Major electric bike maker came close to financial collapse at end of 2022
Only a couple years ago, electric bicycle manufacturers couldn’t keep e-bikes on the shelves as they were being snatched up faster than they could be produced. But while some e-bike companies have managed to keep up a steady cash flow and balanced operations, others have run into financial difficulties. For European e-bike maker VanMoof, those difficulties turned into a dire situation just a few months ago.
As reported by Dutch media company Financieele Dagblad, VanMoof nearly ran out of money to pay its bills late last year.
The company has since managed to raise sufficient funding from its original British and Chinese investors to make it out of the woods, but there were surely some sleepless nights for the management team at the end of 2022.
VanMoof’s annual report, filed at the end of last year, described the company’s immediate need to raise capital. Without a quick injection of funds, the company could not guarantee its “ability to continue its activities beyond the first quarter of 2023.”
The report revealed that VanMoof had asked its suppliers to defer payment until after additional capital had been raised. That’s a move that other large bike companies including Giant have been forced to make recently, according to Cycling Industry News.
VanMoof’s electric bicycles fall into an interesting niche among European e-bikes. The e-bikes, which range from around €2,500 to €3,000 in Europe, rely on more affordable hub motor drivetrains and thus undercut the higher-cost European e-bikes made by companies like Urban Arrow, Riese & Müller, Gazelle, and others.
Those lower prices along with sleek design and strong branding have helped VanMoof scoop up higher sales volumes.
But VanMoof maintains a massive workforce, reaching as many as 900 employees at one point. The company also operates brand stores in several countries across North America, Europe, and Asia.
Despite reporting tens of millions of euros in revenue each year, maintaining that large employee base and broad geographic footprint of brick-and-mortar stores hasn’t been cheap. Fortunately for VanMoof fans though, the company’s most recent 11th hour cash infusion from its existing investor base seems to have helped VanMoof return to steady footing for now.
Such economic hardships haven’t only affected e-bike companies like VanMoof. Other light EV companies have found themselves in similarly precarious financial standing. We recently reported on Oregon-based Arcimoto suspending production and laying off a large number of employees while it seeks to quickly raise enough funding to continue operations.
In that case, Arcimoto has been hampered by its much higher cost of production for highway-legal motorcycle-class electric three-wheelers that have so far failed to achieve the demand required to meet Arcimoto’s large-scale production goals.
Electrek’s Take
I can’t fathom how VanMoof can sustain such a large workforce. Companies like Rad Power Bikes sell considerably more e-bikes than VanMoof, and even Rad had to undergo several rounds of layoffs in the last year or so. I imagine VanMoof’s payroll must be a huge part of its burn rate, especially since you can’t put off paying employees the way you can with suppliers of brakes and pedals. And of course those e-bike hunters don’t work for free.
I’m glad to hear that the company found the money it needs to go on though, especially since I’m still waiting for them to get around to producing that VanMoof V concept e-bike that is supposed to reach 31 mph (50 km/h). No one can let VanMoof die until I get to ride that slick-looking thing.
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Wisconsin is getting another boost in DC fast charging thanks to $14 million in recovered federal grants for 26 sites statewide. The funding comes through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, part of President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The award follows a legal battle earlier this year, when Governor Tony Evers (D-WI) joined other states in a lawsuit to force the Trump Administration to release over $60 million that Wisconsin was owed from the NEVI Formula Program. A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s illegal attempt to obstruct the NEVI program in June, clearing the way for planned NEVI EV charging projects to continue.
This round of sites fills in EV charging station coverage gaps following the initial awards announced in May 2024. Round one granted $22.4 million for 52 projects; 11 of those chargers are already online, and another 16 have been cleared for construction.
Across both award rounds, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) has now allocated more than $36.4 million toward 78 total projects. The first NEVI-backed fast charging stations opened earlier this year at Kwik Trip stores in Ashland, Menomonie, and Chippewa Falls.
The 26 new charging stations will be built along Wisconsin’s Alternative Fuel Corridor and sited at convenience stores, restaurants, hotels, grocery stores, and other travel stops. They’ll service the more than 37,000 EV drivers registered in the state, as well as road‑trippers and visitors, and will have a minimum of 150 kW per port.
Round two awardees include Tesla, Kwik Trip, and Universal EV. A full list of the 26 fast charging locations can be found here.
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Tesla reported three more crashes involving its Robotaxis in Austin, Texas – now bringing the total to 7 incidents despite low mileage and in-car supervisors preventing more accidents.
Since the launch of the ‘Robotaxi’ service in Austin, Texas, where Tesla moved the supervisor from the driver’s seat to the passenger seat, it now has to report crashes to NHTSA.
In the first month of operation in July, Tesla reported three crashes with its Robotaxi service.
The automaker reported one more Robotaxi crash last month, and this one was interesting because it coincided with Tesla announcing that the Robotaxi fleet had traveled 250,000 miles from its launch in late June to early November.
It revealed Tesla’s current Robotaxi crash rate, which is about 2x higher than Waymo’s, despite in-car supervisors that prevent an unknown number of crashes.
Now, Tesla has reported to NHTSA three more incidents that happened with the Robotaxi fleet in Austin in September:
| Report ID | Incident Date | Incident Time (24:00) | City State | Crash With | Highest Injury | Severity | Alleged SV | Pre-Crash Movement | CP Pre-Crash Movement | Narrative |
| 13781-1178 | 7 SEP-2025 | 13:08 | Austin TX | Animal | No Injured | Reported | Stopped | NM Crossing Roadway | [REDACTED, MAY CONTAIN CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION] | |
| 13781-1178 | 6 SEP-2025 | 03:43 | Austin TX | Non-Motorist: Cyclist | Property Damage. | No Injured | Reported | Stopped | Moving Alongside Roadway | [REDACTED, MAY CONTAIN CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION] |
| 13781-1178 | 4 SEP-2025 | 20:42 | Austin TX | Passenger Car | Property Damage. | No Injured | Reported | Proceeding Straight | Backing | [REDACTED, MAY CONTAIN CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION] |
| 13781-1168 | 7 SEP-2025 | 01:25 | Austin TX | Other Fixed Object | Property Damage. | No Injured | Reported | Making Left Turn | NaN | [REDACTED, MAY CONTAIN CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION] |
| 13781-1150 | 7 JUL-2025 | 03:45 | Austin TX | SUV | Property Damage. | No Injured | Reported | Stopped | Proceeding Straight | [REDACTED, MAY CONTAIN CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION] |
| 13781-1145 | 9 JUL-2025 | 12:20 | Austin TX | Other Fixed Object | Minor | W/O Hospit | alization | Other, see Narrative | NaN | [REDACTED, MAY CONTAIN CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION] |
| 13781-1137 | 5 JUL-2025 | 15:15 | Austin TX | SUV | Property Damage. | No Injured | Reported | Making Right Turn | Making Right Turn | [REDACTED, MAY CONTAIN CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION] |
Unlike other companies reporting to NHTSA, Tesla abuses the right to redact data reported through the system. The automaker redacts the “narrative” for each reported crash, preventing the public from knowing how the crashes happened and who is responsible.
Based on the limited information in Tesla’s reports, we know that one of the new crashes involved a Robotaxi driving into a car backing up, another involved a cyclist, and the last one involved an unknown animal.
Electrek’s Take
My favorite thing about reporting on those is the messages from Tesla fans who say: You don’t know how many of those Robotaxi are responsible for?
It’s funny because I agree, but whose fault is that? Tesla could do like every other company and report the narratives.
Waymo does, and it’s clear that it isn’t responsible for many of the crashes they are involved in. I am sure that’s the case with some of those Tesla Robotaxi crashes.
However, Waymo has hundreds of millions of rider-only autonomous miles, and Tesla has a few hundred thousand, all with a supervisor on board, a finger on a killswitch, ready to prevent further crashes. Who knows how many more crashes Tesla would have had without them?
I expect a few because humans generally have a crash, whether they are at fault or not, every 700,000 miles. Tesla has 7 in probably ~300,000 miles, which should be worrying to anyone, whether the Robotaxis were responsible or not.
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Hyundai is bringing “something big” to the LA Auto Show this week, and the teaser points to a slick new off-road electric SUV. Here’s our first look.
What is this off-road Hyundai SUV?
The LA Auto Show is just days away, and Hyundai is gearing up to steal the spotlight once again. Last year, it was the IONIQ 9, Hyundai’s first three-row electric SUV. What will it be this year?
Hyundai gave us a sneak peek of a new “extreme off-road show vehicle,” the Crater Concept, ahead of its upcoming debut.
Although details are still pretty slim at this point, the sketch shows a high-riding, rugged SUV, clearly designed for off-roading with massive tires and aggressive wheel arches.
Hyundai didn’t say what powertrain the off-road SUV will use, but given the closed-off grille and no visible tailpipes, all signs point to it being electric in some way. It could be a battery-electric (EV) or even a fuel-cell-electric vehicle (FCEV).
The Crater Concept looks a bit like the new Nexo, Hyundai’s dedicated hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. The updated Nexo introduces Hyundai’s new “Art of Steel” design language, which was first shown on the Concept THREE electric hot hatch in September.
Hyundai said the design theme “combines resilience with artistic form,” which exudes strength and sophistication.
The dour dot lamps on the Crater Concept look about the same as Hyundai’s new “HTWO” lamps, exclusive to its FCEVs.
Hyundai said the Crater Concept has been “crafted to amplify the same spirit and robustness found in Hyundai’s XRT production vehicles,” like the IONIQ 5 XRT, Santa Cruz XRT, and new Pallisade XRT Pro.
The design team at Hyundai Design North America also introduced its new design and ideation studio on Monday, codenamed “The Sandbox” internally.
Hyundai’s new creative hub is exclusively dedicated to creating new outdoor adventure vehicles and rugged Xtreme Rugged Terrain (XRT) gear.
Will the Nexo be next? It sure looks like it. Hyundai will reveal the Crater Concept during a livestream press conference at the LA Auto Show on November 20 at 9:45 am PT. Check back for updates.
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