I waited for this day for nearly two years, biding my time until I would finally get a chance to throw a leg over the SONDORS Metacycle electric motorcycle and ride off into the sunset with the twist of a wrist.
I never quite got that sunset, but an overcast LA morning was the next best thing I could wrangle up on short notice. The SONDORS team let me take out an early production Metacycle to get a sense of how the bike rides and whether or not it lives up to the long-building hype.
Where did the bike come from?
Just a quick refresher to set the stage: SONDORS is an electric bicycle company that unveiled a sexy-looking $5,000 electric motorcycle set to drastically expand the brand’s market reach. The bike claimed impressive specs including an 80 mph (130 km/h) top speed and an 80 mile (130 km) range to match.
Over that time, the specs and appearance started to change too. The sexy silvery polished aluminum frame turned into a gray painted frame. The bike had less-than-elegant plastic bits added all over, including necessary DOT parts, like a rear fender to hold the license plate, larger (and more legal) lights and signals, etc. The SONDORS Metacycle somehow gained around 100 pounds (45 kg) from its target weight. The quick release battery turned into a slow-release battery that requires a tool. And the price walked up from $5,000 to $6,500.
So yeah, there were a lot of changes along the way: Some were for legal reasons. Some were for comfort reasons (like a plusher padded seat). And some were likely cost savings measures. I can’t imagine how many hours went into polishing that prototype’s shiny aluminum frame. It surely wasn’t cost-effective for mass production.
After all of that, the bikes finally started rolling out to early reservation holders, or at least those folks who were living in Southern California.
And that’s where I come in. I may not live in Southern California, but while passing through, I got to borrow one of these early bikes for the morning, and here I am to tell you about it.
Make sure you check out my video below if you want to see the bike in action.
Love the one you’re with
I’d have loved to ride the original SONDORS Metacycle from all those beautiful product shots we saw in early 2021. But that’s not the bike that is getting delivered these days. That bike now exists only in the thoughts and memories of those who drooled over it many months ago. So all I can do is tell you how the real-world SONDORS Metacycle looks, feels, and rides.
For anyone that laid down a cool five G’s last year and is getting a somewhat different bike than they expected, that’s definitely a bummer, and I feel your pain. But what I can tell you is that the bike you’re getting is still a fun ride. And it’s still an awesome little commuter bike.
With SONDORS’s background in electric bicycles, it’s no surprise that the company’s first electric motorcycle is a commuter-spec bike. It’s not overly powerful, and it’s not overly sporty. But that doesn’t mean it can’t offer a fun ride.
The bike feels much lighter than its reportedly more than 300 pound (136 kg) curb weight. It spits right out in front of traffic when the light turns green, which is exactly what I want in a commuter bike.
I don’t need to beat a Ducati off the line. I just need to beat that distracted SUV driver texting her boyfriend while juggling a latte in the other hand.
With so much of the bike’s weight mounted down south with that low-slung battery and rear hub motor, the bike is quick to lean and quicker to stand back up, making for a nimble ride in traffic. And the SONDORS Metacycle is so easy to ride that it feels like a great starter bike. It’s basically a sexy scooter. Someone who has spent years on electric bicycles but has no motorcycle experience could hop on it and feel at home. In one ride, they’d probably be comfortable with it, though riding at highway speeds for someone only used to going 30 mph (48 km/h) on an electric bicycle can sometimes take a bit longer to get used to.
But for so many e-bike riders that have toyed with the idea of upgrading to an electric motorcycle, the Metacycle is probably one of the best candidates I’ve ridden in terms of easing that transition by blurring the line between e-bike, e-moped, and e-moto.
The 14.5 kW peak rated motor puts out 20 horsepower, which is sufficient for this type of commuter riding but isn’t going to leave you slipping off that narrow seat. Speaking of which, I was expecting the seat to be an issue, but I found it to be surprisingly comfortable. I’m not a big guy myself, and I don’t have an American-sized rear end, so perhaps that’s part of it, but I felt like I could sit on that bike for hours without an issue. The hour or so I spent on it was perfectly comfortable.
The only uncomfortable part of the bike to me was how my ankles tended to rub on the wide battery case. By changing my stance a bit, I could mostly get away from it, but I think if the battery had stayed as slim as it looked in the original prototype photos, then that issue would have been avoided entirely.
Other than that though, the bike felt quite comfortable and confidence inspiring. In fact, the SONDORS Metacycle largely feels like a scaled up electric bicycle, which makes sense based on the company’s roots. You’re in a more upright riding position that gives you a better view of the road and the cars around you. It’s not a little City Slicker electric motorcycle, but it’s also not a big Energica either.
The bike even had some cool features that I’ve never seen anywhere else. That glove box with the wireless charger is a really cool feature that likely came out of SONDORS never having designed a motorcycle before and not being limited by what people think of as conventional motorcycle features. It’s easier to think outside of the box when you’ve never seen the box before.
I did notice that occasionally I’d hit a big bump and my phone would jump around a bit, stopping and then starting the wireless charging if it didn’t quite land back in the correct spot. But as long as I stayed away from major potholes, it wasn’t too much of an issue.
And speaking of those potholes, the bike’s suspension was also decent. It’s not super plush, and you do have a pile of unsprung weight in the rear wheel, but then again, this isn’t a performance bike. For cruising around town and hitting the freeway, the suspension was more than adequate.
What are the disadvantages of the SONDORS Metacycle?
As much as I enjoyed the ride, there were several areas that seemed a bit limiting to me.
First was the range. With just a 4,000 Wh battery, you’re not going to be going too terribly far. They claim a maximum range of 80 miles (130 km), but that’s likely only possible at electric bicycle speeds.
Here’s a little tip for you and a quick way you can suss out whether or not e-bike or e-motorcycle ranges are BS. Use these two numbers: 25 Wh/mile and 50 Wh/mile. The former is the efficiency of an average e-bike on throttle only at around 20-25 mph. The latter is the same figure for a light electric motorcycle or seated electric scooter (think Vespa-style) at around 30 mph.
So if you’re sticking to absolute city speeds, you can take an e-scooter or light e-moto’s battery capacity in watt-hours and divide it by 50 Wh/mile. In this case, that’s 4,000 Wh divided by 50 Wh/mi, giving us 80 miles. Bam. There you go. So if you’re super gentle on the throttle and you don’t exceed 30 mph, you might be able to just eke out that 80 miles of range from the SONDORS Metacycle. But good luck staying at those speeds.
During my riding, I had an extrapolated range of around 40-45 miles (64-72 km), though that was with plenty of highway riding and ample use of the sport mode button (more on that in a moment). As a commuter bike, that’s probably fine for most people.
If you need to take a highway and you have a commute of less than 20 miles (32 km), or double that if you can charge at work, then the bike can work for you. But the SONDORS Metacycle is not a long-range motorcycle by any stretch of the imagination.
Oh, and one more thing about the battery. The display uses one of those 10-segment battery bar icons instead of displaying a battery percentage. That may be fine for some people, but my engineering background makes me super uncomfortable with that fuzzy approximation. I’d rather see battery voltage if I could, but if not, then at least give me a battery percentage readout. I don’t need five significant figures, but I’d rather know I have 28% battery charge than just that it’s somewhere between 20-30%. Don’t do the analysis for me with battery bars; just tell me exactly what I have left!
Actually, one more thing about the battery. The fact that you can’t remove the battery using some type of quick release anymore, which was part of the original design, is also a bummer for those that wanted to carry it into their home or apartment for charging each night. That was a huge feature that somehow got left by the wayside. For those that planned to bring the battery inside an apartment to charge, going through a two-minute procedure that includes unbolting several bolts in an aluminum housing each day just isn’t realistic.
Now let’s talk about that top speed. Yes, the bike can hit 80 mph (130 km/h), at least assuming the speedometer is accurate. But it can’t sustain it.
I always assumed that 80 mph top speed from the marketing was going to be a constant top speed. But the SONDORS Metacycle actually tops out somewhere between 60-70 mph (96-112 km/h) during normal cruising. There’s a turbo button that engages Sport Mode for about a minute or so and lets you get up to 80 mph. That makes it good for passing or other maneuvers where you’d want all of your power and speed on tap. But once that minute is up, you’ve got to wait a bit before you can use the turbo button again. It’s like a power-up in a video game that has a recharge period.
If you never take roads that require going over 65 mph or so, then this won’t even be an issue to you. But if you were counting on that 80 mph top speed to always be there, then you’re in for a rude awakening.
Lastly, as much as I enjoyed the ride, it felt like there was just something missing. It’s hard to put my finger on it, but the bike didn’t seem to have the same passion that I feel on other electric motorcycles I ride. I know that’s an annoyingly vague sentence, but to be fair, it’s an annoyingly vague feeling. I don’t know quite how to describe what’s missing or why it feels that way. Maybe it’s the muted scooter-style performance. Maybe it’s the lack of a belt drive to give some type of sound feedback. Maybe it’s that its so easy to ride that you almost feel like you’re on an electric bicycle. I’m not quite sure. I’m not saying it’s not fun. It’s absolutely an enjoyable ride! But it just doesn’t have that passion to it that I feel on other bikes.
Part of that feeling may be that I went into this with the wrong frame of mind. I had been on a LiveWire One and an Energica Eva Ribelle in the few days before riding the Metacycle. Those two flagship electric motorcycles have several times the power of the Metacycle and are completely different beasts. When you hop on the Metacycle, you have to remember what it is and what it isn’t. It’s a fun and engaging ride, but you should expect performance more in line with a good, peppy scooter. It’s not a flagship electric motorcycle, and it was never meant to compete with those bikes.
Would I buy the SONDORS Metacycle?
Yes, definitely. Despite the list of disadvantages and even at its now higher $6,500 price, I still think the SONDORS Metacycle is worth it.
There are downsides, sure. Until they release some type of storage box for that center cavity, you can’t really carry anything on it that doesn’t fit in the TI-84 calculator-sized glove box. And even though they talked about releasing pillion pegs at some point, it doesn’t seem like a bike that is going to be comfortable for two riders. And of course, it’s not a long-range bike.
But even despite its shortcomings, it’s great at what it is designed to do. This is a commuter electric motorcycle, through and through, and it has to be judged through that lens. I’d rather ride the Metacycle any day of the week, experiencing the world around me, than be commuting in a car watching the world go by like a rerun on TV.
It feels so light and so easy to ride. I mean it when I say that it’s probably the best electric motorcycle out there right now for easing an e-bike rider looking to enter into the world of e-motorcycles. It’s a transition bike.
It’s got some stiff competition on the horizon though. Bikes like the Ryvid Anthem and the CSC RX1E are a few thousand bucks more expensive but offer their own compelling cases. And with the SONDORS current order books looking like it might take a year or more to fulfill outstanding reservations, those other bikes could be preparing to eat the Metacycle’s lunch sooner rather than later.
But assuming SONDORS can deliver, then I think the Metacycle is definitely going to have its place in the light electric motorcycle market.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.
Over the next two years, homebuilder Lennar is outfitting more than 1,500 new Colorado homes with Dandelion Energy’s geothermal systems in one of the largest residential geothermal rollouts in the US.
The big draw for homeowners is lower energy bills and cleaner heating and cooling. Dandelion claims Lennar homeowners with geothermal systems will collectively save around $30 million over the next 20 years compared to using air-source heat pumps. Geothermal heat pumps don’t need outdoor AC units or conventional heating systems, either.
Geothermal systems use the sustained temperature of the ground to heat or cool a home. A ground loop system absorbs heat energy (BTUs) from the earth so that it can be transferred to a heat pump and efficiently converted into warmth for a home. Dandelion says its ground loop systems are built to last for over 50 years and should require no maintenance.
Dandelion’s geothermal system uses a vertical ground closed-loop system that is installed using well-boring equipment and trenched back into the house to connect to a heat pump. The pipes circulate a mixture of water and propylene glycol, a food-grade antifreeze, that absorbs the ground’s temperature. A ground source heat pump circulates the liquid through the ground loops and it exchanges its heat energy in the heat pump with liquid refrigerant. The refrigerant is converted to vapor, compressed to increase its temperature, then passed through a heat exchanger to transfer heat to the air, which is circulated through a home’s HVAC ductwork.
Advertisement – scroll for more content
Daniel Yates, Dandelion Energy’s CEO, called the partnership with Lennar a “new benchmark for affordable, energy-efficient, and high-quality home heating and cooling.” By streamlining its installation process, Dandelion is making geothermal systems simpler and cheaper for homebuilders and homeowners to adopt.
This collaboration is happening at a time when Colorado is pushing hard to meet its clean energy targets. Governor Jared Polis is excited about the move, calling it a win for Coloradans’ wallets, air quality, and the state’s leadership on geothermal energy. Will Toor, executive director of the Colorado Energy Office, said that “ensuring affordable access to geothermal heating and cooling is essential to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, and we’re excited to be part of such a huge effort to bring this technology to so many new Colorado homes.”
And it’s not just about cutting emissions – geothermal heat pumps help reduce peak electric demand. Analysis from the Department of Energy found that widespread adoption of these systems could save the US from needing 24,500 miles of new transmission lines. That’s like crossing the continental US eight times.
Colorado is making this transition a lot more attractive through state tax credits and Xcel Energy’s rebate programs. These incentives slash upfront costs for builders like Lennar, making geothermal installations more financially viable. The utility’s Clean Heat Plan and electrification strategy are working to keep energy bills low while meeting climate goals.
Now is a great time to begin your solar journey so your system is installed in time for those sunny spring days. If you want to make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20 to 30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here. –trusted affiliate partner
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.
Polestar has removed the Polestar 2 from its US website header in an early sign of how new tariffs will restrict choice and competition for American consumers, thus increasing prices.
The Polestar 2 is Polestar’s first full EV – the original Polestar 1 was a limited-edition plug-in hybrid.
It started production in 2020 in Luqiao, Zhejiang, China, where Polestar and Volvo’s parent corporation, Geely, was founded.
Unfortunately, that interacts with some news that has been getting a lot of play lately: tariffs.
The US has been gradually getting stupider and stupider on the issue of tariffs, apparently determined to increase prices for Americans and decrease the competitiveness of American manufacturing in a time of change for the auto industry.
It is widely acknowledged (by anyone who has given it a few seconds of thought) that tariffs increase prices and that trade barriers tend to reduce competition, leading to less innovation.
It started with 25% tariffs on various products from China, implemented in the 2018-2020 timeframe. Then, in 2024, President Biden implemented a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs, effectively stopping their sale in the US. These tariffs included some exceptions and credits based on Volvo’s other US manufacturing, which Polestar had used to keep the most expensive versions of the 2 on sale in the US, while restricting the lower-priced versions from sale. Nevertheless, they were a bad idea.
Now, in yet another step to make America less competitive and inflate the prices of goods more for Americans, we got more tariff announcements today from a senile ex-reality TV host who wandered into the White House rose garden (which he does not belong in). These tariffs do not include the same exceptions as the previously-announced Biden tariffs.
Apparently this has all been enough for Polestar, as even in advance of today’s tariff announcements, the company suddenly removed its Polestar 2 from its website header today.
The change can be seen at polestar.com/us, where only the Polestar 3 and 4 are listed in the header area. On other sites, like the company’s Norwegian website or British website, the car is still there. The Polestar 2 page is still up on the US website, but it isn’t linked to elsewhere on the site (we’ll see how long it stays up).
We reached out to Polestar for comment, but didn’t hear anything back before publication. We’ll update if we do.
It makes sense that the Polestar 2 would still be for sale elsewhere, as it only started production in 2020. Most car models are available for at least 7 years, so this is an earlier exit than expected.
So it’s likely that all of the tariff news is what had an effect in killing the Polestar 2.
Then again, this is also just the second day of a new fiscal quarter. Perhaps the timing offers Polestar an opportunity to make a clean break – especially now that the lower-priced version of its Polestar 3 is available.
Despite the lower $67.5k base price of the new Polestar 3 variant, that represents a big increase in price for the brand, which had sold the base model Polestar 2 for around $50k originally, before all of these tariffs.
Update: Polestar got back to us with comment, but understandably, it doesn’t say much:
Polestar is a three-car company and Polestar 2 is available for customers now. There are a select number of Polestar 2s in stock at retailers that can be found on Polestar.com, but Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 will be the priority in the North American market.
Volvo decided to build the car in Belgium and export it to the US, but now that new tariffs apply to the EU as well, maybe that low-priced, awesome, fast, small EV will instead stay in Europe instead of being shipped overseas.
This shows how mercurial tariff fiats from an ignoramus are bad for manufacturing, as they mean that companies can’t make plans – and if they can’t make plans, eventually, they’ll probably just write the country making the random decisions out of their plans so they don’t have to deal with the nonsense.
And we’ve heard this from every businessperson or manufacturer representative we’ve talked to at any level of the automotive industry. Nobody thinks any of this is a good idea, because it objectively is not. All it does is make business harder, make the US less trustworthy, make things more expensive, and overall just harm America.
Yet another way that Americans are getting screwed by this stupid nonsense. 49% of you voted for inflation, and 100% of Americans are now getting it. Happy Inflation Day, everyone.
Charge your electric vehicle at home using rooftop solar panels. Find a reliable and competitively priced solar installer near you on EnergySage, for free. They have pre-vetted installers competing for your business, ensuring high-quality solutions and 20-30% savings. It’s free, with no sales calls until you choose an installer. Compare personalized solar quotes online and receive guidance from unbiased Energy Advisers. Get started here. – ad*
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.
Lucid Motors (LCID) has now had six straight quarters with higher deliveries. The delivery record comes just as Lucid prepares to begin delivering its first electric SUV, the Gravity, to customers by the end of this month.
Lucid sets sixth straight delivery record in Q1 2025
Lucid delivered 3,109 vehicles in the first quarter, up 58% from last year and topping its previous record of 3,099 set in Q4 2024.
The company also produced 2,213 vehicles at its Casa Grande, Arizona, plant in the first three months of 2025, an increase of 28% from last year. Another 600 vehicles were in transit to Saudi Arabia, where they will be assembled at its new AMP-2 plant, Lucid’s first international manufacturing facility.
At this pace, Lucid will easily top the roughly 10,200 vehicles it delivered last year in 2025 at around 12,500. Lucid will likely see even more growth this year, with customer deliveries of its first electric SUV starting soon.
Advertisement – scroll for more content
During the Gravity SUV’s “celestial arrival” last week in NYC, Lucid’s interim CEO Marc Winterhoff said the EV maker is “nearly finished building all the vehicles that we wanted to build to put them into our studio and for test drives.”
Q4 2022
Q1 2023
Q2 2023
Q3 2023
Q4 2023
Full-year 2023
Q1 2024
Q2 2024
Q3 2024
Q4 2024
Full-year 2024
Q1 2025
Lucid EV deliveries by quarter
1,932
1,406
1,404
1,457
1,734
6,001
1,967
2,394
2,781
3,099
10,241
3,109
Lucid (LCID) EV deliveries by quarter 2023 to Q1 2025
Winterhoff added, “by the end of April, we will resume customer deliveries of the Gravity.” Lucid delivered the first models in December, but they were for employees, friends, and family.
Lucid calls the Gravity a “no compromise” SUV with a range of up to 450 miles, 120 cubic feet of interior space, advanced technology, and sports car-like performance. The Gravity Grand Touring starts at $94,900, while the Touring model will arrive later this year at $79,900.
Lucid Gravity Grand Touring in Aurora Green (Source: Lucid)
The new delivery record comes after Winterhoff told Fox Business last week that Lucid has seen a “dramatic uptick over the past two months” in orders from former Tesla drivers.
Currently, “50% of all the orders we have are from former Tesla owners,” Lucid’s CEO said. Winterhoff added that many are “looking for an option to not continue having a Tesla.”
Will we see the trend continue? Tesla announced earlier today that it delivered 336,681 vehicles in the first quarter, far less than the 390,000 Wall Street analysts expected.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.