Veteran EV startup Mullen Automotive is touting a production milestone today as it has officially begun assembling its Mullen THREE Class 3 electric trucks. With production now underway in Mississippi, Mullen shared its timeline for customer deliveries in addition to annual output targets.
Mullen Automotive ($MULN) is a Southern California-based EV startup founded in 2014 that is approaching a 10-year journey to deliver affordable EVs built entirely on US soil. Despite coming close twice, the company has yet to deliver a passenger EV to market.
This resulted in a 2020 merger in which Mullen pivoted its business strategy toward its own bespoke EV model – the FIVE crossover SUV. The startup turned some heads in September 2022 when it claimed a majority stake in Bollinger Motors’ commercial EV business, vowing to resurrect the latter’s ill-fated B1 and B2 electric trucks into production as well.
Just over a month later, Mullen Automotive acquired another EV startup, Electric Last Mile Solutions (ELMs) and all its assets, including a 650,000-square-foot production facility in Indiana. While Mullen continues to develop passenger EVs under its namesake and Bollinger brands, its first vehicle to reach scaled production will be in the commercial space – the Class 3 Mullen THREE.
Mullen’s THREE trucks being assembled at its facility in Tunica, Mississippi / Credit: Mullen Automotive
Mullen reaches production of the THREE EV truck
Mullen Automotive shared details of its active assembly lines in a press release today, relaying that THREE production is underway and will gradually ramp up from September through December of this year. Per Mullen chairman and CEO David Michery:
I am proud to announce that our Class 3 vehicle line is now in production mode at our Tunica facility. Our team has been working seven days a week, day and night, getting this plant reconfigured and ready for Class 3 production.
Mullen’s Tunica facility sits upon more than 100 acres of Mississippi land, offering a production footprint of over 120,000 square feet. This specific location will be dedicated to the assembly of the company’s Class 1 to 3 commercial EVs. When fully ramped later this year, Mullen anticipates a production capacity of 3,000 Class 3 EVs per year.
The Mullen THREE starts at an MSRP of $68,500 and, according to its makers, should qualify for up to $7,500 in federal tax incentives for US customers. To date, Mullen says it has orders for over 1,250 THREE EVs, equating to $79 million in purchase orders, should they all come to fruition.
With production now underway, Mullen Automotive says the Class 3 EV deliveries should begin this month. Here’s a closer look at the Mullen THREE:
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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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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.
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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.
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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