Production of electric mini-trucks begins in Texas
AYRO, an electric mini-truck maker based in Round Rock, Texas, has just announced the start of production at its local factory. The company’s first vehicle, known as the AYRO Vanish, is an electric utility truck with a modular design intended for a wide range of urban uses.
The company has begun with low-rate initial production (LRIP), which is a limited manufacturing run intended to validate the efficiency of the production processes and systems designed to build the Vanish.
Training, tools, processes, and quality measures are currently being evaluated on the line as AYRO prepares to ramp up to higher production rates.
As the company CEO Tom Wittenschlaeger explained:
We believe entering LRIP for the Vanish is a major milestone for AYRO. Within a few weeks, we anticipate being able to deliver the first vehicles to our dealers and partners so they can begin showing and selling the Vanish beyond pre-orders.
The company opened pre-orders for the Vanish back in May, when a $250 deposit through AYRO’s online configurator secured reservation holders a spot in line for the US $33,900 vehicle.
Last month, AYRO completed homologation to receive its street-legal status in the US and Canada.
Homologation is the process that new vehicles undergo to test and verify that they meet or exceed vehicle regulations.
In the US, the AYRO Vanish was homologated to LSV (low-speed vehicle) standards set out in the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, as mandated by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Canada uses very similar regulations set out in the Canadian Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
As Wittenschlaeger continued:
We’ve worked tirelessly to reach this point in our processes. Our partners and dealers are incredibly excited to share the Vanish with their customers. We’re also looking forward to seeing the Vanish in action with customers and fleets as this is just the first vehicle in our planned portfolio.
While mini-trucks are commonplace in Europe and Asia, we rarely see these useful vehicles in the US or Canada thanks to the prevalence of oversized vehicles. AYRO is hoping to help buck this trend with the Vanish, which is small in size but designed for serious utility.
The Vanish’s versatility is one of its main selling points, with ARYO’s engineers focusing on an adaptable design. The mini-truck’s standard model features a “common core chassis,” essentially a compact flatbed truck. However, multiple configurations are available to tailor it for specific utility purposes.
For example, while the flatbed is ideal for general hauling, especially of large items, buyers have the option to outfit the Vanish with a foldable tailgate and side gates to resemble a pickup truck. There’s also the choice of an enclosed cargo space, transforming it into an electric mini box truck or van.
The lower bed height makes the vehicle ideal for loading and unloading, and the smaller size is more appropriate for crowded urban areas. Use cases like cargo delivery, package couriers, and other local utility jobs could likely be better suited with the Vanish than larger vehicles. In fact, a business considering an electric pickup truck might find that the Vanish, which costs half as much, can actually carry larger cargo in back. It doesn’t offer the same highway speeds or long range as larger electric trucks, but neither of those are useful in a city – in fact they are disadvantages in crowded areas.
The AYRO Vanish certainly won’t replace larger pickup trucks and box trucks everywhere, but it marks a much more appropriate choice for densely populated cities where such large vehicles struggle to navigate congested streets.
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Electric motorcycles are already known for their instant torque and quiet performance, but now one electric dirt bike has proven it can do something gas bikes can’t: breathe where combustion engines can’t. Stark Future and Swiss mountaineer-rider Jiri Zak just made history by setting a new high-altitude world record on the world’s highest active volcano, riding a fully electric Stark VARG EX up to an astonishing 6,721 meters (22,051 feet) above sea level.
The record-setting ride took place on Los Ojos del Salado, a massive stratovolcano straddling the Chile–Argentina border in the Atacama Desert. It’s the tallest active volcano in the world and one of the most brutal environments on Earth to test the limits of man and machine. Sub-zero temperatures, violent weather, thin air, and volcanic terrain have made it the proving ground for record-breaking attempts by companies like Porsche, Yamaha, and Jeep since the early 2000s.
But this time, it wasn’t a combustion engine motorcycle powering the ascent, but rather a battery-powered motorcycle.
Stark’s electric VARG EX conquers the thin air
Riding at nearly 7,000 meters means serious altitude sickness risks for humans – and serious performance losses for gas engines. But that’s exactly where the Stark VARG EX shines. Without relying on air-fuel combustion, the VARG EX can deliver full torque even in oxygen-starved conditions. It also simplifies high-altitude riding by eliminating gear shifting, relying instead on electric driveline efficiency and seamless power delivery.
Jiri Zak, the expedition’s lead rider and a seasoned alpinist, put it best. “Two years ago this was just a dream – do it on an electric bike, where combustion loses its breath. Ojos is unforgiving; one mistake can cost your life. That’s why I’m here with a team I trust and a motorcycle that keeps delivering power in thin air.”
Zak’s attempt was logged on November 30, 2025, with GPS units that were sealed in advance to ensure authenticity. The full data is now undergoing third-party verification, with Guinness World Records authentication in process.
Stark and Zak aimed to push a motorcycle – regardless of the powertrain, electric or gas – higher than ever before. And they did.
The previous high-altitude motorcycling records involved heavily modified combustion bikes operating at the ragged edge of their capability. But the Stark VARG EX performed the feat right out of the box, with no major mechanical changes. That’s a serious milestone for electric mobility.
“This was never about a standalone number,” said Stark Future CEO Anton Wass. “It’s about proving that electric is not a compromise; it takes you further than any other combustion bike could. The VARG platform can operate at the edge of the atmosphere.”
Built for the extremes
To make the record possible, Stark assembled a team of logistics experts, mountain safety personnel, and videographers to document the expedition. The crew spent multiple days acclimating, scouting line choices, and studying energy management strategies for the high-altitude ride.
Weather windows were tight. Battery thermal regulation was crucial. Traction was unpredictable. Zak even described one of the most intense moments on the mountain, returning from the summit, “The hardest moment was the traverse to Argentina Pass. The balcony was gone. The wind and snow had erased my old track. Nature had taken the path back.”
Even with the challenges, the VARG EX maintained its composure, and its performance, throughout the climb.
A moonshot mentality
With a slogan like “Next stop? The moon!” it’s clear Stark is doing more than just chasing off-road trophies. The company is positioning itself as a symbol of what electric powertrains can accomplish in terrain where gas bikes falter.
Stark Future, founded in 2020 in Barcelona, has rapidly become the most talked-about name in the electric motocross scene. Their flagship VARG model claims to be the most powerful motocross bike ever built, and the EX variant used in this record attempt is the company’s enduro-specific version.
Stark’s vision is about pushing the motorcycle industry toward a more sustainable, electric future. And with this record-setting ride, they’ve just planted an electric flag higher than any motorcycle has ever gone before.
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The US solar industry just delivered another huge quarter, installing 11.7 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity in Q3 2025. That makes it the third-largest quarter on record and pushes total solar additions this year past 30 GW – despite the Trump administration’s efforts to kneecap clean energy.
According to the new “US Solar Market Insight Q4 2025” report from Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie, 85% of all new power added to the grid during the first nine months of the Trump administration came from solar and storage. And here’s the twist: Most of that growth – 73% – happened in red states.
Eight of the top 10 states for new installations fall into that category, including Texas, Indiana, Florida, Arizona, Ohio, Utah, Kentucky, and Arkansas. Utah jumped into the top 10 this quarter thanks to two big utility-scale projects totaling more than 1 GW.
But the report also flags major uncertainty ahead. Federal actions, including a July memo from the Department of the Interior (DOI), have slowed or stalled the approvals pipeline for utility-scale solar and storage. Without clarity on permitting timelines, Wood Mackenzie’s long-term utility-scale forecast through 2030 remains basically unchanged from last quarter.
“This record-setting quarter for solar deployment shows that the market is continuing to turn to solar to meet rising demand,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA’s president and CEO. She added that strong growth in red states underscores how decisively the market is shifting toward clean energy. “But unless this administration reverses course, the future of clean, affordable, and reliable solar and storage will be frozen by uncertainty, and Americans will continue to see their energy bills go up.”
Two new solar module factories opened this year in Louisiana and South Carolina, adding a combined 4.7 GW of capacity. That brings the total new US module manufacturing capacity added in 2025 to 17.7 GW. With a new wafer facility coming online in Michigan in Q3, the US can now produce every major component of the solar module supply chain.
“We expect 250 GW of solar to be installed from 2025 to 2030,” said Michelle Davis, head of solar research at Wood Mackenzie and lead author of the report. “But the US solar industry has more potential. With rising power demand across the country, solar could do even more if current constraints were eased.”
SEIA also noted that, following an analysis of EIA data, it found that more than 73 GW of solar projects across the US are stuck in permitting limbo and at risk of politically motivated delays or cancellations.
Read more: EIA: Solar + storage soar as fossil fuels stall through September 2025
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