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In yet another entry of the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week that takes us into new territory, this week it’s time to grab your backpack and lunch money for your first day of school. Or at least your first day out and about on a new electric school bus. That’s right, this awesome electric school bus could be yours… if you want to bring it over from China.

Electric school buses aren’t unique; we’re starting to see more and more of them in North America. But normally you have to be a kid to ride in one, which just seems unfair to me.

Fortunately the friendly engineers behind the fun electric vehicles we often dredge up from the depths of Alibaba’s online shopping catalog have found a solution: selling electric school buses directly to commoners like you and me!

electric school bus

While this isn’t your typical stretched-out Blue Bird school bus, this stubbier model is no slouch, either. It can reach a top speed of between 111 to 130 km/h (69 to 81 mph)! If it’s fast enough to take a bunch of glue eaters on the highway to the local science museum field trip, it’s fast enough for pretty much anything we could want to do with it.

At this point you may be wondering just what I would do with my own electric school bus. Well, not pick up snot-nosed kids for school, that’s for sure! Instead, think of all the cool things this bus could be turned into. You could have your own party bus, or convert it into an awesome electric RV or camper van. At $50,000, it’s not exactly an impulse purchase. But then again, electric buses typically cost several times as much, so maybe it is a deal after all!

School buses actually offer a unique and cost-effective opportunity for transformation into fully functional campers. It takes solid construction to get parents to trust these vehicles with their precious little crumb crunchers. The rugged design, spacious interiors, and sturdy frames of school buses make them great for retrofitting to create comfortable and personalized mobile living spaces.

You can rip out the original seating previously used by all those little ankle biters and then creatively repurpose the generous square footage. The sky is the limit when it comes to designing custom layouts for sleeping quarters, kitchens, bathrooms, and lounging areas. And since this bus starts life as an electric vehicle, it’s even better for a green conversion with a roof full of solar panels and a hidden composting toilet in a cabinet.

With all of the electric school buses starting to enter operation with actual crib lizards en route to school, a couple decades from now there will surely be a cottage industry of repurposing used electric school buses. But if you don’t want to wait that long, and don’t mind a hood full of Mandarin characters, then perhaps ordering a Chinese electric school bus is for you!

electric school bus

Okay, let’s end on a serious note: Please don’t buy this thing. It’s fun to imagine getting a bargain basement electric bus, but this ordeal is surely rife with problems.

As I’ve learned from my own Chinese EV imports, you often don’t get exactly what you expect and it will always cost significantly more than you budgeted. So don’t imitate my fellow foolish readers and buy weird things from halfway around the world. Let’s just all enjoy the magic of Alibaba window shopping!

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China’s nationwide ‘cash for clunkers’ trade-in program causing huge e-bike boom

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China's nationwide 'cash for clunkers' trade-in program causing huge e-bike boom

While much of the Western world is still figuring out how to get more people on electric bikes, China just flipped a switch, and the results are staggering. Thanks to a generous nationwide trade-in program rolled out around six months ago, China has seen an explosive surge in electric bicycle sales, with over 8.47 million new e-bikes hitting the road in the first half of 2025 alone.

The program, which offers subsidies to riders who trade in their old, often outdated electric bikes for newer, safer, and more efficient models, has sparked a new e-bike sale boom in a country already dominated by e-bike travel. In major provinces like Jiangsu, Hebei, and Zhejiang, over one million new e-bikes were sold in each region in just six months. That’s a tidal wave of e-bike sales.

The incentives vary depending on location and the model being traded in, but for many consumers, the subsidies cover a substantial portion of a new e-bike’s price – enough to turn a “maybe next year” purchase into a “right now” upgrade. And these aren’t just budget bikes either. The program has driven demand for higher-quality models with better batteries, safer braking systems, and more reliable electronics, accelerating both adoption and innovation across the industry.

The move has proven successful in replacing the millions of older models with lower-quality lithium-ion batteries that had posed safety risks around the country. Instead, China has pushed for higher-quality lithium-ion batteries, a return to a newer generation of higher-performance AGM batteries, and even interesting new sodium-ion battery options.

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Most e-bikes in China look more like what we’d consider seated scooters

According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, more than 8.4 million consumers have participated in the e-bike trade-in program so far, contributing to a sales increase of 643.5% year-over-year and more than doubling sales month-over-month. Meanwhile, production of new electric bicycles rose by nearly 28%, as manufacturers scrambled to meet demand. The sales boosts have already been seen in the financial reports of major industry players like NIU.

And it’s not just the big players benefiting – over 82,000 small independent e-bike dealers reported average sales increases of ¥302,000 (around US $42,000), giving a serious boost to local economies.

What’s particularly striking here is how fast this happened. The program was officially launched late last year as part of a broader effort to stimulate domestic consumption and phase out outdated vehicles and appliances. But while most analysts expected gradual growth, the e-bike sector responded much more quickly. In less than a year, the trade-in subsidies have reshaped the electric bicycle market, creating a consumer-driven boom that shows no signs of slowing.

For those of us watching from outside China, it’s hard not to wonder what might happen if other countries tried something similar. While most families in Chinese cities already own an electric bike and thus see this as an opportunity to trade it in for a newer model, Western countries like the US are still figuring out how to stimulate commuters into buying their first e-bike.

It’s too soon to know exactly how long the boom will last or whether the momentum will carry into 2026 and beyond. We’ve seen bicycle industry bubbles grow and burst before. But one thing’s clear: with the right incentives, even modest ones, it’s possible to ignite real, large-scale change. China just proved it with nearly 8.5 million new e-bikes to show for it.

And if you’re wondering what it looks like when a country takes electric micromobility seriously, this is it.

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Day 1 of the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025 [Gallery]

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Day 1 of the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025 [Gallery]

Today was the official start of racing at the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025! There was a tremendous energy (and heat) on the ground at NCM Motorsports Park as nearly a dozen teams took to the track. Currently, as of writing, Stanford is ranked #1 in the SOV (Single-Occupant Vehicle) class with 68 registered laps. However, the fastest lap so far belongs to UC Berkeley, which clocked a 4:45 on the 3.15-mile track. That’s an average speed of just under 40 mph on nothing but solar energy. Not bad!

In the MOV (Multi-Occupant Vehicle) class, Polytechnique Montréal is narrowly ahead of Appalachian State by just 4 laps. At last year’s formula sun race, Polytechnique Montréal took first place overall in this class, and the team hopes to repeat that success. It’s still too early for prediction though, and anything can happen between now and the final day of racing on Saturday.

Congrats to the teams that made it on track today. We look forward to seeing even more out there tomorrow. In the meantime, here are some shots from today via the event’s wonderful photographer Cora Kennedy.

Stay tuned for more!

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Tesla sold 5,000 Cybertrucks Q2, Optimus is in chaos, plus: the Infinity Train!

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Tesla sold 5,000 Cybertrucks Q2, Optimus is in chaos, plus: the Infinity Train!

The numbers are in and they are all bad for Tesla fans – the company sold just 5,000 Cybertruck models in Q4 of 2025, and built some 30% more “other” vehicles than it delivered. It just gets worse and worse, on today’s tension-building episode of Quick Charge!

We’ve also got day 1 coverage of the 2025 Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix, reports that the Tesla Optimus program is in chaos after its chief engineer jumps ship, and a look ahead at the fresh new Hyundai IONIQ 2 set to bow early next year, thanks to some battery specs from the Kia EV2.

Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple PodcastsSpotifyTuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.

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