Check out this new electric bike that was ‘designed for millennials and zoomers’
With the massive rollout of electric bicycles that has witnessed dozens of new product launches each month, it’s no surprise that we’re starting to see ever more specialized designs and marketing trying to reach new niches in the industry. But the recently released ENVO Stax is a new one to me – an e-bike that is self-described as being designed for millennials and Gen Z, also known as zoomers.
If you’re scratching your head a bit, I did the math for you. That basically means anyone from age 13-42, give or take a bit.
According to the Canadian electric bicycle maker ENVO, that’s the group that it has targeted with the Stax electric bike.
As the company explained:
ENVO Stax is designed to provide riders with a natural and familiar riding experience akin to that of a traditional bicycle, which makes it an excellent option for millennials and Gen Z riders who are looking for a good-looking, sleek, electric bike that is premium yet affordable.
Unless the bike is about to co-sign my rental agreement or somehow crash the economy so I can buy a house, I’m not quite sure how it’s specifically designed for millennials. But okay, I’ll bite. Let’s dig in here and see what’s under the skin.
Basically, the ENVO Stax looks like a hub motor-powered street bike with a fairly sporty stance, a seatpost-integrated battery, and a fairly lightweight design at just 19 kg (42 lb.). I know that seems heavy compared to your beater Huffy, but that’s pretty darn lightweight by e-bike standards.
The company describes the lightweight design as essential for “making it effortless to carry up stairs or maneuver around tight spaces.” Basically, they know we live in tiny apartments and that none of us has a garage to charge in. Best-case scenario, we’ve got a locked bicycle room in the building and we can then pop the seat out to bring it upstairs to charge the battery.
Speaking of charging a battery in your apartment, there’s good safety news here too. The battery is UL-listed, which is becoming a growing trend among e-bike manufacturers focused on safe and reliable battery construction methods. That means you can sleep soundly at night when you ignore the “don’t charge this battery unattended” warning label.
The battery may not be too heavy to lug upstairs by itself because it just isn’t very big. At 36V and 12.8Ah, there’s just 461 Wh of capacity. They say that will net you 100 km (62 miles) of range, but that’s got to be the low-power pedal assist figure. Zipping around on throttle at the bike’s top speed of 32 km/h (20 mph) is surely going to get you closer to half that range.
That throttle leaves me with a few questions though. The bike is described as a Class 1 e-bike, meaning pedal assist only (no throttle). But there’s clearly a thumb throttle on the left handlebar in the product images. There’s another head scratcher for you.
The ENVO Stax comes standard with 500W of power, hydraulic disc brakes, built-in LED lighting, and an 8-speed Shimano transmission.
It also comes with a fairly steep price of $2,479. Sure, the frame is nicely welded with smooth joints. And there are some decently nice parts like the hydraulic brakes. But that’s a significantly more expensive entry price than a lot of other higher-performing e-bikes out there.
So the price doesn’t feel very millennial or Gen Z friendly, though apparently, it’s more about what’s inside.
According to ENVO’s CEO Ali Kazemkhani, the millennial and Gen Z focus is perhaps more related to the bike’s design and handling like an old-school pedal bike:
The ENVO Stax is aimed at millennials and Gen Z riders who want a good-looking, sleek, electric bike that is premium yet affordable. The most important thing for us when designing this ebike was to make sure that it rides and feels like a traditional bike so that user doesn’t have to compromise on ride feel for the added benefits of an ebike.
Electrek’s Take
The ENVO Stax looks like a nice bike. There’s nothing wrong with it. 500W, fairly lightweight, good brakes, built-in lighting, smooth welds for an attractive design. Sounds good.
But that price is killing me. I don’t know where the justification is coming from.
For that much, it better also come with a rear rack, included fenders, and a pamphlet explaining why a credit score is important. Then it’d be a bit more Gen Z-friendly.
For now though, this millennial is going to keep wiggling his discontinued RadMission into his apartment complex’s elevator, one wheel waving carefree in the air.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you combine a fruit cart, a cargo bike, and a Piaggio Ape all in one vehicle, now you’ve got your answer. I submit, for your approval, this week’s feature for the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week column – and it’s a beautiful doozie.
Feast your eyes on this salad slinging, coleslaw cruising, tuber taxiing produce chariot!
I think this electric vegetable trike might finally scratch the itch long felt by many of my readers. It seems every time I cover an electric trike, even the really cool ones, I always get commenters poo-poo-ing it for having two wheels in the rear instead of two wheels in the front. Well, here you go, folks!
Designed with two front wheels for maximum stability, this trike keeps your cucumbers in check through every corner. Because trust me, you don’t want to hit a pothole and suddenly be juggling peaches like you’re in Cirque du Soleil: Farmers Market Edition.
To avoid the extra cost of designing a linked steering system for a pair of front wheels, the engineers who brought this salad shuttle to life simply side-stepped that complexity altogether by steering the entire fixed front end. I’ve got articulating electric tractors that steer like this, and so if it works for a several-ton work machine, it should work for a couple hundred pounds of cargo bike.
Featuring a giant cargo bed up front with four cascading fruit baskets set up for roadside sales, this cargo bike is something of a blank slate. Sure, you could monetize grandma’s vegetable garden, or you could fill it with your own ideas and concoctions. Our exceedingly talented graphics wizard sees it as the perfect coffee and pastry e-bike for my new startup, The Handlebarista, and I’m not one to argue. Basically, the sky is the limit with a blank slate bike like this!
Sure, the quality doesn’t quite match something like a fancy Tern cargo bike. The rim brakes aren’t exactly confidence-inspiring, but at least there are three of them. And if they should all give out, or just not quite slow you down enough to avoid that quickly approaching brick wall, then at least you’ve got a couple hundred pounds of tomatoes as a tasty crumple zone.
The electrical system does seem a bit underpowered. With a 36V battery and a 250W motor, I don’t know if one-third of a horsepower is enough to haul a full load to the local farmer’s market. But I guess if the weight is a bit much for the little motor, you could always do some snacking along the way. On the other hand, all the pictures seem to show a non-electric version. So if this cart is presumably mobile on pedal power alone, then that extra motor assist, however small, is going to feel like a very welcome guest.
The $950 price is presumably for the electric version, since that’s what’s in the title of the listing, though I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. I’ve bought a LOT of stuff on Alibaba, including many electric vehicles, and the too-good-to-be-true price is always exactly that. In my experience, you can multiply the Alibaba price by 3-4x to get the actual landed price for things like these. Even so, $3,000-$4,000 wouldn’t be a terrible price, considering a lot of electric trikes stateside already cost that much and don’t even come with a quad-set of vegetable baskets on board!
I should also put my normal caveat in here about not actually buying one of these. Please, please don’t try to buy one of these awesome cargo e-trikes. This is a silly, tongue-in-cheek weekend column where I scour the ever-entertaining underbelly of China’s massive e-commerce site Alibaba in search of fun, quirky, and just plain awesomely weird electric vehicles. While I’ve successfully bought several fun things on the platform, I’ve also gotten scammed more than once, so this is not for the timid or the tight-budgeted among us.
That isn’t to say that some of my more stubborn readers haven’t followed in my footsteps before, ignoring my advice and setting out on their own wild journey. But please don’t be the one who risks it all and gets nothing in return. Don’t say I didn’t warn you; this is the warning.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Environment
Podcast: Trump/GOP go after EV/solar, Tesla, Ford, GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
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 Trump’s Big Beautiful bill becoming law and going after EVs and solar, Tesla, Ford, and GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
Today’s episode is brought to you by Bosch Mobility Aftermarket—A global leader and trusted provider of automotive aftermarket parts. To celebrate Amazon Prime Day July 8th through 11th, Bosch Mobility is offering exclusive savings on must-have auto parts and tools. Learn more here.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
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.
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:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
- Electrek FSGP 2025: New teams, new cars, same solar spirit
- Congress votes to send 2 million US jobs to China, increase deficit, energy costs
- Tesla (TSLA) confirms 384,000 deliveries in Q2 2025, right on expectations
- Tesla prototype sparks speculation: a Model Y, maybe slightly smaller
- Tesla launches Oasis Supercharger with solar farm and off-grid batteries
- Tesla unveils its LFP battery factory, claims it’s almost ready
- Here’s why Ford’s electric vehicle sales crashed by nearly a third in Q2
- The Chevy Equinox EV is GM’s breakout star, but that’s not the only surprise
- Xpeng launches G7, a new Tesla Model Y competitor for just $27,000
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike