The Fucare Taurus fat tire electric bike brings the same fun-loving, off-road riding you’ve seen with plenty of other adventure-style electric bikes. But this time it gives you full speed 28 mph (45 km/h) operation on throttle only!
Technically, that’s not street legal in many areas since it doesn’t fit the class 3 e-bike designation, which allows operation up to 28 mph without a throttle.
The good news is that this isn’t really an e-bike designed for street use. While you could certainly commute around on it, the Fucare Taurus e-bike is really meant for off-road riding and light trail duty.
It’s not a full-suspension bike, but it does feature front suspension as well as fat enough tires to make decently rough terrain manageable. It will never feel as smooth as a true full-suspension e-bike, but it also comes in at several hundred dollars below the cost of most full-suspension fat tire e-bikes.
Check out my testing in the video below, then keep scrolling for the rest of my review.
It’s been a little while since the last time I was on a Fucare e-bike, but the brand has proven itself as highly capable in the heavy-but-respectable category of Asian imported e-bikes. None of these bikes are going to win on maneuverability, ease of transport, or probably even customer service. But damn, if they aren’t fun to ride!
And the Fucare Taurus ratchets up the fun. Compared to the Fucare Libra, the last Fucare model I was on, the Fucare Taurus is less moped-ish and more off-road ready.
That means we’ve got big 4-inch fat tires in the full 26-inch diameter size. I’m normally a fan of 20-inch diameter fat tires since they usually prove to be a bit more nimble, but when you’re really heading off-road, there’s no substitute for large-diameter tires. The downside is they are heavier, bulkier, and slower to accelerate or turn. But the upside is the ability to roll over larger obstacles with less bouncing around on the bike.
The frame is an interesting truss-style frame that Fucare seems to be a fan of, having used similar styles on their other bikes. I’m not sure there’s any real benefit here, but it looks cool and gives the bike a unique appearance next to all the other cookie-cutter electric bikes out there!
There’s an interesting little feature in the lighting where the taillight is integrated into the rear seat stay. The odd thing, though, is that it’s placed on the right side. I assumed it would be on the left since if you do ever ride on the road, you’re more likely to be on the right side of the lane and, thus, showing cars the left rear side of your bike (in countries with roads laid out the correct way).
But the real claim to fame here is the performance, namely a big motor and an even bigger battery. The motor puts out 1,200 peak watts, and the battery is a massive 48V and 25Ah unit. That’s 1,200 Wh of capacity.
The company claims between 60 to 140 miles (96 to 225 km) of range, but that’s ridiculous – you’ll never get 140 miles. The 60-mile estimate is closer to reality for anyone who wants to use higher than level 1 pedal assist, though going throttle-only will also net you less than 60 miles.
However, a 48V and 25Ah battery is still one of the largest packs on the market, so you’re definitely going to get more range out of the Fucare Taurus than you would from most fat tire e-bikes.
And with the throttle operation up to 28 mph (45 km/h), you’re going to have a blast off-road. To be honest, I rarely got it going that fast on trails simply because it’s a big, heavy bike, and that’s a lot of mass to be moving that fast. I generally found that even 20 mph (32 km/h) felt perfectly fast on narrow trails and even wide-open dirt roads, especially when you hit the occasional washed-out section of road with ruts and bumps.
At the MSRP of $2,499, I would never recommend this bike. But the good news is that it’s on sale for $1,599, at which price I would absolutely recommend it! For that price, you’re getting tons of power and a massive battery, not to mention hydraulic disc brakes, fenders, LED lighting and an 8-speed transmission.
Sure, it’s freakishly heavy and too bulky to carry effectively, not that you’d ever want to carry it very far. And yea, it’s a bit sluggish in the turns from those massive tires. But it’s so much fun off-road with its impressive speed and power that I can look past those shortcomings thanks to the pretty darn good sale price.
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HOUSTON — Amazon, Alphabet’s Google and Meta Platforms on Wednesday said they support efforts to at least triple nuclear energy worldwide by 2050.
The tech companies signed a pledge first adopted in December 2023 by more than 20 countries, including the U.S., at the U.N. Climate Change Conference. Financial institutions including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley backed the pledge last year.
The pledge is nonbinding, but highlights the growing support for expanding nuclear power among leading industries, finance and governments.
Amazon, Google and Meta are increasingly important drivers of energy demand in the U.S. as they build out artificial intelligence centers. The tech sector is turning to nuclear power after concluding that renewables alone won’t provide enough reliable power for their energy needs.
Amazon and Google announced investments last October to help launch small nuclear reactors, technology still under development that the industry hopes will reduce the cost and timelines that have plagued new reactor builds in the U.S.
Meta issued a call in December for nuclear developers to submit proposals to help the tech company add up to four gigawatts of new nuclear in the U.S.
The pledge signed Wednesday was led by the World Nuclear Association on the sidelines of the CERAWeek by S&P Global energy conference in Houston.
China’s so-called “DeepSeek moment” is likely to be good news in the global race to develop artificial intelligence models that can carry out more complex tasks, according to Jean-Pascal Tricoire, chairman of French power-equipment maker Schneider Electric.
“I actually think its good news. We need AI at every level,” Tricoire told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick at CONVERGE LIVE in Singapore on Wednesday.
“We need AI to optimize your whole enterprise at all levels, so that you can buy better, consume better, decide better, source better. To do all of this, we need models to operate on a smaller scale,” he added.
Tricoire said the emergence of Chinese AI app DeepSeek showed that AI models can achieve the same results as some of its more established U.S. rivals, but with a much smaller model.
It “will actually spread AI at all levels of the architecture much faster,” Tricoire said. He added that DeepSeek’s blockbuster R1 model would be “fantastic” for improving safety and reliability when deploying AI on dangerous equipment.
“The spread of AI models at every level of what we need is actually very good news,” Tricoire said.
His comments come shortly after Schneider Electric reported record sales and profits in 2024.
The company, which has been a big beneficiary of the artificial intelligence trend, raised its 2025 profit margin following robust fourth-quarter demand for data centers.
Shares of Schneider Electric rose 33% in 2024, following a 39% upswing in 2023. The Paris-listed stock is down around 7% year to date, however, with China’s recent AI push sparking concerns about AI investment and tech sector returns.
Data centers, which consume an ever-increasing amount of energy, represent a key piece of infrastructure behind modern-day cloud computing and AI applications.
A Northvolt building in Sweden, photographed in February 2022.
Mikael Sjoberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Struggling electric vehicle battery manufacturer Northvolt on Wednesday said it has filed for bankruptcy in Sweden.
The firm said it that it submitted the insolvency filing after an “exhaustive effort to explore all available means to secure a viable financial and operational future for the company.”
“Like many companies in the battery sector, Northvolt has experienced a series of compounding challenges in recent months that eroded its financial position, including rising capital costs, geopolitical instability, subsequent supply chain disruptions, and shifts in market demand,” Northvolt noted.
“Further to this backdrop, the company has faced significant internal challenges in its ramp-up of production, both in ways that were expected by engagement in what is a highly complex industry, and others which were unforeseen.”
Northvolt’s collapse into insolvency deals a major blow to Europe’s ambition to become self-sufficient and build out its own EV battery supply chain to catch up to China, which leads as the world’s largest market for electric vehicles by a wide margin.
The Swedish battery firm had been seeking financial support to continue its operations amid an ongoing Chapter 11 restructuring process in the United States, which it kicked off in November.
“Despite liquidity support from our lenders and key counterparties, the company was unable to secure the necessary financial conditions to continue in its current form,” Northvolt said Wednesday.
Northvolt said a Swedish court-appointed trustee will oversee the company’s bankruptcy process, including the sale of the business and its assets and settlement of outstanding obligations.