Here’s how Tesla cleverly re-launched its Cyberquad for Kids by skirting ATV laws
Despite Tesla’s long-awaited Cyberquad electric ATV likely still having a long wait ahead of us, it’s actually been two years since the company rolled out a smaller version designed for young riders. But after a Consumer Product Safety Commission recall put the kibosh on the original version, Tesla has returned with an updated model that managed to avoid the same laws that quashed the original.
The Cyberquad for Kids may look like a Tesla, but it was in fact created from a partnership between Tesla Design Studio and the popular children’s toy maker Radio Flyer.
The original model proved incredibly popular, selling out within minutes. With supply low and demand skyrocketing, the conditions were ripe for scalping. Online auction sites like eBay were full of units selling for thousands of dollars over the original $1,900 price tag.
However, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) eventually took notice of the commotion. The CPSC ultimately decided that the Cyberquad for Kids wasn’t a kid’s ride-on toy as it was being marketed, but rather a youth ATV. And based on their rules, they were right.
According to section 42(e)(1) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) an ATV is defined as “any motorized, off-highway vehicle designed to travel on 3 or 4 wheels, having a seat designed to be straddled by the operator and handlebars for steering control.” So it may look like a toy, but it fit the definition for a youth ATV.
The CPSC takes ATV regulations quite seriously due to the higher risk of injury they have historically posed. As ATVs gained popularity in the US during the 1970s and 80s, statistics tracking injuries and deaths skyrocketed. Many are familiar with the infamous US ban on 3-wheeled ATVs imposed in the late 1980s, but there is also a long list of regulations imposed on 4-wheeled ATVs as well.
To be fair, the simple design and 10 mph performance of the Cyberquad for Kids put it much closer to the kind of ride-on toys you’d find at box stores than to actual youth ATVs designed for thrill-riding or off-road shenanigans. But as they say, “rules are rules,” and the product still fit within the CPSC’s definition of a youth ATV.
As such, the CPSC put its foot down in late 2022, forcing a total recall of the Cyberquad for Kids sold in the US.
Now Tesla and Radio Flyer have returned with a new version of the Cyberquad for Kids that has just re-opened sales in the US with deliveries set to begin later this month.
As Radio Flyer’s CEO explained, “Our award-winning product development team has worked closely with the Tesla Design Studio to update this popular product so we could bring it back stronger than ever.”
Tesla detailed a number of those updates on the product page, explaining that the Cyberquad for Kids has now been certified as a true ride-on toy, and is no longer considered a youth ATV.
According to Tesla:
The new Model 915 Cyberquad for Kids is a certified electric ride-on toy under ASTM F963 and meets U.S. Consumer Product Safety Standards for ride-on toys. Not approved or intended for use as a youth ATV.
CPSC Modifications to Model 915 from Model 914:
- Age Range: 9-12 years
- Tire pressure warning label added: Equipped with new ANSI Z535-formatted warning decal instructing owners to maintain a tire pressure of 20-30 psi
- Product warning label revised: Equipped with a new ANSI Z535-formatted warning decal defining intended use as a youth ride-on toy only
- Seat support spring removed
The three main changes include two warning labels and the removal of a “seat support spring”, which likely refers to the rear suspension.
The original design included a solid rear axle mounted on a rear swingarm, offering single-pivot suspension commonly found on simple youth ATVs. Removing that suspension likely helps make the case for the little quad being closer in design to ride-on toys than actual youth ATVs.
To be fair, the original suspension wasn’t much. Even with its simple design though, it still functioned decently. I’m within spitting distance of the 150 lb (68 kg) weight limit, and so I had a chance to review the Cyberquad for Kids last year (check out the video below). I found that the suspension did in fact help improve the ride on rough terrain, though most kids (or kids-at-heart like me) are more likely to ride the quad around grassy lawns and smooth sidewalks – not rough off-road trails.
Without that suspension, the product will still likely be a fun ride but certainly won’t feel as comfortable as the original.
We’ll all just have to keep waiting for the full-sized Cyberquad if we want to see Tesla truly enter the ATV market for real this time.
Oh, and just for a fun laugh, it looks like the Cyberquad for Kids has proven to be so popular that companies are already knocking it off with cheap imitations.
I was at the Milan Motorcycle Show last week and thought I had stumbled upon a booth for the Asian factory that produces the actual device. But as I got closer, I realized it wasn’t a real Cyberquad for Kids, but rather a cheap knock-off.
It definitely didn’t have the same pizazz, and I’m guessing it didn’t have the same performance either.
For reference, see me riding the original Cyberquad for Kids up a steep ramp into the back of my electric mini-truck below.
In fact, I’ve since rigged up my own Cyberquad for Kids with a tow hitch, and we now use it on my family’s ranch for real work. It tows a fertilizer spreader and a sprayer trailer behind it for use in the fields. Hmm, perhaps that should be my next Weekend Project article…
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GreenPower Motor Company says it’s received three orders for 11 of its BEAST electric Type D school buses for western state school districts in Arizona, California, and Oregon.
GreenPower hasn’t made the sort of headline-grabbing promises or big-money commitments that companies like Nikola and Lion Electric have, but while those companies are floundering GPM seems to be plugging away, taking orders where it can and actually delivering buses to schools. Late last year, the company scored 11 more orders for its flagship BEAST electric school bus.
As far as these latest orders go, the breakdown is:
- seven to Los Banos Unified School District in Los Banos, California
- two for the Hood River County School District in Hood River, Oregon
- two for the Casa Grande Elementary School District in Casa Grande, Arizona
Those two BEAST electric school buses for Arizona will join another 90-passenger BEAST that was delivered to Phoenix Elementary School District #1, which operates 15 schools in the center of Phoenix, late last year.
“As school districts continue to make the change from NOx emitting diesel school buses to a cleaner, healthier means of transporting students, school district transportation departments are pursuing the gold standard of the industry – the GreenPower all-electric, purpose-built (BEAST) school buses,” said Paul Start, GreenPower’s Vice President of Sales, School Bus Group. “(The) GreenPower school bus order pipeline and production schedule are both at record levels with sales projections for (2025) set to eclipse the 2024 calendar year.”
GreenPower moved into an 80,000-square-foot production facility in South Charleston, West Virigina in August 2022, and delivered its first buses to that state the following year.
Electrek’s Take
Since the first horseless carriage companies started operating 100 years ago (give or take), at least 1,900 different companies have been formed in the US, producing over 3,000 brands of American automobiles. By the mid 1980s, that had distilled down to “the big 3.”
All of which is to say: don’t let the recent round of bankruptcies fool you – startups in the car and truck industry is business as usual, but some of these companies will stick around. If you’re wondering which ones, look to the ones that are making units, not promises.
SOURCE | IMAGES: GreenPower Motors.
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While some recent high-profile bankruptcies have cast doubt on the EV startup space recently, medium-duty electric truck maker Harbinger got a shot of credibility this week with a massive $100 million Series B funding round co-led by Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund.
It’s been a rough couple of weeks for fledgling EV brands like Lion Electric and Canoo, but box van builder Harbinger is bucking the trend, fueling its latest funding round with an order book of 4,690 vehicles that’s valued at nearly $500 million. Some of the company’s more notable customers including Bimbo Bakeries (which owns brands like Sara Lee, Thomas’, and Entenmann’s) and THOR Industries (Airstream, Jayco, Thor), which is also one of the investors in the Series B.
Other prominent investors include Tiger Global, the Coca-Cola System Sustainability Fund, and ArcTern Ventures.
As for what makes Harbinger such an attractive investment prospect, Dipender Saluja, Managing Partner of Capricorn Investment Group’s Technology Impact Fund explains that, “Harbinger has demonstrated a remarkable ability to reach significant milestones far quicker than other EV companies … the market has been impressed by their ability to develop large portions of the vehicle in-house to drive down unit costs, while remaining capital efficient.”
The company plans to use the funds to ramp up to higher-volume production capacity and deliver on existing orders, as well as build-out of the company’s sales, customer support, and service operations.
“Harbinger is entering a rapid growth phase where we are focused on scaling production of our customer-ready platform,” said John Harris, co-founder and CEO. “These funds catalyze significant revenue generation. We’ve developed a vehicle for a segment that is ripe for electrification, and there is a strong product/market fit that will help fuel our upward trajectory through 2025 and beyond.”
The company has raised $200 million since its inception in 2021.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Harbinger.
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There is no state more associated with cars and car culture than Michigan – and the state that’s home to the Motor City has just taken a huge step into the future with the deployment of its first-ever all electric police vehicle.
The 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E patrol vehicle is assigned to the Michigan State Police State Security Operations Section, and will be to be used by armed, uniformed members of the MSP specializing in general law enforcement and security services at state-owned facilities in the Lansing, MI area.
“This is an exciting opportunity for us to research, in real time, how a battery electric vehicle performs on patrol,” says Col. James F. Grady II, director of the MSP. “Our state properties security officers patrol a substantially smaller number of miles per day than our troopers and motor carrier officers, within city limits and at lower speeds, coupled with the availability of charging infrastructure in downtown Lansing, making this the ideal environment to test the capabilities of a police-package battery electric vehicle.”
The MSP’s Precision Driving Unit is nationally renowned for its annual Police Vehicle Evaluation, which our own Scooter Doll participated in last year, driving the then-new Chevy Blazer EV Police Pursuit Vehicles in a game of “cops and robbers.”
In those tests, the EVs have impressed – but the MSP has been hesitant to commit to a BEV until now. “We began testing battery electric vehicles in 2022, but up until now hybrids were the only alternative fuel vehicle in our fleet,” said Lt. Nicholas Darlington, commander of the Precision Driving Unit. “Adding this battery electric vehicle to our patrol fleet will allow us to study the vehicle’s performance long-term to determine if there is a potential for cost savings and broader applicability within our fleet.”
Michigan joins other states like Wisconsin and California in deploying electric patrol cars and saving big money on fuel and maintenance, with many more out there and many more to come.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Michigan State Police.
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