e-bikes are taking the spotlight today for all of the best environmentally-friendly deals going live to end the work week. REI has launched a new Big Bike Sale on electric vehicles at up to $900 off, to go alongside a fresh batch of offers on electric mowers, e-scooters, and more. Just don’t forget about all of the other best e-bike discounts around.
REI might not be the first name that comes to mind in the e-bike space, but the savings today really do speak for themselves. Direct from the REI website, the company has launched a Big Bike Sale that’s taking as much as 47% off a collection of its in-house bikes of both the pedal and electric variety. It really is the latter of the two we’re excited about, with the Co-op Cycles Generation e1.1 electric bike taking the spotlight at $798.99. Down from $1,499, today’s offer amounts to 46% in savings. And with savings of that caliber, you better believe it’s a new all-time low.
The Co-op Cycles Generation e1.1 arrives with five different modes of pedal-assist with a 350W motor helping you travel at up to 20 MPH. There’s a 40-mile range to back that, with a 417Wh battery pairing with front and rear lights, hydraulic disc brakes, and a SR Suntour suspension fork for smoother rides. Not to mention the fact that this bad boy is a whopping $700 off. Then be sure to check out all of the other e-bike discounts at up to $900 off courtesy of REI as we head into the weekend.
EGO’s Power+ 56V lawn mower is the perfect time to go electric
Amazon is now offering the EGO Power+ 21-inch 56V Cordless Electric Lawn Mower for $349 shipped. Typically fetching $429 this year, you’re now looking at the best price yet following the $80 discount. We have seen it on sale with this steep of savings attached, but it’s been a few months since an all-time low like today’s sale has arrived.
Powered by a 5Ah battery and rapid charger that are included in the box, this EGO Power+ mower arrives with a cordless design that can tackle medium-sized yards with a 45-minute runtime. Alongside a 21-inch cutting deck, there’s also 3-in-1 mowing features for bagging, mulching, and side discharging cut grass. Summer is now in full swing, making today’s price cut the perfect chance to finally ditch the gas mower from your arsenal and adopt a far more environmentally-friendly solution. All without having to pay full price, of course.
Gotrax’s just-released Eclipse Electric Scooter sees first discount
Seeing its first-ever discount, the all-new Gotrax Eclipse Electric Scooter is now on sale via Amazon. Dropping from the typical $600 price tag, today’s offer lands at $539.99 shipped. Saving you $60, this is the only chance to save since the new release first rolled onto the scene back in June and is of course a new all-time low. Spend 10 minutes walking around New York City, and you’re bound to see a handful of Gotrax scooters. Now you can own one too, as the discount today offers the just-released Gotrax Eclipse and its 20 MPH top speed for less.
Powered by a 500W motor, this electric scooter sports a 28-mile range to ensure it’s just as capable for trips to work and the store as it is for joyrides this summer. There’s a front suspension system alongside an integrated headlight and tail light. The whole package folds up when not in use, too, and while you are riding, you can monitor speed, range, and other riding stats in realtime with an onboard LED display.
Save $150 on this camping trip-ready Jackery solar kit
A bit more affordable way to have some extra power on-hand, the Jackery Solar Generator Explorer 500 kit is now on sale at Amazon. Dropping to $649 shippedafter you’ve clipped the on-page coupon, the savings land from the usual $799 MSRP. Today’s offer amounts to $150 in savings and is matching the best price of the year. Featuring a 518 watt-hour lithium-ion battery, this portable power station sports a 500W pure sine wave AC outlet, three 2.4A USB inputs, and a DC car port.
Ideal for everything from camping trips this summer to tailgates come fall or just the peace of mind have having extra power on-hand, Jackery’s Explorer 500 delivers plenty of power in a convenient and transportable package. It’s also quite handy to have around when the power goes out, too. You’ll also be able to refuel the power station with a solar panel for a truly off-grid setup, and one thankfully comes included in the box. The SolarSaga 100W is a great option for juicing up from just the sun, and it can unfold to quickly turn a bright sunny day into extra juice for the campsite.
e-bikes, a summer favorite!
Other new Green Deals landing this week
The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine.
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The Reliance Industries Ltd. oil refinery in Jamnagar, Gujarat, India, on Saturday, July 31, 2021.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
India is navigating a tricky balancing act after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened a “penalty” over its continued imports of Russian oil — a trade that New Delhi appears reluctant to end anytime soon.
Despite Trump telling reporters Friday that he “heard” India would halt purchases, officials in New Delhi have remained noncommittal. Foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the country decides its energy import sources “based on the price at which oil is available in the international market and depending on the global situation at that time.”
“The Indians must be having some confusion” following Trump’s threat — a reversal from the more tolerant approach taken under the Biden administration, Bob McNally, president of consulting firm Rapidan Energy Group, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”
“Now we’re flipping around and saying, ‘What are you doing taking all this Russian oil?'” McNally said.
In March 2022 — a month after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine — Daleep Singh, a former U.S. deputy national security adviser for international economics in the Biden administration, reportedly said that “friends don’t set red lines” and “there is no prohibition at present on energy imports from Russia.”
“What we would not like to see is a rapid acceleration of India’s imports from Russia as it relates to energy or any other exports that are currently being prohibited by us or by other aspects of the international sanctions regime,” Singh said.
On July 30, Trump announced that India would face a 25% tariff beginning Aug. 1, along with an unspecified “penalty” for buying Russian oil and military equipment.
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But analysts suggest that India, which is the third-largest energy consumer in the world, isn’t blinking. Reuters reported that there are no immediate changes planned to India’s long-term contracts with Russian suppliers, citing two anonymous Indian government sources that did not wish to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Russia has become the leading oil supplier to India since the war in Ukraine began, increasing from just under 100,000 barrels per day before the invasion, or a 2.5% share of total imports, to more than 1.8 million barrels per day in 2023, or 39%. According to the International Energy Agency, 70% of Russian crude was exported to India in 2024.
India’s energy minister Hardeep Singh Puri defended New Delhi’s actions in a July 10 interview with CNBC, saying that it helped stabilize global prices and was even encouraged by the U.S.
“If people or countries had stopped buying at that stage, the price of oil would have gone up to 130 dollars a barrel. That was a situation in which we were advised, including by our friends in the United States, to please buy Russian oil, but within the price cap.”
Russian oil exports had been capped at $60 per barrel in December 2022 by the Group of Seven nations, representing the world’s top economies, while the European Union had lowered the price cap to just above $47 per barrel in July.
Still, pressure is mounting. Vishnu Varathan, Managing Director at Mizuho Securities, said that the U.S. threats present a “clear and present danger” to India. He said that New Delhi is likely to remain non-committal on oil purchases as it assesses the trade-offs of this “Russia option” as a bargaining chip.
India will need to scour the global market for comparable oil bargains with Russian oil, Varathan, who is also the head of macro research for Asia ex-Japan, added.
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New Delhi could explore alternatives, including Iran — if an exemption from the U.S. can be negotiated — as well as a few other producers “either within or outside of the OPEC+ that have been pressured by the U.S,” Varathan said.
The OPEC+ bloc had agreed on Sunday to raise output by 547,000 barrels per day in September, as concerns mount over potential supply disruptions linked to Russia.
India is going to face a tough choice, Rapidan’s McNally said.
“Trump is serious. He’s frustrated with Putin… India is going to have a tough choice to make, but it’s hard to see them continuing to import that a million and a half barrels [of] Russian crude if Donald Trump decides to really put the whole relationship on the line over it.”
Wagons don’t get a lot of love Stateside, with American buyers choosing SUVs over – well, pretty much every other type of vehicle imaginable. That’s our loss, as the latest plug in hybrid versions of the Volkswagen Passat are here to prove.
The latest Passat Variant eHybrid (or, in some markets, Vario, which is what the Europeans like to call wagons) is different from the version we get in the US. Unlike the domestic version which is based on a low-cost platform specific to the US and China, the Euro-market version is built on the MQB platform that underpins VW’s flagship Arteon four-door coupe and both VW‘s and Audi’s entry-luxe SUVs.
That might seem weird, since VW has sold more than 34 million units sold worldwide and the Passat is the second top-selling Volkswagen of all time (behind the Golf and ahead of the Beetle). It’s understandable, then, that the European execs are pretty proud of their Passat.
The latest evolutionary stage of the modular transverse matrix (MQB evo)forms the highly innovative technical basis of the ninth Passat generation. Thanks to the significant economies of scale of the MQB evo, Volkswagen has again democratised numerous high-tech developments and made them available for hundreds of thousands of drivers. The two completely newly developed plug-in hybrid drives (eHybrid) are a perfect example of this. In combination with a new battery,they make all-electric ranges of around 100 km possible. This distance turns the new Passat Variant into an electric vehicle for everyday life – this is additionally ensured by short charging times as the battery can now be charged at AC charge points with 11 kW instead of the previous 3.6 kW. The Passat Variant eHybrid can even be charged with up to 50 kW at DC fast charging stations. In addition, the combination of electric drive motor and new economical turbocharged petrol engine provides overall ranges of around 1,000 km.
KAI GRÜNITZ Member of the Brand Board of Management, VW
In case the jealous American wago-philes reading this aren’t jealous enough, Volkswagen has announced new Passat eHybrid Match and Black Editions that add nearly £5k of options for the new model year effectively for free.
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“Match is better equipped than the outgoing Life, with additional features including metallic paint, VW’s IQ.Light LED matrix headlights, tinted rear windows and an ‘assistance pack’ which adds area view and emergency assist,” reports Alastair Crooks, from the UK car site AutoExpress. “The new Black Edition comes with metallic paint, 19-inch alloy wheels, a panoramic sunroof, tinted rear windows (darker than the Match’s), heated front and rear seats, a head-up display, a 15-inch central touchscreen and the same assistance pack as the Match.”
The entry-level Match replaces the previous Life trim, but costs the same £45,555 (about $60,500), while the Black Edition costs the same as the outgoing R-Line, from £48,900 (about $64,950). The order books open 14 August.
You can take a look at some of the VW press photos of the European Passat wagon Variant, below, then let us know if you’d rather have this for $60K or the discount American version in the comments.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. 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. It has 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 Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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Wirtgen Vögele recently revealed the battery-powered MINI 500e and the MINI 502e electric pavers. With an electrically heated screed, a range of paving widths, and zero-emission operations, they’re paving a greener, cleaner path.
“These pavers excel on small-scale construction projects and jobs covering a small area – the type of work for which paving crews would not previously have been able to use machines,” reads the official Wirtgen Vögele copy. “Thanks to their elimination of manual labor, among other benefits, the new MINI pavers improve the efficiency and quality of asphalt paving, particularly in the construction of sidewalks and drains, as well as in tight downtown locations.”
The new Wirtgen MINI 502e (the one with wheels) and the MINI 500e (the one with crawler tracks) offer pave widths from 0.25 to 1.8 m, feature a battery-electric drive outputting 22.8 kW (30 hp), and your choice of either a 15 kWh or 22 kWh 48V li-ion battery – good enough battery capacity for up to 16 hours of continuing paving. Both versions can be fully charged on a conventional 110/120 “L1” power socket in about eight hours.
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Electrek’s Take
Wirtgen Vögele MINI 500e; via Wirtgen.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what the federal EV incentives are or even what the guys on your crew want to operate. What matters is that construction noise upsets Mrs. Clancik’s terrier, and she will force the town council to keep the noise down all by herself.
If your construction company wants to bid on any municipal work, that means you’re gonna have to stay quiet. Maybe even keep the smells to a minimum, too. Buying electric equipment means you can do both.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. 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. It has 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 Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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