Believe it or not, a stranger in China sent a massive shipping crate to my house with what supposedly contained an electric micro-car. What would happen next was far from an ordinary Tuesday.
It all started with a strange message from someone in China. “Can we send you an electric car?”
For those who know me, that might not actually sound so strange.
If you don’t already follow my writing, then you might not know that I have two major passions. The first is electric micromobility, which spans everything from electric bikes and e-scooters to electric motorcycles and other rideables. But my other more eccentric passion involves all the weird little electric vehicles produced in China for the local Chinese market. I’m not talking “real” cars. I’m talking about the weirder stuff. I write a weekly column about my interesting window-shopping finds, such as three-wheeled electric RVs and tiger-shaped e-buses.
This isn’t my first electric micro-car (or micro-truck) rodeo, to say the least.
Somehow I’ve become something of the guru for imported weird Chinese EVs, which I guess is how this internet stranger found me.
I’ll call her Katherine because that’s her name, or at least her English name. Katherine explained that she works for a Chinese manufacturer known as Minghong. They make all sorts of small electric vehicles, such as micro-cars, tuk-tuks, mini-trucks and more. They claim an annual production of 120,000 vehicles, so they must not be a small potato in the Chinese mini-EV market. Katherine had seen one of my Chinese micro-vehicle unboxing videos that racked up 10 million views on YouTube, and she asked if I wanted to make a similar video for their electric micro-car to see what kind of quality Minghong can produce.
“Sign me up!” was my response.
Several long weeks later, I watched a box truck roll up to my family’s Florida driveway and unload one of the jankiest-looking shipping crates I’d ever seen.
Armed with a knife and a power drill, I went to work.
After shucking layers of plywood with seemingly unnecessary three-inch staples sticking through into the air, followed by layer after layer of foam wrapping, I finally arrived at the treasure inside: an adorable little white micro-car enclosed in a steel tube cage.
The adorable 7’9” long (236 cm) electrical vehicle, adorned on each side with a big flying Panda in a cape, seemed to have arrived more or less in good shape.
There was some slight body damage at the rear, but considering the vehicle was still protected inside a steel cage, I assume that happened at the factory.
Since I was a few thousand miles from home and using my family’s driveway, I had to knock on the neighbors’ doors and beg my way to a borrowed angle grinder so I could cut the cage away from the car. After a half-hour of delicate, high-speed metalwork later, I had four of the smallest automotive tires I’d ever seen sitting on the pavement. See my full video for the unboxing process in glorious Technicolor.
The battery was unfortunately empty due to the switch being left in the “On” position during its long sea voyage to the US. But luckily, they included an oddly high-powered 1,500W charger, filling the 60V 50Ah lithium battery in around 2.5 hours. Most of these micro-cars come with much weaker chargers, but this one was a beauty.
After an initial charge of the battery, I took the maiden drive solo so I wouldn’t risk anyone else with my silly shenanigans. Unfortunately, that also meant I couldn’t share the joy with any other delighted souls. The accelerator was surprisingly smooth as I blasted through the neighborhood, using all 3,000W of power I had at my disposal. Windows down and wind in my hair, I put that pedal to the plastic and was rewarded with the roaring “whir” of the rear axle-mounted motor.
To be fair, the acceleration may be smooth, but it isn’t particularly quick. But then again, neither is the braking.
There are only two brakes, one on each rear wheel. They’re hydraulic disc brakes, but they still require a bit more leg force than a traditional car to activate. Despite not having as powerful of an effect as modern power brakes, they worked decently well. I never felt like I didn’t have enough braking power; I just knew I had to step on the pedal harder than in a typical car. I’d say that makes sense since this is anything but a typical car.
The sole rear braking feature also meant that later in the day, after a rain, I could power slide around turns by locking the rear wheels up midturn. Several rainy days (and the fact that I had to park outside) also proved that the door weatherstripping worked great, keeping the car bone dry inside.
One of these things is not like the others…
I should also mention a note here about street legality: This is absolutely NOT a street-legal vehicle in most of the US. You might be able to get away with it in communities that make exceptions for golf carts. (Think Georgia’s Peachtree City, Florida’s Key Biscayne, or other similar communities where golf carts reign supreme.) You’ll never be able to register this as an LSV (low-speed vehicle) at your local DMV since it doesn’t meet the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for these types of micro-cars in the US. And so I don’t condone using such nonlegal vehicles on public roads. But for science, I did just that. I stayed on small neighborhood roads where it was difficult to even get up to the MingHong’s 25 mph (40 km/h) limit, so I wasn’t putting myself or anyone else at much risk. But again, I don’t condone using a nonlegal vehicle on public roads.
But after testing it myself and discovering that it actually drives really well, I decided it was time to load up my nieces and nephews and cruise the neighborhood.
Left: Chauferring around my nephews. Right: My sister takes a turn at the wheel.
The little car, which appears to be the S1 Pro model from Minghong, is set up with a single wide driver’s seat and a rear bench for passengers.
I found that I could fit three kids on the rear bench and that my wife and I could comfortably fit in the driver’s bench at the same time since it was so wide. With five people in the car, performance wasn’t even that hindered, though I was definitely driving more conservatively with that much precious cargo on board.
The steering wheel is set up for center drive and, thus, is in the middle of the car. Strangely though, the pedals are offset to the right, as if the rest of the car was intended to be right-hand drive. It’s not too much of an issue when you’re alone in the cockpit since your right foot controls the pedals, and the car simply isn’t that wide anyway. But when sharing the frontbench, you wind up steering with the wheel slightly off to your left side. I thought it would feel weird, but frankly, the entire vehicle is so weird that the fact that I wasn’t sitting directly behind the steering wheel didn’t strike me as particularly odder than anything else.
The kids definitely enjoyed the rides and had fun waving to their friends and all the onlookers as we cruised the hood. Throughout a week of use, we even managed to fit the Minghong into several local errands, such as taking my nephew to his soccer game at the local community park, hitting up the pool, and other short local trips that didn’t require bringing a “real” car into the mix. When using the Minghong by myself, I made use of the folding feature in the rear bench seat to create more storage space, kind of like a hatchback (just without the hatch in back).
The Minghong has passed most of my tests quite well. It takes some getting used to, and it has some drawbacks.
There’s no air conditioning, though the massive windows and the sunroof with dual ventilation fans help keep plenty of air moving through the vehicle.
The door handles are really far back on the doors, to the point where you have to reach behind your shoulder to grab them, but that seems to be necessitated by the simple door latch design on the long doors that provide access to the rear seat as well.
I wasn’t really digging the panda paint job, though I get that Asian car aesthetics skew more toward cartoons and pastels than the typical American auto fashion. I took some liberties and decided to do a bit of vinyl wrap work to update the appearance to something a little more to my liking. Big thanks to my sister for help there, as she has a lot more vinyl wrap experience than I do. I don’t have the GPS data to prove it, but I feel like the racing stripes added a solid two to three more miles per hour to the top speed.
I’m not exactly sure what Minghong’s play was here, sending me a micro-car. I don’t think they’re expecting a large American market, especially since their vehicles aren’t street-legal in the US (and since you can already buy some awesome street-legal electric micro-cars for reasonable prices in the US). But perhaps they’re hoping to make a name for their factory in order to reach folks in countries where these Chinese micro-cars can be imported and used legally.
And I hope they weren’t counting on me falsely glorifying their vehicle. If so, they’ll be disappointed to hear that I shared how the rear bench literally fell off its hinge the second time I lifted it up, as seen in my video. So I’m not going to sugarcoat this thing: even though it’s super fun and useful, the build quality leaves something to be desired in a few areas.
But I never felt like the mechanics weren’t solid. The suspension is pretty decent; it’s got solid rack and pinion steering, hydraulic disc brakes, a backup camera, auto glass (though only certified to the Chinese standard, not USDOT), full lighting, mirrors, windshield wiper with washer fluid reservoir, Bluetooth music player, etc. It even has machined aluminum wheels instead of cheap steel rims. There are some nice touches here.
I have absolutely no idea what this vehicle costs, though my own experience doing personal imports tells me that the final dent in your American bank account would be around four times the factory price on the window sticker or Alibaba page.
The whole experience basically reinforced two things for me: Electric micro-cars are incredibly fun and convenient vehicles, and that Minghong builds a decent car.
I’ve already been a huge fan of electric micro-cars for years, basically ever since getting my first one. And after testing a couple of micro-car models from New York-based Wink Motors, I can tell that a wave of tiny electric cars is destined to descend on the US. There’s just too much utility here to ignore them. They’re cheap, fun, effective, easy to park, take up a fraction of the garage or parking space, and basically deserve a larger audience than they currently enjoy. But I’m sure that audience will be growing, and quickly.
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BMW Motorrad’s futuristic electric scooter just got its first real refresh since beginning production in 2021. The BMW CE 04, already one of the most capable and stylish electric maxi-scooters on the market, now gets a set of upgraded trim options, new aesthetic touches, and a more robust list of features that aim to make this urban commuter even more appealing to riders looking for serious electric performance on two wheels.
The BMW CE 04 has always stood out for its sci-fi styling and high-performance drivetrain. It’s built on a mid-mounted liquid-cooled motor that puts out 31 kW (42 hp) and 62 Nm of torque. That’s enough to rocket the scooter from 0 to 50 km/h (31 mph) in just 2.6 seconds – quite fast for anything with a step-through frame.
The top speed is electronically limited to 120 km/h (75 mph), making it perfectly capable for city riding and fast enough to hold its own on highway stretches. Range is rated at 130 km (81 miles) on the WMTC cycle, thanks to the 8.9 kWh battery pack tucked low in the frame.
But while the core performance hasn’t changed, BMW’s 2025 update focuses on refining the package and giving riders more options to tailor the scooter to their taste. The new CE 04 is available in three trims: Basic, Avantgarde, and Exclusive.
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The Basic trim keeps things clean and classic with a Lightwhite paint scheme and a clear windshield. It’s subtle, sleek, and very much in line with the CE 04’s clean-lined aesthetic. The Avantgarde model adds a splash of color with a Gravity Blue main body and bright São Paulo Yellow accents, along with a dark windshield and a laser-engraved rim. The top-shelf Exclusive trim is where things get fancy, with a premium Spacesilver metallic paint job, upgraded wind protection, heated grips, a luxury embroidered seat, and its own unique engraved rim treatment.
There are also a few new tech upgrades baked into the options list. Riders can now spec a 6.9 kW quick charger that reduces the 0–80% charge time to just 45 minutes (down from nearly 4 hours with the standard 2.3 kW onboard charger). Tire pressure monitoring, a center stand, and BMW’s “Headlight Pro” adaptive lighting system are also available as add-ons, along with an emergency eCall system and Dynamic Traction Control.
BMW has kept the core riding components in place: a steel-tube chassis, 15-inch wheels, Bosch ABS (with optional ABS Pro), and the impressive 10.25” TFT display with integrated navigation and smartphone connectivity. The under-seat storage still swallows a full-face helmet, and the long, low frame design means the scooter looks like something out of Blade Runner but rides like a luxury commuter.
With these updates, BMW seems to be further cementing the CE 04’s role at the high end of the electric scooter market. It’s not cheap, starting around €12,000 in Europe and around US $12,500 in the US, with prices going up from there depending on configuration. However, the maxi-scooter delivers real motorcycle-grade performance in a package that’s easier to live with for daily riders.
Electrek’s Take
I believe that the CE 04’s biggest strength has always been that it’s not trying to be a toy or a gimmick. It’s a real vehicle. Sure, it’s futuristic and funky looking, but it delivers on its promises. And in a market that’s still surprisingly sparse when it comes to premium electric scooters, BMW has had the lane mostly to itself. That may not last forever, though. LiveWire, Harley-Davidson’s electric spin-off brand, has teased plans for a maxi-scooter-style urban electric vehicle in the coming years, but as of now, it remains something of an undefined future plan.
Meanwhile, BMW is delivering not just a concept bike but a mature, well-equipped, and ready-to-ride electric scooter that keeps improving. For riders who want something faster and more capable than a Class 3 e-bike but aren’t ready to jump to a full-size electric motorcycle, the CE 04 hits a sweet spot. It delivers the performance and capability of a commuter e-motorcycle, yet with the approachability of a scooter. And with these new trims and upgrades, it’s doing it with even more style.
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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.
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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.
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The OPEC logo is displayed on a mobile phone screen in front of a computer screen displaying OPEC icons in Ankara, Turkey, on June 25, 2024.
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Eight oil-producing nations of the OPEC+ alliance agreed on Saturday to increase their collective crude production by 548,000 barrels per day, as they continue to unwind a set of voluntary supply cuts.
This subset of the alliance — comprising heavyweight producers Russia and Saudi Arabia, alongside Algeria, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates — met digitally earlier in the day. They had been expected to increase their output by a smaller 411,000 barrels per day.
In a statement, the OPEC Secretariat attributed the countries’ decision to raise August daily output by 548,000 barrels to “a steady global economic outlook and current healthy market fundamentals, as reflected in the low oil inventories.”
The eight producers have been implementing two sets of voluntary production cuts outside of the broader OPEC+ coalition’s formal policy.
One, totaling 1.66 million barrels per day, stays in effect until the end of next year.
Under the second strategy, the countries reduced their production by an additional 2.2 million barrels per day until the end of the first quarter.
They initially set out to boost their production by 137,000 barrels per day every month until September 2026, but only sustained that pace in April. The group then tripled the hike to 411,000 barrels per day in each of May, June, and July — and is further accelerating the pace of their increases in August.
Oil prices were briefly boosted in recent weeks by the seasonal summer spike in demand and the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, which threatened both Tehran’s supplies and raised concerns over potential disruptions of supplies transported through the key Strait of Hormuz.
At the end of the Friday session, oil futures settled at $68.30 per barrel for the September-expiration Ice Brent contract and at $66.50 per barrel for front month-August Nymex U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude.