When Ride1Up unveiled the Portola folding electric bike, it was obviously a major play to snatch the title for the leading low-cost electric bike. Now that we’ve had sufficient time in the saddle, it’s high time to see how this budget electric bike stacks up.
When it comes to low-cost e-bikes, there are essentially two groups. Sure, that’s oversimplifying it, but stick with me here.
There are the ultra-budget mega-retailer bikes, like those found on Amazon, Walmart, etc. You can often find those e-bikes in the $500-$800 range. Then there are the actual e-bike companies that sell really low-cost e-bikes, such as those from Lectric Ebikes, Rad Power Bikes, Aventon, and today’s review, Ride1Up. These budget e-bikes are usually a bit more expensive, often starting at between $800-$1,200 (and increasing from there), but they have more reliable service and support because they come directly from an electric bicycle maker that deals only in e-bikes, not also in toasters and air mattresses.
So that’s the lens through which we have to look at the Ride1Up Portola. At $995, it’s not going to compete well against the super cheap price of a Walmart e-bike, but it still undercuts most of the main e-bike players in the market and comes from an e-bike brand that stands behind its products. Plus it’s got way more features and nicer build quality than you’d ever find on a typical Walmart or Amazon special.
Ride1Up Portola Video Review
Ride1Up Portola Tech Specs
Motor: 750W continuous-rated geared hub
Top speed: 45 km/h (28 mph) on pedal assist, 32 km/h (20 mph) on throttle
Range: Up to 32-70 km (20-45 mi)
Battery: 48V 10.4 Ah (460 Wh) or 13.4 Ah (643 Wh)
Weight: 27 kg (60 lb)
Max load: 136 kg (300 lb)
Brakes: Dual piston hydraulic disc brakes
Extras: LCD display with speedometer, wattmeter, battery meter, PAS level indicator, odometer and tripmeter, front and rear LED lights, left-side thumb throttle, lockable battery that is removable without folding, frame-integrated rack, fenders, compatible with add-on passenger kit
I’ll be the first to say that budget e-bikes don’t always give you the best experience. As someone who rides the cheapest and the most expensive e-bikes, often in the same week, there are always going to be big differences. But even with a rock-bottom price, the Ride1Up Portola still has a lot to offer that can start to approach e-bikes twice its price or more.
Yes, the power isn’t going to knock your socks off. It’s fine for most people, but it’s not going to take you up a crazy steep hill on motor power alone – at least not very quickly.
But there’s more to an e-bike than merely flying off the line at breakneck speeds. The 750W motor is peppy but not something that is going to rocket you forward from a stop. What will do though is give you a controlled, fairly quiet, and much-needed boost on just about any hill or straightaway where you want some decent assist. When I wanted to pedal during my rides, I could drop the pedal assist level lower and the bike felt perfectly fine to power largely on my own. When I wanted to ride it like a motorbike, I could throttle around breaking a smile but not a sweat.
And I have to say, the ride felt really good.
Part of the reason the bike rides so nicely is the 3″ wide tires, which split the difference between conventional and fat tires. They’re cushiony enough for a supple ride and to handle occasional off-road adventures. But they also feel more like a “normal” bike tire when you’re on city streets or cruising the bike lane.
Another reason it felt good to pedal is that the Portola rides like a real bike – not a moped. Yes, the throttle is there whenever you need it. But the geometry makes me feel more like I’m on a conventional bicycle, and thus it is a pleasure to ride.
That being said, I should point out that I’m 5’7″ (170 cm) and I had the seat post out nearly to the maximum height mark to get good leg extension. That was great for me, but I’m surprised to see the max rider height for the bike advertised as 6’4″ (193 cm). I have no doubt someone of that height could ride the bike, but I feel like it wouldn’t pedal nearly as nicely. If you’re anywhere close to 5’7″ like me though, it fits like a custom-made glove.
Another area that impressed me was how well the folding system is designed.
Not only is there a nice click-button safety on the handlebar’s folding mechanism, but there’s a soft cloth strap built into the rear rack to hold the bike in the folded position without scratching the paint.
It’s a really nicely thought-out folding system that works well and feels solid.
Of course a 60 lb e-bike isn’t going to be a pleasure to lift, but at least the compact folding nature makes it feel less bulky when you lift it to toss in your trunk or in the back of your SUV.
The bike’s brakes are nice and punchy, and you guys already know how much I love hydraulic disc brakes. Lower maintenance, stronger bite, crisper feel, the works! And to get them on an e-bike for under $1,000 is an awesome treat. You rarely see them at this price, and there are plenty of much more expensive e-bikes that have mechanical brakes. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with mechanical brakes – several of my bikes use them. But hydraulics just give me a nicer ownership experience so I’m very glad to see them here.
In fact, that’s kind of the main theme with this bike. The Ride1Up Portola simply packs so many high-value features into an affordable and fun-to-ride electric bike. You’ve got an 8-speed shifter, a big battery option (though the bigger battery costs $100 more than the stock battery), hydraulic brakes, suspension, great 3″ tires, and a slick-looking frame, to boot! You can even toss on the passenger kit to carry a friend or partner on the bike with you!
The seat not going terribly high is the one area in which I was surprised in a negative way. And it wasn’t even an issue for me, I can just see it as a potential issue for any 6+ footers trying to pedal the bike comfortably. Everything else just kept checking my boxes. Even the way the battery is nicely hidden in the frame and yet removable from the exterior (with a key, of course) is a great feature!
So all told, I’m very impressed with the Ride1Up Portola. I think it is worth much more than its $995 price, though I recommend riders spring for the $1,095 version with the larger battery, just to have it.
Either option will give you a great ride, and I can’t see anyone faulting the bike at this price.
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We’re kicking off this week’s Green Deals with the first-ever cash discount on Velotric’s new Breeze 1 Cruiser e-bike in a red colorway with $150 in free gear at $1,699. Right behind it is Navee’s Back to School Sale that is offering a bunch of e-scooters at up to $600 off with bonus 15%, 20%, and 30% savings, like on the new flagship ST3 Pro Electric Scooter starting from $684. We also have another EcoFlow 48-hour flash sale that is offering the DELTA 2 Max Portable Power Station with a protective bag at its best rate, as well as expansion battery and solar panel bundles too – all starting from $319. We also have Worx’s Nitro 20V 5-inch Cordless Chainsaw sitting $1 above its all-time low, as well as a new one-day-only low price on the Greenworks 80V 17-inch Cordless String Trimmer. Plus, all the hangover savings from last week are at the bottom of the page, rounded together in our Electrified Weekly coverage.
Velotric’s 70-mile cruising Breeze 1 e-bike with SensorSwap tech, Apple Find My, more gets first savings and free gear from $1,699
Velotric is offering a collection of seasonal promotion bundles with many of its newest e-bikes, while also providing some select price cuts. Of the models seeing discounts, we spotted the very first cash savings on Velotric’s new Breeze 1 Cruiser e-bike in its red colorway that is coming with $150 in free gear at $1,699 shipped, while the others are just getting the bundle for free. It was released back in March but has been keeping up at its full $1,799 price tag in the time since, with only some bundle packages ever being offered towards savings. Now, not only are you continuing to get the rear cargo rack and fenders from before, but you’ll also get $100 off the price tag for the best deal we have yet seen.
The new Velotric Breeze 1 e-bike is a 48-pound commuter that is perfect to get through daily appointments as much as it’s ready to cruise the boardwalk. The streamlined and light-weight frame houses a 750W rear hub motor paired with a 627Wh battery in order to max out at 20 MPH speeds (or 28 MPH if your local laws allow it) for up to 70 miles of travel when its PAS is activated (with three modes and five levels each). One innovation that we’re seeing included more in the newest models from this brand is the SensorSwap technology, which lets you switch between a cadence or torque sensor, depending on your preferences and the terrains you’ll be travelling across.
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It’s also nice to see Apple Find My integrations for added security and peace of mind, which comes alongside the usual array of remote companion app smart controls. From there, the experience is only further heightened as you’ll enjoy Tektro hydraulic disc brakes, KENDA puncture-resistant tires, integrated headlighting and taillight with both braking and turn signals, as well as an 8-speed Shimano derailleur, a removable trigger-control throttle, a 3.5-inch full color display sporting a USB-C port, an IPX6 waterproof construction, and more.
Head to classes on Navee’s ST3 Pro e-scooter with free carbon fiber bag starting from $684 in latest sale
Navee is having a Back to School Sale running through August 25 with up to $600 in discounts across a solid lineup of electric scooters – plus, there’s bonus 15%, 20%, and 30% savings you can take advantage of too. Among the offers, my personal favorite is the new Navee flagship ST3 Pro Electric Scooter that is coming with a free carbon fiber riser bag and is initially falling to $726.75 shipped, after using the code SCHOOL15 at checkout for an extra 15% off your order, beating out Amazon by $128. While this is a solid drop from its usual $950 pricing, the costs can go even lower if you’re a student or teacher with exclusive 20% discounts to $683.99 shipped, after verifying on the landing page here and receiving the appropriate code to use at checkout. We’ve mostly been seeing discounts drop the price to $760, though we have seen it go as low as $660. Depending on which of these extra savings you can pick up, you’re looking at scoring a highly advanced ride with $223 to $266 in savings at some of the lowest prices we have tracked. Head below for more on this scooter and the others in this sale.
Save up to 60% on EcoFlow bundles for solar panels, extra batteries, and a DELTA 2 Max station from $319 for 48 hours
As part of its ongoing Home Backup Sale through August 17, EcoFlow has launched the next of its scheduled 48-hour flash sales that are taking up to 60% off a power station bundle, an expansion battery bundle, and a solar panel bundle. The only of these offers to include a station comes with a DELTA 2 Max Portable Power Station and a protective bag for $999 shipped. This bundle would normally cost you $1,978 at full price, with discounts seen on the bundles that usually include some solar paneling over the lone bag. While you won’t find this package at Amazon, you can currently find the station on its own for $1,099, making this deal with the included bag (valued at $79) all the better, saving you $979 in total off the tag for the best rate we have tracked.
Make up to 160 cuts, even in tight spaces, using Worx’s Nitro 20V 5-inch cordless chainsaw kit at $100
Running parallel to Best Buy’s Deals of the Day offer, Amazon is bringing the price down on the Worx Nitro 20V 5-inch Cordless Chainsaw to $99.99 shipped, with it matching in price at Best Buy for only the rest of the day. This model usually fetches $150 at full price these days, which fell to $104 during last month’s Prime Day event and then dropped lower to this same rate the following week. You’re looking at another shot at the second-lowest price we have tracked, giving you $50 off the going rate and landing just $1 above the all-time low that last appeared in February.
The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine. Winter means you can lock in even better off-season price cuts on electric tools for the lawn while saving on EVs and tons of other gear.
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The news came just a month after CEO Elon Musk said: “Dojo 2 is good, but Dojo 3 will be great.”
For years, the CEO has been claiming that Tesla has the “best chip design team in the world” and that Dojo’s supercomputer platform could surpass the products made by its current main training compute supplier, NVIDIA.
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While Musk didn’t deny the Bloomberg report, he has now commented in a way that suggests a different story:
Once it became clear that all paths converged to AI6, I had to shut down Dojo and make some tough personnel choices, as Dojo 2 was now an evolutionary dead end. Dojo 3 arguably lives on in the form of a large number of AI6 SoCs on a single board.
If you are to believe this narrative, Musk saw that Tesla’s new AI6 chip, which has been developed for inference computer power onboard its vehicles, was so good that he decided to shut down Tesla’s chip program for training compute, Dojo, and fired the team.
Does this narrative hold up to scrutiny?
Electrek’s Take
This doesn’t add up. At best, it is partly true. Let’s say that it’s true that Musk saw the AI6 chip and was so impressed that he believes it would even replace Dojo chips. Then, why did Peter Bannon go to?
Bannon was the chip architect in charge of all custom silicon at Tesla, training compute (Dojo) and inference compute (AI6). According to the Bloomberg report, he also left Tesla amid the talent exodus to DensityAI.
However, at this point, it’s not clear whether he left on his own or if he was part of Musk’s claimed “tough personnel choices.”
If it’s the latter, it wouldn’t make sense since Musk has been so impressed with AI6. Why would he fire Bannon after he delivered the new chip?
This point supports the Bloomberg narrative that critical Dojo team members left, which hurt the program to the extent that it made sense for Musk to shut it down, especially within the context of having difficulties competing against NVIDIA and others.
And then you have to question the logic of using the same chips for training and inference computing. It’s certainly not impossible, but it doesn’t sound like an optimal solution.
They generally utilize different data types and have varying throughput requirements. Training is geared toward high numerical precision while inference needs low latency and high throughput per watt.
To be fair, energy efficiency is also essential for training computers, but it is less so than for an inference computer running in an electric vehicle with limited energy capacity.
You gotta give credit where credit is due: Musk knows how to spin a story.
There’s basically a mutiny in Tesla’s Dojo team, and Musk spins it into Tesla developed such a good inference chip that it fired its training compute chip team.
It is clearly a fake narrative pushed by Musk to justify his very recent pro-Dojo comments.
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Kia is clearing space in its lineup as it prepares for several new models. That means saying goodbye to a few popular gas models as Kia prepares for the EV4 and another new electric car that will arrive soon.
Kia axes gas models for the EV4 and EV2
Kia’s lineup is due for a major overhaul in the UK as it prepares for its next-generation vehicles. The Korean automaker is trimming a few trim options on some of its most popular ICE models, while axing a few from the lineup altogether.
Like its new EVs, the Picanto and XCeed will now be offered in three trims: a base Pure model, a GT-Line, and a GT-Line S.
Kia said the move is to make it easier for buyers to find their favorite features. Meanwhile, the Ceed and Ceed SW will be cut from the lineup. Production will end at Kia’s Zilina plant in Slovakia, where it has already stopped building Proceed models.
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A company spokesperson confirmed to Autocar that the new lineup is to clear room at the facility to prepare for the EV4, Kia’s first electric sedan and hatchback.
Kia EV4 (Source: Kia)
According to the spokesperson, deliveries will begin “imminently” after Kia opened orders for both the EV4 Fastback and hatch variant earlier this year.
Kia is clearing production capacity for another new electric vehicle, the EV2, which is set to begin at the Zilina plant in early 2026.
Kia Concept EV2 (Source: Kia)
The EV2 is Kia’s new entry-level EV that will sit underneath the EV3. Although prices, range, and more have yet to be revealed, it’s expected to be around 4,000 mm (157″) in length, or slightly smaller than the EV3.
Since the EV3 starts at £32,995 ($44,000), you can expect the smaller EV2 to be priced from around £25,000 ($33,500). We got a closer look at the EV2 testing in the Alps last month, revealing a more SUV-like profile.
Through the first half of 2025, the EV3 was the most popular retail EV in the UK. Will the EV4 or EV2 take over?
Either way, Kia is quickly gaining market share in the region. The Korean automaker is now the third top-selling car brand in the UK. With new EVs on the way, Kia is poised to gain momentum over the next few months.
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