Electric bikes have exploded in popularity – and so have the risks. In Huntington Beach, California, rising e-bike crashes involving young riders prompted the city’s police department to launch what may be California’s first police-led e-bike safety course for kids, and it might be exactly the kind of inventive community-based program more places need.

E-bikes are transforming urban transportation: they’re fast, affordable, and efficient. In fact, a growing trend is seeing teenagers delay or eschew driver’s licenses altogether, often in favor of using an e-bike.

But e-bikes also introduce new safety challenges, especially for inexperienced riders. Huntington Beach reported 147 e-bike accidents in 2024, more than double its total just two years prior. As Mayor Pat Burns told the LA Times, “I saw several kids blow right through a red light, clueless to how close they came to getting slaughtered by the oncoming cars.”

Emergency room teams are sounding the alarm, too. Amy Frias of Children’s Hospital of Orange County said many of the injuries are as serious as car crash trauma, including fractures, concussions, and shattered kneecaps, especially among unhelmeted kids. The stakes are high, and traditional school safety programs aren’t always prepared to address the unique physics of electric bikes.

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Enter Huntington Beach PD’s new e-bike safety course. With the first session held this week at Spring View Middle School and taught by Sgt. Mike Thomas and other certified instructors, the free training pairs real-world skills like emergency braking, obstacle avoidance, and helmet awareness. The course includes hands-on drills in a cone-studded course and focuses on repeating exercises at increasingly faster speeds to help riders understand how those speeds can impact their reaction time and ability to operate the bikes effectively.

Teens navigated the course on their own electric bicycles. Images and videos from the event show an overwhelming number of Super73 e-bikes, a brand often scapegoated in the broader phenomenon of hazardous riding among teens, despite the company promoting the PedalAce e-bike rider education program and frequently partnering with young rider training events like these at local high schools. The company reportedly provided a free Super73 e-bike to be given away at the event this week.

Police Chief Eric Parra emphasized the importance of experiential learning. “You can tell kids how to act and how to behave and how to ride,” Parra explained. “But when you show them physically how 20 miles an hour is so much different than 10, then they start to realize. Then it becomes effective. Experiential learning is the only way to go.”

Parents were required to attend too, ensuring a shared conversation about risks, rules, and real-world riding situations. So far, early feedback suggests a positive impact. Huntington Beach Union High School District officials are reportedly considering making the program mandatory for students who ride e-bikes to school.

More free training sessions are planned, including three additional sessions taking place today.

Electrek’s Take

This is the kind of news I like to cover! We need more of this around the country. E-bike safety shouldn’t be an afterthought, and relying solely on regulation isn’t enough. With youth injuries rising, proactive, practical safety education is essential.

Huntington Beach PD’s rollout seems like an innovative and scalable solution, if the funding is there to repeat it on a larger scale. It’s also a signal that law enforcement, educators, and health professionals can – and should – collaborate on addressing the unfortunately darker side of e-bike popularity, that accidents can and likely will continue to rise. As cities invest in biking infrastructure and micromobility, matching that with hands-on training and helmet culture can be equally life-saving.

I say let’s champion, fund, and scale these programs from California to the rest of the country.

In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Xiaomi shocking the industry with YU7, Tesla’s Robotaxi launch, Rivian bringing back tank mode, and more.

The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.

Today, the episode is live at 12:15 a.m instead due to Fred’s travels in China and Seth’s in.

As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.

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After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:

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Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:

Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 12:15 a.m. ET (or the video after 1 a.m. ET):

Solar provided over 10% of total US electrical generation in April, wind and solar produced almost one-quarter, and the mix of all renewable energy generated nearly a third, according to data just released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Solar set new records in April and the first third of 2025

EIA’s latest monthly “Electric Power Monthly” report (with data through April 30, 2025), which was reviewed by the SUN DAY Campaign, confirms that solar continues to be the fastest-growing source of US electricity.

In April alone, electrical generation by utility-scale solar (>1 MW) increased by 39.3% while “estimated” small-scale (e.g., rooftop) solar PV increased by 11.8%. Combined, they grew by 31.3% and provided 10.7% of US electrical output.

Utility-scale solar thermal and PV expanded by 42.4% while that from small-scale systems rose by 11.4% during the first third of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. The combination of utility-scale and small-scale solar increased by 32.9% and was almost 7.7% of total US electrical generation for January-April, up from 6.1% a year earlier.

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As a result, solar-generated electricity easily surpassed hydropower output, at 6.0%. In fact, solar is now producing more electricity than hydropower, biomass, and geothermal combined.

Wind is still the renewable energy leader

Wind turbines produced 12.6% of US electricity in the first four months of 2025. Their output was 5.9% greater than the year before.

In April alone, wind provided 13.9% of US electricity supply, essentially equal to the share provided by coal.

Wind and solar now outproduce coal and nuclear

During the first third of 2025, electrical generation by wind plus utility-scale and small-scale solar provided 20.3% of the US total, up from 18.5% during the first four months of 2024. In just the month of April, solar plus wind accounted for 24.6% of US electrical output.

During the first four months of this year, the combination of wind and solar provided 20.2% more electricity than did coal, and 13.8% more than US nuclear power plants. In April alone, the disparity increased significantly when solar + wind outproduced coal and nuclear power by 77.1% and 40.2%, respectively.

Renewables are closing in on natural gas

The mix of all renewables (wind and solar plus hydropower, biomass, and geothermal) produced 10.3% more electricity in January-April than they did a year ago (9.7% more in April alone) and provided 27.7% of total US electricity production compared to 26.3% 12 months earlier.

Electrical generation by the combination of all renewables in April alone reached a new record and provided 32.8% of total US electrical generation. Moreover, renewables are now approaching the share provided by natural gas (35.1%), whose electrical output actually dropped by 4.4% during the month.  

For perspective, five years ago, in April 2020, the mix of renewables provided 24.4% of total electrical generation while natural gas accounted for 38.8%.

Consequently, the mix of renewables has further strengthened its position as the second largest source of electrical generation, behind only natural gas, with the gap closing rapidly.

Ken Bossong, the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director, noted:

Solar is now the fastest-growing major source of electricity and is generating more than hydropower, biomass, and geothermal combined, while wind plus solar provides more electricity than either coal or nuclear power, and the mix of all renewables is nearly matching the output of natural gas.

Yet, the Trump administration and the Republican Congress are seeking to pull the rug out from underneath renewables in favor of dirtier and more expensive fossil fuel and nuclear technologies. What are they thinking?

Read more: $15.5B in EV, renewable projects vanish as Senate eyes rollbacks

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