anticipate much short-term impact, according to a person with knowledge of the issue. The person, who asked not to be named in order to speak about private financial matters, noted that PayPal relies on aggregators primarily for account verification and already has long-term pricing contracts in place.
While smaller fintechs that depend heavily on automated clearing house (ACH) rails or Open Banking frameworks for onboarding and compliance may face real pressure if the fees take effect, analysts said the larger platforms are largely insulated.
WATCH: Congress moves to redraw $3.7 trillion crypto market rules, opening door to Wall Street
The global EV market is still charging ahead. According to new numbers from global research firm Rho Motion, 9.1 million EVs were sold worldwide in the first half of 2025, up 28% compared to the same period last year. But not every region is accelerating at the same pace.
China and Europe are doing the heavy lifting
More than half of the world’s EVs this year have been bought in China. That market hit 5.5 million sales in the first six months of 2025 – a 32% jump year-over-year. Around half of new cars bought in China are now electric.
While some Chinese cities’ subsidies have dried up, Rho Motion expects momentum to pick back up later in the year as more funding is released.
In Europe, 2 million EVs were sold in the first half of the year, up 26%. Battery electric vehicle (BEV) sales also rose 26%, thanks in part to affordable models like the Renault 4 (pictured) and 5 entering the market. Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) weren’t far behind, growing 27% year-to-date. Chinese automakers are leaning into PHEVs as a way to work around the EU’s new tariffs on BEVs.
Spain is leading the pack with EV sales soaring 85% so far this year. Its generous MOVES III incentive program was extended in April and has kept sales strong. The UK and Germany are also seeing solid growth – 32% and 40%, respectively. France, however, is slumping. With subsidies cut, EV sales there have dropped 13%.
North America is stuck in the slow lane
Things aren’t looking quite as bright in North America. EV sales in the US, Canada, and Mexico are up just 3% so far this year.
Mexico is the one bright spot, with a 20% boost. The US is up 6%. But Canada is down a whopping 23%.
And things could get bumpier. On July 4, Trump signed Congress’s big bill into law, which axes all the Inflation Reduction Act EV tax credits. Those consumer credits for EVs now officially end on September 30.
Just over half of the EVs sold in the US this year qualified for those credits. Rho Motion predicts a rush in Q3 before the subsidies disappear – and a decline in sales after that.
Rho Motion data manager Charles Lester said, “With Trump’s latest cuts in his ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ the US could struggle to see any growth in the EV market overall in 2025.”
Global EV sales snapshot, H1 2025 vs H1 2024
- Global: 9.1 million (+28%)
- China: 5.5 million (+32%)
- Europe: 2.0 million (+26%)
- North America: 0.9 million (+3%)
- Rest of world: 0.7 million (+40%)
Read more: China breaks records as global EV sales hit 7.2 million in 2025
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Lucid’s electric sedan can drive further, charge faster, and packs more advanced tech than most of the competition. That might explain why it’s leading the segment. The Lucid Air remained the best-selling luxury EV sedan in the US after widening its lead in the Q2.
The Lucid Air is America’s best-selling luxury EV sedan
The 2025 Lucid Air Pure arrived as the “World’s most efficient car” with an EPA-estimated range of 420 miles and a record 146 MPGe.
It just set a new Guinness World Record last week for the longest journey by an electric car after travelling 749 miles (1,205 km) on a single charge.
That record was set in the range-topping Lucid Air Grand Touring model, which is rated for up to 512 miles of EPA-estimated range. On the WLTP scale, it’s rated at 597 miles (960 km). Either way, it still crushed the estimates.
According to second-quarter sales data, released by Kelley Blue Book on Monday, the Lucid Air is still America’s best-selling luxury EV.
Lucid sold 2,630 Air models in Q2, up 10% from the previous year. Through the first half of 2025, Lucid Air sales are up 17% with 5,094 units sold.
Tesla, on the other hand, only sold 1,435 Model Ss during the quarter, 71% fewer than it did in Q2 2024. Tesla Model S sales in the US are down 70% through the first half of the year at 2,715.
Although Porsche Taycan sales were up 32% with 1,064 models sold, the significantly upgraded 2025 model year was expected to see even more demand. Porsche has 2,083 Taycans in the US this year, up just 1% from 2024.
Other luxury EV sedans, such as the BMW i5 (1,434), i7 (820), and the Mercedes EQS (498), experienced steep double-digit sales declines year-over-year.
And it’s not just electric luxury sedans. The Lucid Air is currently outselling many gas-powered vehicles in its segment.
Lucid’s first electric SUV, the Gravity, is also rolling out. Although only five were sold in the second quarter, Lucid is quickly scaling production. Lucid aims to produce 20,000 vehicles this year, more than double the roughly 9,000 it built in 2024.
Earlier today, Lucid’s interim CEO, Marc Winterhoff, confirmed during an interview with Bloomberg that the company expects higher Gravity output in the second half of the year.
The interview was at the grand opening of Panasonic’s new battery cell plant in De Soto, Kansas. Winterhoff said Lucid will start using new cells from the facility, but not until next year.
Lucid’s CEO stressed the importance of establishing a local supply chain, as policy changes under the Trump Administration are taking effect. Lucid and Panasonic are collaborating to localize EV materials, such as graphite. Last month, Lucid secured a multi-year supply agreement with Graphite One for US-sourced Graphite.
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