RCA (yes, the VCR brand) just unveiled a 34 mph electric bike
RCA, the century-old electronics brand that may be most famous for its consumer products like the VCR, has launched a series of electric bicycles with the unveiling of three new models. Two of the e-bikes are fairly ordinary models, but the third is a more aggressive and higher-power e-bike with a striking design.
The shift to e-bikes might sound strange for a brand known for radios, VCRs and other home entertainment products. However, the RCA brand was purchased by a parent company that brings new products to market using licensing deals with the brands under its umbrella.
In this case, the brand’s new e-bikes are designed “to accommodate a range of rider preferences from outdoor fitness enthusiasts to two-wheeled commuters.”
Based on the diverse types of e-bikes in the lineup, I’d say that looks accurate. The three models include the GoGo (a folding fat-tire e-bike), the Explorer (a step-through urban e-bike), and the Dirt-E (an off-road e-bike that looks like it got dressed in the dark).
The GoGo follows a typical fat-tire folding e-bike design like we’ve seen plenty of times before.
It includes front suspension, a pair of baskets for cargo duty, a rear 750W hub motor, fenders, LED lighting, and a multi-speed drivetrain. The bike’s 691 Wh battery is mounted behind the seat tube.
The bike folds in the middle of the frame and at the handlebars to create a compact pile of aluminum and rubber that should fit in most cars or closets.
The fat tires should help the RCA GoGo travel over rougher terrain, though the smaller 20″ diameter wheels won’t create quite as nice of an all-terrain ride as larger 26″ wheels could.
For riders that don’t need a bike that can origami itself into tight spaces, the RCA Explorer might be a better option. This city-styled e-bike has urban tires and uses a step-through frame that should make it easier to mount and dismount.
The bike includes front suspension, a fender and LED light package, a rear 750W hub motor, and hydraulic disc brakes. The 691 Wh battery in the Explorer is integrated into the frame yet is still removable for charging off of the bike.
The Explorer does not appear to come standard with racks or baskets for utility use, but mounting points in the front and rear would imply that those accessories could easily be added.
The Dirt-E is perhaps the most unique of the three new e-bike models. It features functional pedals and thus is still an electric bicycle in the eyes of the law despite its more dirt bike appearance. The full-suspension ride includes cast wheels with fat tires and a rear hub motor. The motor is rated for a continuous power rating of 1,000W and a peak power rating of 1,250W.
A typical bicycle saddle is replaced by something that would look more at home on a dirt bike or trials bike.
Despite the off-road look of the bike, it features tires that might be considered dual-purpose yet skew more toward on-road traction.
A 60V and 20Ah battery is mounted in between the frame rails above the downtube and offers a capacity of 1.2 kWh.
The RCA Dirt-E comes with a software-limited top speed to keep it legal in various jurisdictions but can be unlocked to a maximum of 55 km/h (34 mph). Such speeds would likely only be legal when used off of public streets.
We don’t have prices yet, but RCA says that the bikes should become available by late Q2 or early Q3 of this year.
What do you think of the new RCA e-bikes? Does the brand name inspire credibility? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments section below!
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EV sales kept up their momentum in December 2024, with incentives playing a big role, according to the latest Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book report.
December’s strong EV sales saw an average transaction price (ATP) of $55,544, which helped push the industry-wide ATP higher, according to Kelley Blue Book. The December ATP for an EV was higher year-over-year by 0.8%, slightly below the industry average, and higher month-over-month by 1.1%. Tesla ATPs were higher year-over-year by 10.5%.
Incentives for EVs remained elevated in December, although they were slightly lower month-over-month at 14.3% of ATP, down from 14.7% in November.
EV incentives were higher by an impressive 41% year-over-year and have been above 12% of ATP for six consecutive months. Strong sales incentives, which averaged more than $6,700 per sale in 2024, were one reason EV sales surpassed 1.3 million units last year, according to Cox Automotive, a new record for volume and share.
(My colleague Jameson Dow reported yesterday, “In 2024, the world sold 3.5 million more EVs than it did in the previous year … This increase is larger than the 3.2 million increase in EV sales from the previous year – meaning that EV sales aren’t just up, but that the rate of growth is itself increasing.”)
Kelley Blue Book estimated that in December, approximately 84,000 vehicles – or 5.6% of total sales – transacted at prices higher than $80,000 – the highest volume ever. KBB lumps gas cars and EVs together into this luxury vehicle category, so this is where Tesla Cybertruck is slotted.
However, Tesla bundles sales figures of Cybertruck with Model S, Model X, and Tesla Semi(!) into a category it calls “other models,” so we don’t know for sure exactly how many Cybertrucks Tesla sold in Q4, much less in December. However, Electrek‘s Fred Lambert estimates between 9,000 and 12,000 Cybertrucks were sold in Q4, and that’s not a stellar sales figure.
What will January bring when it comes to EV ATPs? What about tax credits? Check back in a month and I’ll fill you in.
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Tesla is now claiming that Cybertruck was the ‘best-selling electric pickup in US’ last year despite not even reporting the number of deliveries.
There’s a lot of context needed here.
As we often highlighted, Tesla is sadly one of, if not the most, opaque automakers regarding sales reports.
Tesla doesn’t break down sales per model or even region.
For comparison, here’s Ford’s Q4 2024 sales report compared to Tesla’s:
You could argue that Tesla has fewer models than Ford, and that’s true, but Tesla’s report literally has two lines despite having six different models.
There’s no reason not to offer a complete breakdown like all other automakers other than trying to make it hard to verify the health of each vehicle program.
This has been the case with the Cybertruck. Tesla is bundling its Cybertruck deliveries with Model S, Model X, and Tesla Semi deliveries.
Despite this lack of disclosure, Tesla has been able to claim that the Cybertruck has become “the best-selling electric pickup truck” in the US in 2024:
It very well might be true. Ford disclosed 33,510 F-150 Lightning truck deliveries in the US in 2024 while most estimates are putting Cybertruck deliveries at around 40,000 units.
Those are global deliveries, but Tesla only delivered the Cybertruck in the US, Canada, and Mexico in 2024, and most of the deliveries are believed to be in the US.
However, there’s essential context needed here, as we highlighted in our recent ‘Tesla Cybertruck sales are disastrous‘ article.
First off, Tesla had a backlog of over 1 million reservations for the Cybertruck that it has been building since 2019. This led many to believe Tesla already had years of demand baked in for the truck and that production would be the constraint.
However, based on estimates, again, because Tesla refuses to disclose the data, Cybertruck deliveries were either flat or down in Q4 versus Q3 despite Tesla introducing cheaper versions of the vehicle and ramping up production.
Again, that’s after just about 40,000 deliveries.
Furthermore, with almost 11,000 deliveries in Q4 in the US, Ford more likely than not outsold Cybertruck with the F-150 Lightning in Q4.
Electrek’s Take
Tesla is in damage control here. There’s no doubt that it is having issues selling the Cybertruck.
Inventory is full of Cybertrucks and Tesla is now discounting them and offering free lifetime Supercharging.
Tesla is great at ramping up production, and it’s clear the Cybertruck is not production-constrained anymore. It is demand-constrained despite having over 1 million reservations.
Again, those reservations were made before Tesla unveiled the production version, which happened to have less range and cost significantly more.
The upcoming cheaper single motor version should help with demand, but I have serious doubts Tesla can ramp this program up to more than 100,000 units in the US.
As a reminder, Tesla installed a production capacity of 250,000 units annually and Musk said he could see Tesla selling 500,000 Cybertrucks per year.
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