The first electric bike designed by women, for women
Electric bicycles have never been more popular, meaning more riders than ever are discovering the freedom and utility of riding e-bikes. But with many companies offering “one size fits most” e-bikes, women and smaller riders are often left out. That’s why Integral Electrics set out to design e-bikes that fit female riders better.
It’s no secret that women are underrepresented in the cycling industry, but many people don’t realize just how little voice women have in the industry.
At the largest bicycle trade show in the world, the Taipei Cycle Show, Integral Electrics CEO and cofounder Laura Belmar met with thousands of bike industry contacts but said that she didn’t meet a single female on the buyer/brand side. It became clear to her that “design and engineering choices for the bike industry predominantly come from a male perspective and most miss the mark when it comes to accessibility.”
That’s why she and the Integral Electrics team designed the Maven Cargo e-bike as “a vehicle designed by women that delivers an exceptional riding experience for all, breaking free from an industry traditionally tailored for men, by men.”
So what makes the Maven Cargo e-bike different?
Primarily, the design of the bike is intended to better fit shorter riders, many of which are women. The company “designed the Maven so that women and shorter riders can confidently carry cargo. Built for sharing, this cargo e-bike also meets the specifications of taller partners and veteran cyclists.”
Designing for shorter riders is key, since short-centric bikes can often still fit taller riders by adjusting the seat and handlebars, but taller rider e-bikes are rarely able to be adjusted down to a level that can fit shorter riders. In this case, the bike is designed to comfortably fit riders from 5’0″ to 6’7″ (152 to 200 cm). The use of a dropper seat post allows ever further extension as well as quick adjustments to seat height on the fly. Adjustable handlebars help dial in the height and reach for each rider.
As the company explained,
“We’ve talked to a lot of women about their experience on cargo bikes, and 9 out of 10 report feeling unstable, like they’re “not quite strong enough.” But they’re not really the problem; it’s actually just bad cargo bike design! The female center of gravity is at waist height, and so women need cargo to be well below the waist in order to feel stable.”
And that’s exactly how the Maven is designed.
The bike’s geometry is intended to better fit smaller riders by placing cargo just above the rear wheel at under 24 inches from the ground, “aligning just above the knee, and well below the average female’s center of gravity.” Integral Electrics says that this design guarantees confident and effortless riding for everyone.
This is of course not the only 20″ cargo e-bike out there, and you’ll find plenty of other options with this wheel size.
But Integral Electrics is trying to win riders over with more than just a lower center of gravity. The e-bike actually comes with some nice specs too.
A set of dual batteries come standard on the Maven Cargo, which the company says offers over 80 miles (130 km) of range. A long rear rack is included to fit a range of cargo accessories as well as kid carriers.
A 750W rear hub motor can be controlled by either pedal assist or a hand throttle, allowing easy take offs and efficient riding. A large headlight and tail light illuminates the way and lets cars see the bike as they approach it, while front and rear turn signals provide extra visibility. Hydraulic disc brakes are included for confident, quick stops.
Adjustable suspension in the dual crown fork offers a more stable, comfortable ride. Rear suspension is provided through a suspension seat post, which won’t offer the same handling as a rear swingarm but will at least help prevent hard bumps from being transferred immediately up through the seat and into the rider.
The Maven Cargo e-bike is priced at US $1,999 and has just launched on Kickstarter with an estimated delivery date beginning in February 2024.
We normally don’t cover crowdfunding campaigns unless we can test the product first or the company is an established brand that has demonstrated past deliveries, as this helps us weed out the fly-by-night operations. In this case, the team behind Integral Electrics has been selling e-bikes since at least 2019 and the company touts two other successful Kickstarter campaigns under its belt, showing that they “have a strong track record for delivering quality product on time.”
Electrek’s Take
As a dude, I’m not sure that me mansplaining the fact that women are usually shorter is the place where I feel most comfortable. But I’ll just say that I like the approach taken here for accessible design and I think that anything that can promote inclusivity in the cycling industry is great to see. Regardless of your sex, electric bikes are an amazing way to get around town and replace car usage. Helping more people take part is a great way forward.
Considering my wife can sometimes save money on shoes by buying on the larger end of child’s sizes, I know a thing or two about seeing a small woman struggle to ride a taller e-bike. I’ve watched my wife try several models that she ultimately decided just made her feel uncomfortable due to the size.
On a recent trip we took to the Netherlands, a country of tall Dutch bikes and taller Dutch people, she struggled on most of the taller Gazelle bikes we rode. The best bike she found was a model that was actually designed for elderly riders (seen below on the right). It had smaller wheels, a lower saddle and a pedal-forward geometry that let riders comfortably rest their feet on the ground at stops while still sitting in the saddle. The difference in her confidence while riding on the two different styles of bikes was incredible to see. So while I can’t claim to know what it’s like to be a female cyclist seeking that confidence from a comfortably sized bike, I can at least empathize.
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Tesla has reportedly yet to start testing its robotaxi service in Austin without a safety driver behind the wheel – just weeks before the planned launch.
For months now, Tesla and CEO Elon Musk have been hyping the launch of “Tesla Robotaxi”, a Uber-like ride-hailing service powered by autonomous Tesla vehicles, starting with a launch in Austin, Texas in June.
We have extensively reported that this launch is disappointing compared to what Tesla promised for years: that all its consumer vehicles built since 2016 are capable of self-driving.
Instead, Tesla plans to build an internal fleet of “10-20” Model Ys and have them offer ride-hailing services in a geo-fenced area around Austin, Texas, helped by human teleoperations. This is very similar to what Waymo has been offering in other cities for years, specifically in Austin, for months now.
Even with the significant downgrade in self-driving capabilities promised with this project, there are many doubts about Tesla’s ability to achieve the lesser goal.
That’s because the robotaxi service will be based on Tesla’s ‘Supervised Full Self-Driving’ program, which is currently achieving about 500 miles between critical disengagements fleet-wide, according to the latest crowdsourced data.
Tesla will be able to improve on that by optimizing a version for the geo-fenced area in Austin and it has been training its neural nets for that for months with vehicles going around Austin.
However, a new report now claims that Tesla has yet to start testing its service without safety drivers at the wheel – similar to Tesla’s public ‘Supervised FSD’. The Information wrote in a new report:
Elon Musk’s deadline for launching Tesla’s first robotaxi service, in Austin, Texas, is weeks away, but the company hadn’t started testing its cars without a human safety driver as of last month, according to an engineer close to the testing and a former employee. That’s a crucial step required before Tesla can launch the pilot service for customers.
For comparison, before launching its paid ride service in Austin, Waymo tested its vehicles with safety drivers in the area for 6 months and then without safety drivers for another 6 months.
Waymo has now taken over a significant market share of ride-hailing rides in the Texas capital, but it still has limitations; for example, it doesn’t drive on the interstate.
The report also mentions that Tesla has been working with local emergency services in Austin to develop intervention plans in order to avoid causing issues if its autonomous vehicles fail.
Electrek’s Take
This is the biggest softball goal. It’s a fraction of what was promised, it’s something that others have achieved before. It’s a punt created for Tesla to finally get a “win” in self-driving.
If they can’t even make it, it would be disastrous, but at least, I hope that it will finally open the eyes of many Tesla shareholders to the reality that Tesla is actually behind in autonomous driving and that Musk’s latest claims that Tesla will have “millions of robotaxi on the road” in 2026 are just the same as when he claimed it would happen in 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019: corporate puffery.
My main concern now is for public safety. I have little hope of US regulators being able to stop Tesla considering Trump is firing anyone who got in Musk’s way after he gave him over $250 million.
If Tesla brings its cowboy approach to this, it could get bad quickly.
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The development of Rivian’s R2 validation builds continues to progress. We know so because the American automaker’s founder and CEO, RJ Scaringe, continues to pepper us with welcome updates with plenty of fantastic images. The latest post features the inner workings of Rivian’s Maximus drive unit, which will propel the upcoming R2 EVs when they hit the market next year.
Another day, another exciting social media update from RJ Scaringe. Nine days ago, the Rivian CEO shared a peek at the company’s new Maximus drive unit, designed to be more compact and efficiently built to help reduce cost-per-unit production.
Our only look was from outside the drive unit’s casing at the time, but it was exciting news nonetheless. As an encore, Scaringe posted photos of the R2 validation builds on a pilot line at the automaker’s facility in Normal, Illinois.
This evening, Scaringe took to Instagram and X once again to share a better look at the inner workings of the Rivian Maximus drive unit. Check it out:
RJ shares more images of Rivian’s Maximus development
Rivian’s CEO posted the three images above, which showcase some interesting perspectives of the developing drive unit. As previously shared by Rivian, Maximus uses a new continuous winding technique that reduces the total welds per stator and thus the total overall cost of building each one.
For comparison, Rivian’s current Enduro drive unit requires 264 stator welds, while Maximus only needs 24. You can see the stator windings in the image above to the left. Scaringe shared excitement in the progress of the Rivian team’s Maximus drive unit as well as some insight in his post:
I love the packaging on Maximus — the drive unit for R2. It has a side mounted inverter that utilizes flat area at the end of the motor to minimize the length of bus bars, keeping them light and efficient. The large planar shape also allows all processing and power electronics to exist on a single printed circuit board.
The inverter chassis closes out the oil cooled motor cavity and seamlessly routes coolant from the power modules to the drive unit’s heat exchanger with no extra parts.
Overall, the inverter part count is reduced by 41% relative to Enduro and structural inverter lid saves more parts and fasteners by also serving as the drive unit mount. I love this design efficiency. (heart emoji)
Looks fantastic, RJ. We can’t wait to see the visual progress of the R2 you share next!
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On today’s thrilling episode of Quick Charge, we’ve a huge spike in global EV sales and a huge dip in Tesla deliveries. Plus a whole bunch of news from Toyota, including an updated bZ that’s just a bit better than before … but is a bit better going to make a big difference?
We’re also on track for more than 1 in 4 new cars sold this year to be electric, with a whole lot more hybrids coming in to make up the difference and drive fuel demand down to a new yearly low. All this, plus the top 5 cheapest EVs to insure when you hit the play button.
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