Honda shows off its first electric bicycle
Honda is taking a page out of just about every other major automotive manufacturer’s playbook by debuting its first electric bicycle, the Honda e-MTB Concept.
The bike was just shown off at the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo, where it joined several other futuristic and/or brand-widening debuts from other leading Japanese motorcycle companies and automakers.
The Honda e-MTB Concept looks more like a downhill electric bike and maintains a fairly realistic design. Unlike some e-bike concepts that are fairly far-fetched, Honda’s actually looks like something that could reach production. It’s a promising trend in e-bike concepts lately, showing that some of these designs could one day see a path toward production.
The e-bike reportedly uses an existing Brose mid-drive motor, meaning Honda didn’t have to reinvent the wheel (sorry, I stand by it). By using existing e-bike components, Honda could focus more on the bike’s overall appearance and structural design, leaving the bike parts to the companies that have already been producing them for decades.
The full-suspension e-bike uses a SRAM Eagle AXS drivetrain, Shimano hydraulic disc brakes, Fox suspension in the front and rear, a RockShox Reverb dropper seat post, DT Swiss XM 1700 wheels, and Maxxis Minion DHF tires.
For Honda, the goal was to combine motorcycle and bicycle experiences in a single product that could handle mountainous terrain.
As the company explained:
“The Honda e-MTB Concept expands the field of mobility in nature. Easily going uphill with electric assistance, this bike offers a new riding experience that combines the fun of motorcycles and fun of a mountain bike. It is being developed to enable anyone to enjoy riding mountainous trails more freely.”
Honda is far from the first automaker or motorcycle manufacturer to explore electric bicycles as a potential avenue for brand expansion.
Some of the most famous includes Harley-Davidson’s e-bike foray with Serial 1, Porsche’s major expansion into e-bikes with the purchase of companies like Greyp and Fazua as well as its own Porsche e-bikes, and Peugeot’s wide line of electric bikes.
GM also developed an electric bike in-house, though the company killed it off before it reached commercialization.
HUMMER has tried to expand its brand into e-bikes lately, as has Jeep.
As the e-bike market continues to grow, more automakers are seeing it as a lucrative way to expand their market and bring more people into their transportation ecosystem.
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Environment
Tariffs will increase Zero Motorcycles’ prices on its more affordable e-motorbikes this month
Zero Motorcycles has announced that its newest line of electric motorbikes will see a price increase in the US due to the Trump Administration’s tariff policy. But the saving grace is that the company is allowing reservations made in the next few weeks to secure pre-tariff pricing.
Zero launched its new X-line of smaller electric motorcycles late last year, ushering in a Sur Ron-style pair of bikes that cost a mere fraction of the company’s larger street bikes.
Designed for off-road use in the US or both on and off-road use in Europe, the Zero XB and XE were designed to be as affordable to new riders as they are approachable.
The XB was unveiled with a price tag of a mere US $4,195 or €4,500, while the larger and more powerful XE carried a price tag of US $6,495 or €6,500.
The pair were part of the motorcycle maker’s plans to have six unique models all priced at under US $10,000 in the next two years. However, those plans may face increasing pressure after the Trump Administration imposed harsh new tariffs on imported goods to the US, forcing many manufacturers to increase prices.
Zero’s push for more affordable electric motorcycles is made possible mainly by its partnership with Chinese electric motorcycle manufacturers like Zongshen. While such companies have years of experience manufacturing motorcycles at more affordable prices, their relative cost advantage could take a serious hit under the US’s aggressive stance towards foreign-produced goods.
The first XB and XE motorcycles are expected to be delivered to existing reservation holders this Summer. However, for anyone who doesn’t yet have a pre-order in place, Zero says that it will still honor the existing pricing for reservations placed before May 18, 2025.
Bikes reserved in the next two weeks are not expected to ship until later this year, meaning they will almost certainly be subject to increased tariffs, though it appears Zero is prepared to eat those tariffs for an early group of reservation holders.
“Zero Motorcycles remains committed in our mission to deliver industry-leading electric motorcycles while maintaining an accessible price point for consumers around the world,” said Sam Paschel, CEO of Zero Motorcycles. “Our customers are at the heart of everything we do. And by honoring prices for early reservation holders – despite the shifting global economy – we’re reinforcing our position as the leader in the electric space and building the future of two-wheel transportation.”
Electrek’s Take
What a time to double down on Chinese partnerships. I feel for Zero, who was obviously looking for a way to reach more riders, especially young riders in the Sur Ron/Talaria demographic, and found the obvious way to do so by going to the world’s biggest market for producing e-motorcycles.
That’s not to say that US-based production isn’t possible. Zero used to do more production locally before slowly shifting more and more of its manufacturing overseas. There are still companies like Ryvid who manufacture in the US, though even those companies rely on many imported components and will still likely take a hit from tariffs.
The long and the short of it is that the entire electric motorcycle industry is going to be shaken by these tariff policies, and no US consumer will spared. Or at least, none after May 18th.
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In the increasingly crowded market for peer-to-peer payments, Venmo is showing momentum while Cash App has hit a rough patch.
The parents of both businesses reported quarterly results this week. PayPal, which owns Venmo, reported an earnings beat and kept its forecast for the year. Block, meanwhile, plummeted in extended trading on Thursday after the Cash App parent missed on revenue and issued disappointing guidance.
Venmo and Cash App are simultaneously competing to gobble up more consumers for their peer-to-peer offerings while also adding services like debit, credit and transfer services so they can actually make money from those users.
For PayPal CEO Alex Chriss, who took over the struggling payments company in 2023, monetizing Venmo is a key piece to his turnaround plan.
Venmo revenue jumped 20% in the first quarter from a year earlier, though PayPal didn’t provide a dollar figure. PayPal pointed to growing adoption of features like the Venmo debit card, instant transfers, and integration into online checkout. The company said monetization per user is improving and that Venmo continues to play a role in its broader e-commerce push.
Revenue at Venmo increased at twice the rate of total payment volume, which rose 10%, reflecting progress in turning engagement into profit.
During the quarter, PayPal added nearly two million first-time debit card users across PayPal and Venmo, and said Venmo debit card payment volume rose more than 60%. Monthly actives on the card grew about 40%, while Pay with Venmo volume surged 50%.
“We’ve leaned into Venmo and the investment is starting to pay off,” Chriss said on the company’s earnings call.
Block CEO Jack Dorsey struck a different tone on his company’s call.
Cash App posted 10% gross profit growth from a year earlier to $1.38 billion in the first quarter. PayPal’s gross payment volume, or a measure of money moving through Square and Cash App, came in at $56.8 billion, missing the average analyst estimate of $58 billion, according to StreetAccount.
Dorsey acknowledged Cash App’s recent underperformance.
“I just don’t think we were focused enough and had enough attention on the network and the network density, and that is our foundation,” he said.
Dorsey noted that some users still don’t view Cash App as a true banking platform, in part because their experience with the app can feel limited or restrictive when trying to move or access funds. The company is promoting its lending program, Cash App Borrow, which has received approval from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and can now bring origination and servicing in-house.
“We of course want to deepen engagement with our customers through banking services and Borrow, and I have no doubt we will,” Dorsey said. “But at the same time, we need to make sure that we continuously grow our network, and that starts with peer to peer.”
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