Students around the US are now heading back to college, but there’s one thing many of them won’t be able to bring with them: electric bikes and e-scooters. Several campuses are joining a growing movement in higher education, banning these efficient transportation alternatives.
Electric bicycles, which are similar to pedal bicycles with an additional small battery and motor, have proven to be an incredibly popular choice for university students navigating campuses and college towns.
They’re easier to ride than a pedal bicycle, don’t require arriving to class sweaty, and are also much less expensive than owning a car. Other advantages such as free parking and minimal upkeep also make them ideal for students.
E-bikes, which usually cost between $1,000- $4,000, are fairly expensive compared to pedal bikes, and thus many students keep them in their dorm room or apartment to prevent theft.
But many colleges are starting to ban these popular and environmentally-friendly forms of transportation, either from being kept in dorm rooms or from being used anywhere on campus. So far we’ve seen two main reasons for these bans, both of which are claimed to be rooted in safety.
Fires and collisions
The two main issues at the heart of the debate around e-bikes and e-scooters on campuses relate to fire safety and collisions with pedestrians.
E-bike fires have grabbed headlines over the last year. There have been several deadly apartment fires in NYC that have been traced back to e-bike battery fires started during overnight charging.
While e-bike fires are incredibly rare (every day millions of e-bikes are charged without a fire), the small yet growing number of examples from cheaply-made electric bikes underscores that the issue can still prove lethal.
E-bike riders that flaunt traffic rules or ride aggressively on sidewalks around pedestrians have also lead to an increasing number of collisions, often injuring pedestrians. The problem can be exacerbated on college campuses that have a large number of students, meaning a penchant for riskier riding in an area with more pedestrians on their phones and oblivious to their surroundings.
Those two issues, fire safety and pedestrian injuries, are commonly cited among a growing number of universities telling students not to bring e-bikes and e-scooters to campus.
Boston College administrators sent a letter out to students earlier this year citing both examples in their campus scooter ban:
“In recent weeks, Boston College administrators have become increasingly concerned about the use of e-scooters and other electric transportation devices on campus, especially in regard to the health and personal safety of riders, pedestrians, and building occupant. Many faculty, staff, and students have reported near-collisions and limited access to facilities because of scooters, and recharging lithium batteries in such vehicles has resulted in numerous fires around the United States. Additionally, a number of BC students have suffered injuries from e-scooter falls, and such accidents have caused serious injuries on college campuses across the country.”
Fordham University, in New York City, banned any transportation device powered by a battery.
San Diego State University instituted a similar ban on battery-powered personal transportation devices, though reversed the decision after significant backlash.
Some campuses haven’t banned e-bikes outright, but won’t allow students to store them on campus, which often becomes a de facto ban.
Yale University recently sent out an email to all students announcing a new policy banning e-bikes both in on-campus housing as well as in the courtyards of buildings.
Electrek’s Take
I think these kind of heavy-handed regulations and blanket bans are an overreaction, doing more harm than good.
I could spend all day linking studies that show the tremendous benefits of e-bikes. Want to get to class faster, save money on public transportation and avoid rounding out with the freshmen fifteen all at the same time? Use an electric bike!
I know that when I was in college, there were times when I couldn’t physically get from one class to another in time due to the distance. I had two classes a half mile apart with ten minutes to get there. While that’s runnable, doing so with all your books and then navigating campus buildings makes it all but impossible. With an e-bike though, it’d be a snap. And that’s one of the many reasons that so many students turn to e-bikes. It’s the reason I did. This was back in 2009, and the next year I became the first person on campus with an e-bike. Hell, I was probably the first person in the city with an e-bike. So I’m not talking theoretically here – I’ve been in the student trenches and I know what a difference having an e-bike on campus makes for personal mobility. And it’s not just about getting to class on time. Getting around the city when you don’t own a car can be tough, but an e-bike makes it both easy and enjoyable.
I don’t mean to make light of the real safety concerns, but I think there is room for balanced solutions. Campuses can mandate that only UL-listed e-bikes are allowed on campus. The number of e-bikes fitting that list is growing every day. It’s easy to require students to show up at a campus office with their ride and get a sticker for it. No parking sticker? Don’t bring your non-UL-listed e-bike to campus.
For hooligan riding, just fine the hell out of them. College students are broke. I remember buying the $4.90 pizza that tasted like crap because the $5.00 halfway decent pizza across the street was more expensive. Put the fear of fines into students. Getting caught riding on sidewalks or riding recklessly can be policed into a manageable situation. Hell, put a bounty on it. Let students take pictures of someone riding recklessly and text it to campus police (who, let’s face it, usually aren’t overburdened with solving the case of the century most of the time). A $20 gift card to the campus bookstore is a small price to pay to cut down on the few bad apples that ruin it for all the responsible students just trying to mind their own business and ride safely to class.
In summary: stop banning e-bikes. Just incentivize safe, responsible e-bike use and punish rule breaking. That’s how society works. Why not start college students on it a few years earlier?
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The Hyundai IONIQ 6 N is finally here, and it delivers. Hyundai’s electric sports car is loaded with fun new features, a sleek design (including a massive rear wing), 641 horsepower, and much more.
Meet the Hyundai IONIQ 6 N
After teasing the new model for the first time last month, Hyundai created quite a buzz. Now, we are finally getting our first look at the upgraded high-performance EV.
Hyundai unveiled the new IONIQ 6 N at the famed Goodwood Festival of Speed on Thursday in West Sussex, England. The upgraded model follows Hyundai’s first high-performance EV, the IONIQ 5 N.
At the event, the company boasted that its new electric sports car marks “a pivotal milestone in Hyundai N’s electrification journey,” adding “Hyundai N is once again redefining the boundaries of high-performance electrification with the debut of the IONIQ 6 N.”
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The IONIQ 6 N delivers an impressive 641 horsepower (478 kW) and 77 Nm of torque, enabling a 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62 mph) sprint in just 3.2 seconds. Its top speed is about 160 mph (257 km/h).
Hyundai IONIQ 6 N (Source: Hyundai)
That’s when using Hyundai’s Launch Control, one of the many performance features the new EV offers. Like its other N models, the IONIQ 6 is based on three pillars: Corner Rascal, Racetrack Capability, and, of course, an Everyday Sportscar.
Powered by two electric motors, a 223 hp (166 kW) at the front and another 378 hp (282 kW) motor at the rear, for a combined 600 hp (448 kW).
Hyundai IONIQ 6 N (Source: Hyundai)
Redefining the EV driving experience
The upgraded IONIQ 6 “redefines the EV driving experience,” according to Hyundai, thanks to its advanced in-house vehicle control software.
Central to this is Hyundai’s N Active Sound + system, which mimics the feel and sound of a traditional engine. An added N e-Shift simulates shifting gears.
Hyundai IONIQ 6 N interior (Source: Hyundai)
And that’s just the start. Other performance features, such as N Drift Optimizer, N Grin Boost, and N Torque Distribution, give you even more control over the vehicle while delivering increased power.
The IONIQ 6 N is powered by an 84 kWh battery, providing a WLTP range of up to 291 miles (469 km). However, EPA figures will be revealed closer to launch. Given the IONIQ 5 N has an EPA-estimated range of up to 221 miles, you can expect it to be slightly higher when it arrives.
With a 350 kW DC fast charger, Hyundai’s new performance EV can recharge from 10% to 80% in about 18 minutes.
With a length of 4,935 mm, a width of 1,940 mm, and a height of 1,495 mm, the IONIQ 6 N is about the size of the Porsche Taycan.
Hyundai will showcase the new high-performance EV during the hillclimb event alongside other models like the IONIQ 5 N, IONIQ 6 N Drift Spec, and IONIQ 6 N with N Performance parts. Hyundai promises each vehicle brings unique capabilities to the event, “guaranteeing a dynamic and thrilling on-track experience for all attendees.” Check back soon for more info.
What do you think of Hyundai’s new electric sports car? Would you buy one over the Porsche Taycan? Let us know in the comments.
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Elon Musk said that Tesla owners will “soon” have access to Grok, a large language developed by Musk’s xAI startup, days after the AI started calling itself ‘MechaHitler’.
Yesterday, xAI launched Grok 4, the latest version of its large language model.
The new model is benchmarking very well, but that’s generally the case with the latest model to come out. It edges the latest models from Google and OpenAI on intelligence by a few points, but it falls behind on speed:
At the launch event, Musk announced that Grok will “soon” be integrated into Tesla vehicles.
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This is something that the CEO has been discussing since founding xAI, which has been controversial because Musk has also positioned Tesla to compete in the AI space. He even stepped down from his role at OpenAI due to a “conflict of interest with Tesla.”
The announcement of the imminent integration of Grok into Tesla vehicles comes just days after the language model went haywire on X and started praising Hitler, referring to itself as ‘MechaHitler’, and made several antisemitic comments.
xAI acknowledge the issue and put Grok on timeout while they fixed it:
We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts. Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X. xAI is training only truth-seeking and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved.
The “bug” came just a few weeks after Musk stated that he was displeased with Grok supporting left-wing narratives, even though it didn’t say anything inncurate, and that he would update Grok to “fix” it.
Now, the large language model (LLM) is expected to power the new voice assistant inside Tesla vehicles.
LLMs are becoming quite common in cars, especially premium vehicles. Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, and a few others have all integrated Chat-GPT in some models.
Many Chinese automakers have also developed their own and deployed them in cars, even entry-level ones.
Tesla is playing catch up on that front.
Electrek’s Take
As I have previously stated, I think Musk is setting up Tesla to invest or even merge with xAI at a ridiculous valuation – making Tesla shareholders virtually pay twice for Twitter, which is now part of xAI.
This is how he will be able to gain wider control over the company’s share.
From the first discovery in Prudhoe Bay in 1968, Alaskans have had a love-hate relationship with oil.
On one hand, it allowed Alaska to abolish its state income tax, fund most government operations and provide every Alaskan with a dividend that continues to this day. On the other hand, it has left the state at the near total mercy of the global oil market.
In recent years, that has proven to be a bad bet. And it is the major reason Alaska finishes at the bottom of the CNBC America’s Top States for Business rankings in 2025.
With the price of Alaska North Slope crude oil down by double digits from a year ago, according to the Alaska Department of Revenue, Alaska has America’s worst economy as measured by the CNBC study. Economy is the heaviest-weighted category under this year’s methodology.
More coverage of the 2025 America’s Top States for Business
Alaska’s gross domestic product growth is in the bottom ten nationally. The state’s economy grew by just 1.5% last year, compared to 2.8% nationally.
More crucially, the state’s fiscal year 2026 budget is based on a forecast of $68 per barrel for crude oil, and it is unclear if that will hold. Alaska North Slope crude traded as low as $63.49 on May 5 before rebounding above $70 in recent weeks. State forecasters are counting on oil for around 70% of the state’s revenue over the next ten years, or nearly half the state’s operating budget. And some localities are far more dependent.
“When you look at the economic engine by default,” North Slope Borough Mayor Josiah Patkotak told CNBC last month, “That happens to be oil and gas by about 98% of our operating budget.”
$40 billion bet on natural gas as diversifier
For decades, Alaska has sought ways to diversify its economy, but it has had limited success. Proposals have involved alternative energy, agriculture, and the state’s tourism sector.
Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy speaks during a news conference at his office in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S. March 22, 2022.
Yereth Rosen | Reuters
In 2023, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, signed legislation to put Alaska into the carbon market, using the state’s vast public lands for carbon storage, and to generate carbon offset credits for high carbon emitters in other states. But the program is still in the study phase. A report to the legislature in January said the program is not expected to generate any revenue until at least 2027.
More recently, the Trump administration is backing a proposal to build a natural gas pipeline alongside the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline, allowing the U.S. to ship liquid natural gas — a byproduct of North Slope oil production — to Asia.
The idea has been around for years, but the price tag, estimated at around $40 billion, was impossible for the industry to swallow even when petroleum prices were high.
Now, however, administration officials think that trade tensions might change the economics.
“There [are] countries around the world looking to shrink their trade deficit with the United States, and of course, a very easy way to do that is to buy more American energy,” U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC’s Brian Sullivan in Prudhoe Bay last month.
“If you get the commercial offtakers for the gas, financing is pretty straightforward,” Wright said.
If the project gets off the ground, it could provide a huge boost to Alaska’s economy, though it would still be at the mercy of commodity prices.
Lack of tech infrastructure, high costs
Alaska’s struggling economy is a major reason for its poor competitive performance, but it is not the only one.
The state ranks No. 49 in Infrastructure. While the state’s roads and bridges are in better shape than in many states in the Lower 48, its virtual infrastructure leaves much to be desired. Fewer than 2% of Alaskans have access to affordable broadband service, according to BroadbandNow Research. The data center boom has passed Alaska by thus far, with only four in the entire state.
Alaska is a notoriously expensive place to live, especially in the many remote parts of the state.
“When you’re paying 16 bucks a gallon for milk, we’ve got to figure out how to make sure that you can afford to buy the milk so you can live here. We’ve got to make sure you can afford to buy the gas so you can hunt here,” said Patkotak.
But one aspect of life is a bargain in Alaska. At a time of soaring homeowner premiums, online insurance marketplace Insurify projects Alaska homeowners insurance premiums will average $1,543 this year, the second lowest in the nation.
Join the conversation. Didn’t see your state mentioned? You can see where it ranked overall, and in all 10 categories of competitiveness, in the full rankings of the 2025 America’s Top States for Business.