It’s no secret that most electric bikes come from China. Sure, there are high-quality e-bikes built in Europe and even a few in the US. But not the ones with the price tags that make you go, “Honey, how can we afford not to?!” And that’s exactly the story of my latest weird little e-bike purchase. Say hello to the Mihogo Mini, an ultra-low-cost electric bike direct from China.
If you weren’t nervous about this yet, wait until you hear this. Not only is this a super-cheap US $397 electric bike, but I didn’t even buy it outright. Yesterday I just “purchased” it on Indiegogo, a crowdfunding platform. That means I didn’t legally buy it, but rather I “backed” the campaign. Now it’s the responsibility of this mysterious Mihogo company to hopefully send me the bike, but they’re under no legal obligation to do so. Welcome to crowdfunding!
A quick disclaimer: This is of course not a sponsored article of any kind – I wouldn’t do that. I don’t know Mihogo or anyone at this company, I’ve never heard of them before I found the Indiegogo campaign, and I’ve never contacted them or talked to anyone there. They probably don’t know I exist, other than that I’m now on a list of people they owe an e-bike to. So in an effort to head off the ignorant comments claiming these are paid articles or something, please understand that this is the opposite situation. I merely had a bad idea to send them my money and see what happens, that’s all. And I figured it might be interesting for anyone who doesn’t want to take that risk themself to follow along with me.
Okay, disclaimer out of the way. Let’s get into this.
So here’s what the Mihogo Mini appears to be. Based on the Indiegogo page and the spec sheet, it looks like I’m on the list to maybe eventually receive a small-format folding e-bike that rocks teeny-tiny 12×2.125″ tires, has a 350W hub motor in the rear wheel, and touts a top speed of 22 mph (35 km/h). I assume that top speed is measured downhill.
The tiny e-bike gets powered by a surprisingly high-capacity 48V 16Ah battery (with claimed Panasonic cells). The 768Wh capacity battery is said to be capable of providing a range of 70-100 km (43-62 miles), though I fully expect that to be an overestimate.
The total weight is listed at 19.5 kg (43 lb.), and it claims a ridiculously high weight capacity of up to 200 kg (440 lb). I expect that if I loaded it up with that much weight, it would break. Not the first time. Probably not the second time. But I don’t think it would last very long. Much more expensive and nicely designed e-bikes have broken in half before, and there’s no way a $397 e-bike can claim to be as strong as a Tern e-bike that basically had to create new tests to find its load limit. For it’s part, Mihogo tries to back up its weight capacity claims with a weirdly upbeat video showing off some FEA analysis and a pile of frames as well as what appear to be pre-built bikes. But honestly, who even knows when you get into a grab like this?
The bike looks pretty small, and it is. They say it is “optimized for riders between 150-190 cm tall,” which in screeching eagle freedom units translates to 4’11” to 6’2″. I’d love to see someone on the upper end of that range try to sit on this bike. Personally, I’m conveniently in the middle of that range at exactly 170 cm (5’7″), so I think I can make it work.
When it comes to the price, to be honest I didn’t pay US $397 for this. I must have a taste for the finer things in life, because I sprung for the Mihogo Mini Pro – an upgraded version priced at US $447.
From what I can tell, the only hardware upgrades on the Pro version are a color screen and a slightly brighter headlight that appears to be powered from the main battery pack on the bike instead of from its own internal battery that needs recharging.
Both of those are nice upgrades, but not really worth US $50. If I’m being truthful, I paid one crisp President Grant extra because I wanted it to be yellow. The “cheap” version for US $397 only comes in gray or red. The “pro” version comes in both of those colors as well as purple, yellow, and blue.
Don’t judge me – if you drive a Tesla and it’s not the base model color then you did it too.
I’m not expecting the e-bike to be amazing by any stretch of the imagination, so I’d at least like it to look good. And that yellow color, it really pops.
I also think that brightly colored bikes are an extra safety feature, making riders more visible to cars. And when you’re riding an e-bike built by the lowest bidder, you’ll take any extra safety points you can get.
At this point, you’re probably wondering why I even wanted this thing. Even though I don’t expect the bike to be a miracle of engineering, I still like the design enough to risk US $447 on it.
The split frame looks like a cool way to carry things between your knees (I should have sprung for the US $39 frame bag).
The tiny suspension fork should add a small amount of comfort.
The folding handlebars will make it easy to stash in a closet or under a table in my small apartment.
The big battery will offer even more range than most leading e-bikes found in the US these days.
Basically, despite its admittedly odd design, it’s got several features that actually sound promising.
And the little bike even claims to come with EN15194 safety certification from TUV Rheinland. That means that among other things, it conforms to certain battery safety standards.
That certification seems dubious to me though because the speed and power limits, not to mention the inclusion of a throttle, would normally preclude that European certification. Perhaps they have a second model for US-based customers.
But mostly, I’m just here for the adventure. It looks like a fun, weird little e-bike for cruising around the city. Something that can get you around at reasonably fast 22 mph speeds, has pedals in case you run out of battery mid-trip, and doesn’t break the bank.
So I hope I actually get the bike in the end. But I know this is a risk, and so I’m treating it like an adventure.
It’s not my first Indiegogo purchase. I’ve actually made three purchases on the platform in the past. The first was for a weird little Xiaomi e-bike. It cost me US $261 and it showed up several months later. It was awesome and I actually enjoyed using it until I sold it when I moved. The next was an even weirder tiny electric scooter. I paid US $544 for it and it was also awesome. I still have it, and I’ve been meaning to do a whole other video about it.
My third purchase didn’t go nearly as well. I got too cocky from my first two purchases and bought a $2,000 electric motorbike from BlackTea Motorbikes. In the end, the company #%$!ed me royally. They held my money for nearly three years while presenting delays as being pandemic-induced (fair enough) but then ultimately decided they just wouldn’t ship any of the bikes ordered by North American customers since they couldn’t find a way to ship them cost effectively. Meanwhile, Europeans got their bikes.
They did refund my money, admirably enough. They also refunded it quite quickly after the announcement. But I have a sneaky suspicion that it’s because I’m an e-bike journalist and they didn’t want me on their bad side. Let see how well that works out for them.
Notice the disclaimer making sure I understand that if I get bent over an e-bike by this company, it’s on me
Anyway, my point is that I’ve bought from Indiegogo before and I’m used to the risk. I’m in this for the experience as much as for the bike. It’s an exciting thrill ride before my real ride ever shows up. For example, the campaign is currently at just over US $58,000 raised. They say if we get to US $70,000 we’ll all get a free frame bag (the one I should have added for US $39 during checkout).
Which is actually my real goal here. If I convince enough of you to join me, I’ll get that free bag.
Just kidding. Please don’t buy this bike. Seriously. If you’re reading this and you’re like, “Hmmm, I have a spare $397 burning a hole in my pocket…” then please put your phone down, splash some water on your face, and go for a walk outside. I don’t want anyone reading this right now to do what I’m doing here. It’s not a good idea. I’m not even linking to the page. I can’t stop you from finding it on your own, but I’m not going to make it any easier for someone to risk their money.
This very well may end with me losing my US $447 and never getting a bike. People have been screwed out of much more on Indiegogo. Please don’t be dumb like me. I’ve never heard of this e-bike company before, I have absolutely zero trust in them and you shouldn’t either. A decent chunk of why I’m even doing this is for a learning experience so that others don’t have to. If it works, you can enjoy the ride with me. If it doesn’t, it’s a small price to pay to warn others of the pitfalls of random fly-by-night Indiegogo e-bikes.
Lastly, while I’m giving you the straight talk here, listen to this doozy. It’s been a while since my last Indiegogo purchase, and I now see they’ve added something called an “Indiegogo Tip.” They suggested I add $50 as a tip, just for fun, I guess. Not to the Mihogo bike company, mind you, but rather to the Indiegogo platform itself.
Clicking through the “wtf?” question mark next to the tip selector brings you to a page that explains, “When you add a tip on to your transaction, you are supporting Indiegogo directly and furthering our mission to bring ideas to life through the power of community.”
Oh help me, Rhonda.
You Indiegogo execs can go right ahead and stub your little toe hard into a coffee table. You already charge these companies 5% of the funding they receive as the cost to use your platform. You made $13 million last year. What are your expenses? Website hosting and a subscription to an offshore customer service hotline? I’m not helping your C-level team each buy another boat. I tip my barber. I tip my delivery rider who brings me my food order. If it’s raining, I tip him or her exorbitantly. But you’re not getting a tip for checking emails from your yacht.
Fortunately, you can reset the Indiegogo tip to $0 by clicking “other amount,” but they don’t make it very clear at first that you can do that.
Okay, so here we are. I’m in for US $447 and supposedly have a yellow Mihogo Mini Pro with my name on it.
The estimated delivery is October 2023. I can already tell you that won’t happen. They’ll be late, if they deliver at all. In fact, if a yellow Mihogo shows up at my door before the end of October, I’ll ride it down the boardwalk wearing nothing but a frilly tutu.
As confident as I am that they won’t have my bike to me by their self-imposed timeline, I do have at least a decently good feeling that my bike will show up at some point. Sure, I can be cynical. But sometimes in life you just have to put in a little faith. If not, then what are we all even doing here?
If there is one thing you can be sure of, it’s that I’ll be back to let you all know how this saga plays out. Feel free to place your bets in the comment section below. Here we go!
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Global renewable developer and energy giant RWE has halted its US offshore wind operations “for the time being” because of the “political environment” the Trump administration has created.
RWE, Germany’s biggest electricity producer, said in March that it had dialed back its US offshore wind activities. But now, CEO Marcus Krebber said in a speech transcript, which he’ll deliver at the company’s Annual General Meeting in Essen on April 30, that its US offshore wind business is now closed (but it wasn’t all bad news):
In the US, where we have stopped our offshore activities for the time being, our business in onshore wind, solar energy, and battery storage has so far been developing very dynamically. At the start of this year, we reached an important milestone when our US generation capacity hit the 10 gigawatt mark. The construction of a further 4 gigawatts is secured.
He went on to say that renewables have created regional value and jobs, but that the company remains “cautious given the political developments.” RWE has introduced more stringent requirements for future US investments:
All necessary federal permits must be in place. Tax credits must be safe harbored and all relevant tariff risks mitigated. In addition, onshore wind and solar projects must have secured offtake at the time of the investment decision. Only if these conditions are met will further investments be possible, given the political environment.
About half of RWE’s installed renewable capacity is in the US, where it’s the third-largest renewable energy company through its subsidiary, RWE Clean Energy. RWE holds the rights to develop US offshore wind projects in New York, Louisiana, and California.
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RWE paid $1.1 billion for the New York lease area in 2022, where it’s meant to develop the 3 gigawatt (GW) Community Offshore Wind with the UK’s National Grid. Community Offshore Wind was projected to come online in the early 2030s and expected to power more than a million homes.
The developer paid $5.6 billion for the Louisiana lease in the Gulf of Mexico in 2023 as the lone bidder for development rights, and the Canopy Offshore Wind project off Northern California was not expected to be completed for another decade.
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WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump and his allies have raked in nearly $900,000 in trading fees over the past two days from the president’s $TRUMP cryptocurrency token, according to Chainalysis, a blockchain data company.
The surge came after a Wednesday announcement in which the top 220 holders of the token were promised dinner with the president.
“Have Dinner in Washington, D.C. With President Trump,” reads a message on the front page of the Trump coin’s website. The event, which is black tie optional and hosted at the president’s private club in the Washington area, is scheduled for May 22, with a reception for the top 25 holders. A “VIP White House Tour” will take place the following day, the site says. The website also hosts an active leaderboard displaying the usernames of top buyers.
The $TRUMP memecoin jumped more than 50% on the dinner news, boosting its total market value to $2.7 billion. It was met with fierce criticism from some of Trump’s political opponents who said the move was further evidence that the president was using crypto to enrich himself. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., a prominent Trump critic, wrote on X that the sale was “the most brazenly corrupt thing a President has ever done. Not close.”
Roughly 80% of the $TRUMP token supply is controlled by the Trump Organization and affiliates, according to the project’s website. Since its launch in January, trading activity has generated about $324.5 million in trading fees for insiders, Chainalysis found. These fees are generated through the token’s built-in mechanism that routes a percentage of each trade to wallets controlled by the project — wallets that, according to the website, are linked to the coin’s creators.
Memecoins, often referred to as meme tokens, are a subset of digital assets that use blockchain technology and derive their value largely from internet culture, memes and social media hype rather than from an underlying utility or asset. The originators of memecoins can make fees when their coins are bought and sold.
They have grown in popularity in recent years as speculative assets, with some coins including dogecoin and fartcoin amassing total market values in excess of $1 billion.
Most of the $TRUMP supply remains locked under a three-year vesting plan, with coins gradually becoming available over time. Lockups like these are meant to protect investors by preventing insiders from cashing out all at once — a scheme commonly known in the crypto world as a “rug pull.” Vesting schedules aim to give retail buyers confidence that early holders won’t overwhelm the market and tank the token’s value.
Still, the dinner contest is being viewed by critics as an unusually explicit attempt to monetize presidential access.
As CNBC reported Friday, Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts are urging the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to investigate whether the promotion constitutes “pay to play” corruption.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The company behind the memecoin also did not respond to a request for comment.
Delaney Marsco, the director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit focused on campaign finance and government accountability, told NBC News the coin and dinner contest amounted to an unprecedented ethics breach — though it is unlikely to be illegal.
“Criminal conflicts of interest statutes don’t apply to the President,” she said. “That has allowed him to go against decades of of norms that every modern president since Carter has adhered to, which is to divest your financial interests, rid yourself of your businesses, and kind of go in to the presidency with a clean financial slate so that no one could accuse you of manipulating policy decisions or using your position in order to enrich yourself.”
“The fact that he is not barred by the law from having these financial interests like this meme coin allows him to engage in a lot of seemingly corrupt activity. It has the appearance of a pay to play, so the President is apparently selling access to himself,” Marsco added.
Molly White, an independent crypto researcher, told NBC News that the leaderboard only shows top $TRUMP holders — and then only by their chosen screen name, making it difficult to identify who is paying to potentially join the dinner.
Schiff and Warren have cited public reports showing that some $TRUMP investors have ties to foreign exchanges or received funds from crypto platforms banned in the U.S., including Binance.
White also noted that at least one top $TRUMP owner has an account on Binance, a cryptocurrency company that doesn’t allow American users.
Trump was elected with significant help from the cryptocurrency industry, which poured tens of millions of dollars into the 2024 election, outpacing corporate donations from traditional sectors like banking and oil. After opposing digital assets during his first term, Trump pivoted in 2024 to campaign as a champion of cryptocurrency, casting Democrats as hostile to innovation and as advocating for tighter regulation.
The $TRUMP token itself offers no product or service, according to the project’s website. It is part of a broader push by the Trump family into digital assets, despite the market’s volatility and regulatory risks.
In addition to the $TRUMP and $MELANIA meme coins, the family is backing World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance venture that has raised $550 million across two token sales since last October. Buyers are barred from reselling their tokens and receive no share of profits — but a Trump-affiliated entity is entitled to 75% of net revenue, including token sale proceeds.
Together, these projects have created new streams of revenue for Trump and his inner circle at a time when regulatory oversight of cryptocurrency has weakened sharply under his administration.
It’s that time of year again, time for events across the country to show off electric vehicles at Drive Electric Earth Month.
Drive Electric Earth Month is an offshoot of Drive Electric Week, a long-running annual tradition hosting meetups mostly in the US, but also occasionally in other countries. It started as Drive Electric Earth Day, but since not every event can happen on the same day, they went ahead and extended it to encompass “Earth Month” events that happen across the month of April. It’s all organized by Plug In America, the Sierra Club, the Electric Vehicle Association, EV Hybrid Noire, and Drive Electric USA.
Events consist of general Earth Day-style community celebrations, EV Ride & Drives where you can test drive several EVs in one place, and opportunities to talk to EV owners and ask them questions about what it’s like to live with an EV, away from the pressure of a dealership.
But the bulk of the events happened on the weekends surrounding Earth Day, April 22, so there were several last weekend and will be even more this upcoming weekend.
There are plenty of events in the big cities where you’d expect, but Plug In America wanted to highlight a few of the events in smaller places around the country. Here’s a sampling of upcoming events:
Big Island EV – Cruise and Picnic in Waimea, HI on April 26, 10am-1pm – EV drivers will congregate in various places around the Big Island (Kona, Waimea, Waikoloa and Hilo), then drive up Saddle Road to the Gil Kahele Recreation Area on Mauna Kea for a potluck and a chance to talk about the experience of owning EVs on the Big Island.
Santa Barbara Earth Day 2025 and Green Car Show in Santa Barbara, CA on April 26-27, 11am-8pm – This is part of Santa Barbara’s Earth Day celebration, which routinely attracts 30,000 participants and is one of the longest-running Earth Day celebrations on the planet. The Green Car Show includes ride & drives and an “Owners Corner” where owners can showcase their EVs and attendees can check them out and ask questions.
Earth Day’25 – EV’s role in a sustainable future in Queretaro City, Mexico on April 26, 9am-4pm – The sole Mexican event, this is a combined in-person/online seminar at the Querétaro Institute of Technology.
Norman Earth Day Festival in Norman, OK on April 27, 12-5pm – Another municipal Earth Day festival, with hands-on activities for kids to learn about the environment. A portion of the parking lot reserved for an EV car show for EV owners who pre-register to show off their vehicles.
Oregon Electric Vehicle Association Test Drive & Information Expo in Portland, OR on April 27, 10am-4pm – This one is at Daimler Truck’s North American HQ, and will have several EVs for test drives, owner displays (including DIY gas-to-EV conversions), and keynote presentations by EV experts. They’ll even have a 1914 Detroit Electric EV available for test rides!
And, we at Electrek want to give a shoutout to Rove’s EV Drive Days in Santa Ana 10am-3pm April 28 – ROVE is the company behind the “full-service” EV charging concept that we’ve talked about several times here on Electrek, and we like what they’re doing for EV charging. They’ve hosted a few community events, and this is their contribution to Earth Month.
Each event has a different assortment of activities (e.g. test drives won’t be available at every event, generally just the larger ones attended by local dealerships), so be sure to check the events page to see what the plan is for your local event.
These events have offered a great way to connect with owners and see the newest electric vehicle tech, and even get a chance to do test rides and drives in person. Attendees got to hear unfiltered information from actual owners about the benefits and trials of owning EVs, allowing for longer and more genuine (and often more knowledgeable) conversations than one might normally encounter at a dealership.
And if you’re an owner – you can show off your car and answer those questions for interested onlookers.
To view all the events and see what’s happening in your area, you can check out the list of events or the events map. You can also sign up to volunteer at your local events, and if you plan to show off your electric car, you can RSVP on each event page and list the vehicle that you plan to show (or see what other vehicles have already registered).
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