If you live in New York City and enjoy getting around on two wheels, prepare to get hit with a whiplash of good and bad news from major micromobility providers in the city. Revel, known for its bright blue electric mopeds, is sunsetting those zippy little commuter machines in favor of cars. But on the other hand, the size of the electric Citi Bike fleet is set to grow considerably.
We’ve covered Revel’s rise since its early days of prototype testing all the way back in 2018. The company got its start in NYC and grew to several cities around the US. Its original business model was based on rent-by-the-minute seated electric scooters or mopeds that could carry up to two riders as well as a modest amount of cargo.
The 30 mph (48 km/h) scooters were praised for their small yet efficient size, allowing riders to skirt past grid-locked city traffic and travel at higher speeds than e-bikes yet without the added congestion or energy waste of full-size cars.
However, Revel wasn’t without problems and slowly reduced the size and scope of its scooter operations. From a peak of over 6,000 electric scooters in the US, the company now has under 3,000 scooters and operates in just New York City and San Francisco, having previously pulled out of Washington DC and Miami.
Now Revel’s NY and CA scooter operations are sunsetting as well as an announcement this week put an end to scooter operations in both locations. Instead, Revel plans to double down on its ridesharing services as well as electric car charging stations, which have been comprising a larger portion of the company’s revenue lately.
According to TechCrunch, “The last day of service will be November 18. Revel will send the decommissioned mopeds to recycling facilities in New York and the Bay Area over the next two weeks.”
On the lighter electric two-wheeler front, NYC’s shared bicycle program Citi Bike will be doubling the number of electric bikes in the program, which currently number at 10,000.
Compared to pedal bikes, many New Yorkers have taken more favorably to the electric Citi Bikes as they don’t require as much strenuous effort. Pedaling is still required to operate the bikes but riders are able to cover the same distance with less physical exertion, meaning arriving at their destination without getting as sweaty.
However, even on the Citi Bike front, the news isn’t all good news. As many have praised the doubling of the electric fleet, others have been dismayed by the lack of expansion of the program’s footprint in the city.
The electric Citi Bikes will also see a speed reduction from the current speed limit of 20 mph down to 18 mph. City Hall said the Department of Transportation also confirmed that they will be launching a public awareness campaign to teach riders about safe e-bike operations, likely in response to some concerns among the public who worry about riders operating the e-bikes unsafely. The announcement did not mention any additional safety programs regarding cars and trucks in the city, which are responsible for vastly more serious injuries than bicycles or e-bikes.
The Citi Bikes program is widely regarded as a resounding success in the city. Streetsblog refers to it as a “transit phenomenon” and explained that in August 2023, the system “set a monthly record with over four million rides, up 63 percent from the same month in 2019. On Oct. 28, there were 161,422 Citi Bike rides, which the DOT believes represents one-quarter of the total cycling trips on an average day in New York.”
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While much of the Western world is still figuring out how to get more people on electric bikes, China just flipped a switch, and the results are staggering. Thanks to a generous nationwide trade-in program rolled out around six months ago, China has seen an explosive surge in electric bicycle sales, with over 8.47 million new e-bikes hitting the road in the first half of 2025 alone.
The program, which offers subsidies to riders who trade in their old, often outdated electric bikes for newer, safer, and more efficient models, has sparked a new e-bike sale boom in a country already dominated by e-bike travel. In major provinces like Jiangsu, Hebei, and Zhejiang, over one million new e-bikes were sold in each region in just six months. That’s a tidal wave of e-bike sales.
The incentives vary depending on location and the model being traded in, but for many consumers, the subsidies cover a substantial portion of a new e-bike’s price – enough to turn a “maybe next year” purchase into a “right now” upgrade. And these aren’t just budget bikes either. The program has driven demand for higher-quality models with better batteries, safer braking systems, and more reliable electronics, accelerating both adoption and innovation across the industry.
The move has proven successful in replacing the millions of older models with lower-quality lithium-ion batteries that had posed safety risks around the country. Instead, China has pushed for higher-quality lithium-ion batteries, a return to a newer generation of higher-performance AGM batteries, and even interesting new sodium-ion battery options.
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Most e-bikes in China look more like what we’d consider seated scooters
According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, more than 8.4 million consumers have participated in the e-bike trade-in program so far, contributing to a sales increase of 643.5% year-over-year and more than doubling sales month-over-month. Meanwhile, production of new electric bicycles rose by nearly 28%, as manufacturers scrambled to meet demand. The sales boosts have already been seen in the financial reports of major industry players like NIU.
And it’s not just the big players benefiting – over 82,000 small independent e-bike dealers reported average sales increases of ¥302,000 (around US $42,000), giving a serious boost to local economies.
What’s particularly striking here is how fast this happened. The program was officially launched late last year as part of a broader effort to stimulate domestic consumption and phase out outdated vehicles and appliances. But while most analysts expected gradual growth, the e-bike sector responded much more quickly. In less than a year, the trade-in subsidies have reshaped the electric bicycle market, creating a consumer-driven boom that shows no signs of slowing.
For those of us watching from outside China, it’s hard not to wonder what might happen if other countries tried something similar. While most families in Chinese cities already own an electric bike and thus see this as an opportunity to trade it in for a newer model, Western countries like the US are still figuring out how to stimulate commuters into buying their first e-bike.
It’s too soon to know exactly how long the boom will last or whether the momentum will carry into 2026 and beyond. We’ve seen bicycle industry bubbles grow and burst before. But one thing’s clear: with the right incentives, even modest ones, it’s possible to ignite real, large-scale change. China just proved it with nearly 8.5 million new e-bikes to show for it.
And if you’re wondering what it looks like when a country takes electric micromobility seriously, this is it.
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Today was the official start of racing at the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025! There was a tremendous energy (and heat) on the ground at NCM Motorsports Park as nearly a dozen teams took to the track. Currently, as of writing, Stanford is ranked #1 in the SOV (Single-Occupant Vehicle) class with 68 registered laps. However, the fastest lap so far belongs to UC Berkeley, which clocked a 4:45 on the 3.15-mile track. That’s an average speed of just under 40 mph on nothing but solar energy. Not bad!
In the MOV (Multi-Occupant Vehicle) class, Polytechnique Montréal is narrowly ahead of Appalachian State by just 4 laps. At last year’s formula sun race, Polytechnique Montréal took first place overall in this class, and the team hopes to repeat that success. It’s still too early for prediction though, and anything can happen between now and the final day of racing on Saturday.
Congrats to the teams that made it on track today. We look forward to seeing even more out there tomorrow. In the meantime, here are some shots from today via the event’s wonderful photographer Cora Kennedy.
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The numbers are in and they are all bad for Tesla fans – the company sold just 5,000 Cybertruck models in Q4 of 2025, and built some 30% more “other” vehicles than it delivered. It just gets worse and worse, on today’s tension-building episode of Quick Charge!
We’ve also got day 1 coverage of the 2025 Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix, reports that the Tesla Optimus program is in chaos after its chief engineer jumps ship, and a look ahead at the fresh new Hyundai IONIQ 2 set to bow early next year, thanks to some battery specs from the Kia EV2.
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