Electric Bike Company unveils low-cost US-built 28 mph moto-style e-bike
Newport Beach, California-based Electric Bike Company has just launched its newest e-bike, the Model J. Not only does it come with some impressive specs, but the introductory pricing borders on unbelievable.
The 28 mph e-bike (unlockable from the 20 mph factory setting) takes on a SUPER73-style minibike design scheme that has become common in the industry lately. It’s a popular frame style among younger riders, offering motorcycle vibes in an e-bike package.
It may be a popular format, but what isn’t as common is the extreme customization opportunity available on the Electric Bike Company Model J. Thanks to its California-based production, literally almost every single area of the bikes can be customized to each customer’s preferences.
Let’s start with the parts that remain standard though, because there are fewer of those.
All of the Model J e-bikes come with the same hydroformed aluminum frame, rear hub motor (with 10-year warranty), dual-piston hydraulic disc brakes, front and rear LED lights with an auto-on feature when the sun goes down, LCD color display with USB charger, and stainless-steel rust-free hardware throughout.
From there, the rest of the bike is customizable.
There are three 48V batteries options to choose from: 14Ah (672Wh), 28Ah (1,344Wh), and 42Ah (2,016Wh). Those three batteries options offer maximum ranges on pedal assist of 65 miles (104 km), 130 miles (208 km), and 195 miles (314 km). All of the batteries come with a five-year warranty.
For those making use of that pedal assist, a torque sensor is available as an optional upgrade to offer a nicer pedal assist experience. For everyone else relying mostly on the throttle to zip around, you’ll be able to choose between a thumb throttle or a half-twist throttle.
The handlebars supporting those throttle options are customizable as well, with riders having the option between normal BMX-style bars or even higher ape-hanger bars like you’d find on a classic chopper. Riders can choose between either rubber bar end grips or hand-stitched vegan leather, as well as either silver or black handlebars.
Continuing down the bike, the 24″ wheels are rocking 3″ wide tires that thread the needle between nimbleness and comfort. Speaking of needles, they’re also puncture-resistant e-bike tires with the option of either brown or black sidewalls.
The standard front fork on the Model J is rigid, but riders have the option of selecting an 80mm-travel suspension fork with adjustable preload and hydraulic lockout.
On the rear, a choice of either a single-speed or 7-speed drivetrain lets riders dial in just how much pedal control they want.
Other optional upgrades include a rear rack with MIK compatibility for mounting cargo accessories, an anti-theft alarm, and a lighting kit that adds high/low beams, turn signals, brake lights, and horn.
And that option list doesn’t even include the color choices. Not only can you choose between different colors for components, like black/brown saddles and black/silver rims and handlebars, but you can also customize the paint color. The three base colors of white, black, and red are complemented by another 40 (yes, forty) paint color options including a number of interesting metallic paint options to really make the Model J shine.
That’s because Electric Bike Company built its own extensive painting facility, allowing it to customize each bike, including separate colors on all of the components such as the fork, chain guard, basket, etc. The company even has its own helmets with built-in front/rear LED lights and that can be custom painted to match the bike. Even the helmets have multiple customization options beyond just the shell color, like different trim and strap colors.
I tried my hand at EBC’s bike customization wizard on the site and designed the custom Model J below with semi-matching helmet, though my wife will tell you that I don’t have much of an eye for aesthetics. I should probably let her design one instead if I really want it to look good.
As impressive as all of these customization options are, the biggest shocker here is likely the price. The Model J will come with an MSRP of $1,499, but is now available for pre-order at just $1,199 with a five- to six-week wait for delivery. Even without the promotion, $1,499 is a very fair price. But at $1,199, that makes this bike a steal.
Of course keep in mind that several of the options listed above are paid upgrades. For example, the torque sensor will run you an extra $99, while custom paint jobs on the frame can be an extra $299.
Because the bikes are built locally in California, they are packaged fully assembled so that riders only need to open the box and ride. That means they sometimes require a larger delivery truck, but that also prevents your local UPS driver from just slowing down to kick the box out the back of the van, which seems to be the delivery method of choice in my neighborhood.
I’ve tested several e-bikes from EBC, as well as visited the company’s Newport Beach factories to see how they build and package their e-bikes first hand. It’s frankly inspiring to see so many local Californians lacing motors into wheels, painting frames, wiring e-bikes, assembling batteries, and performing every other step of the process that we normally associate with nameless overseas factories.
We’ll be sure to report back as soon as we can get our hands on one of these new Model J e-bikes to let you know how it rides. But from the specs as well as from my own experience with other EBC e-bikes, the bar is set pretty high on this one.
You can check out my EBC factory tour video below.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Renewables increased their output by almost 10% and provided nearly a quarter of US electrical generation in 2024, according to newly released US Energy Information Administration (EIA) data.
Solar was still No 1
Solar remained the US’s fastest-growing source of electricity in 2024. Utility-scale and “estimated” small-scale (e.g., rooftop) solar combined increased by 26.9% in 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, according to the SUN DAY Campaign, which reviewed EIA’s “Electric Power Monthly” report data.
Utility-scale solar thermal and photovoltaic expanded by 32%, while small-scale solar increased by 15.3%. Together, solar was nearly 7% (6.91%) of total US electrical generation for the year.
In December alone, electrical generation by utility-scale solar expanded by 42% compared to December 2023.
Small-scale solar (systems <1 MW) accounted for 27.9% of all solar generation and provided 1.9% of the US electricity supply in 2024. In fact, small-scale solar PV generates over five times more electricity than utility-scale geothermal.
2024 renewables milestones
The electrical output of US wind farms in 2024 grew by 7.7% year-over-year. Wind remains the largest source of electrical generation among renewable energy sources, accounting for 10.3% of the US total.
Wind and solar combined provided more than 17.2% of US electrical generation during 2024. The mix of all renewables – wind, solar, hydropower, biomass, geothermal – provided 24.2% of total US electricity production in 2024 compared to 23.2% of electrical output a year earlier.
Between January and December, electrical generation by renewables grew by 9.6% compared to the same period the year before – nearly three times the growth rate of natural gas (3.3%) and over 10 times that of nuclear power (0.9%).
In December alone, electrical generation by renewables grew by 10.1% compared to December 2023.
Wind and solar together produced 15.9% more electricity than coal and came close to matching nuclear power’s share of total generation (17.2% vs. 17.8%).
The mix of renewables reinforced their position as the second largest source of electrical generation, behind only natural gas.
“Renewable energy sources now provide a quarter of the nation’s electricity,” said the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director, Ken Bossong. “Consequently, the rash efforts of the Trump Administration to undermine wind, solar, and other renewables will have serious negative consequences for the nation’s electricity supply and the economy.”
Read more: Renewables provided 90% of new US capacity in 2024 – FERC
If you live in an area that has frequent natural disaster events, and are interested in making your home more resilient to power outages, consider going solar and adding a battery storage system. 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 20-30% 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 Advisers to help you every step of the way. Get started here. –trusted affiliate link*
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Tesla has applied for a permit to operate a ride-hailing service in California, but it will be using human drivers rather than the promised robotaxi.
Last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed that Tesla would launch “unsupervised self-driving in Texas and California in Q2 2025.”
However, we suspected that this would not be “unsupervised self-driving’ in customer vehicles like Tesla has been promising since 2016, but an internal fleet with teleoperation support in a geo-fenced area for ride-hailing services, much like Waymo has been doing for years.
Sure enough, Musk confirmed last month that this was the plan for Austin in June. We describe this as a “moving of the goal post” for Tesla.
With the focus on Austin in June, Tesla stopped talking about California, which was announced to happen at the same time as Texas last year.
Now, Bloomberg reports that Tesla has applied for a ride-hailing permit in California:
The electric vehicle manufacturer applied late last year for what’s known as a transportation charter-party carrier permit from the California Public Utilities Commission, according to documents viewed by Bloomberg. That classification means Tesla would own and control the fleet of vehicles.
But this application is for a regular ride-hailing service, like Uber, albeit for an internal fleet rather than vehicles operated by customers.
Tesla has yet to apply for a permit to operate driverless vehicles:
In its communications with California officials, Tesla discussed driver’s license information and drug-testing coordination, suggesting the company intends to use human drivers, at least initially. Tesla is applying for the same type of permit used by Waymo, Alphabet Inc.’s robotaxi business. While Tesla has approval to test autonomous vehicles with a safety driver in California, it doesn’t have, nor has applied for, a driverless testing or deployment permit from the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles, according to a spokesperson.
Musk claimed that he believes Tesla will be able to achieve “unsupervised self-driving” in California by “the end of the year”, but he has claimed that every year for the past decade.
The latest available data shows that Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system is achieving about 500 miles between critical disengagement. Tesla has stated that it believes it needs to reach 700,000 miles between critical disengagement to be safer than humans.
Electrek’s Take
This is just a step for Tesla to test ride-hailing services ahead of autonomy. A nothing burger, really, since ride-hailing has obviously been solved already by several companies, Lyft, Uber, Didi, etc.
What needs to be solved is autonomous driving.
As I have been saying for the last year, I am sure Tesla will be able to launch an internal fleet with teleoperation support in a geo-fenced area for a ride-hailing service in California later this year like it plans to do in Austin in June, but that’s nowhere near what Tesla promised since 2016.
It’s a moving of the goal post, and it’s basically just proving that Tesla is able to do something similar to Waymo – 5 years later.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Tesla drivers in China are using the new Full Self-Driving update and are racking up fines as the system drives in bike lanes and makes illegal turns.
As we reported earlier this week, Tesla has started to release advanced driver-assist features sold under its Full Self-Driving (FSD) package in China.
The feature is called “Autopilot automatic assisted driving on urban roads” as Tesla seems more cautious about using the term “Full Self-Driving” in China, but it is a feature known for being in the FSD package everywhere else.
Tesla has been facing a lot of issues in releasing FSD features in China. The automaker has been limited in its neural net training due to restrictions about data coming in and out of the country, and it found it difficult to adapt to regulations regarding bus lanes and other China-specific road rules.
CEO Elon Musk warned that FSD in China would be a problem during Tesla’s earnings call last month due to the different rules. He mentioned bus lanes as an example:
By the way, were about the biggest challenges in making FSD work in China is the bus lanes are very complicated. And there’s like literally like hours of the day that you’re allowed to be there and not be there. And then if you accidentally go in that bus lane at the wrong time, you get an automatic ticket instantly. So, it’s kind of a big deal, bus lanes in China.
The automated ticketing system is not just for bus lanes and Tesla owners are learning about it the hard way.
Tesla owners have been testing out the features in live streams on social media and some of them are reporting getting numerous tickets for using FSD.
For example, this Tesla driver received 7 tickets in the space of a single drive because the FSD drove in bike lanes and made illegal maneuvers:
Car News China tracked several live streams and customer feedback on Chinese social media, and the consensus appears to be that it’s “pretty good, but with lots of bugs”.
The drivers are particularly impressed with how “natural” FSD drives, but they also noted that it still
Where the system lacks is the understanding of local traffic rules (such as no use of shoulder/bike lanes on turns, similar to the bus lane rules that Elon talked about in the most recent earnings call) and the sporadic use of wrong lanes (e.g. going straight in a left or right turn only lane) or navigation showing the vehicle in one lane when in fact it’s in another or wrong perception of objects (red balloons as traffic lights). Many of the live streams counted the number of traffic violations from the vehicle and the number of points that would have been taken off or licenses suspended (12 points = suspension) as a result.
Chinese media websites are now getting flooded with Tesla vehicles running red traffic lights, failing to recognize green lights, and driving on restricted lanes, like the video above.
The report also highlights how Tesla is facing strong competition in ADAS in China, with competitors like Nio, Xpeng, BYD, and others launching competitive products, which is not necessarily the case in other markets for Tesla.
Electrek’s Take
I feel like this is likely going to result in bad PR for Tesla in China. You can’t have drivers losing their licenses because FSD doesn’t recognize bike lanes.
Now, of course, Tesla will say that the driver remains responsible, but I don’t know how good Tesla’s messaging is on that front in China.
It’s going to be an interesting story to track in the coming months.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports11 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 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
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway