Fucare Scorpio review: A fun fat tire electric bike with moto-style suspension
As electric fat tire e-bikes become increasingly popular, more designers are getting creative with their suspension setups to differentiate themselves from the sea of other e-bikes out there. Now, the Fucare Scorpio takes a classic dual rear suspension design and applies it in a unique way to electric bicycles.
And it raises the question: Can you have too much suspension?
Fucare Scorpio Video Review
Fucare Scorpio Tech Specs
- Motor: 750W (1,400W peak-rated) rear hub motor
- Top speed: 32 mph (51 km/h)
- Range: 30-60 miles (50-100 km)
- Battery: 48V 20Ah (960 Wh)
- Weight: 84.4 lb (38.3 kg)
- Load capacity: 400 lb (181 kg)
- Frame: 6061 aluminum alloy
- Brakes: Dual-piston hydraulic disc brakes
- Extras: Color display, front and rear LED lights, included rear rack and full fenders, front and rear suspension, kickstand
Outfitted for multi-purpose riding
The Fucare Scorpio is obviously a multi-role e-bike. They set it up with front/rear LED lighting, full fenders, and a rear rack, showcasing utility and commuter-style riding gear. But then again, it’s got full suspension and fat tires with dual-sport blocky tread for better off-road performance.
So this isn’t just a single-purpose electric bike, but rather something of a dual-sport electric moped, in my opinion.
There’s also the high-speed operation that is capable of reaching up to 28 mph (45 km/h) – or technically 32 mph (51 km/h) in unlocked mode. Few people ride that fast off-road, meaning Fucare likely gave the bike that much speed as a nod to road riders who want to treat the Scorpio as a small commuter motorbike.
And all of that sounds great – especially for the rather modest price of $1,399. But then there’s the suspension to talk about.
So much suspension
On the face of things, the suspension sounds great. There’s a conventional suspension fork up front and a pair of shocks in the rear. The issue is that those dual rear shocks, which seem to harken back to classic dual-coilover rear suspension design popular on motorcycles and mopeds of yesteryear, don’t seem to fit the bike.
It’s not that the design isn’t sound. Dual shocks is a tried and true setup. The issue seems to be the spring rate of those shocks. I’m not 100% sure, but I have a hunch that they forgot to halve the spring rate when they doubled the suspension.
I’m only 150 lb, which isn’t even half of the 400 lb rated max load of the bike, but I can barely make the rear suspension budge. If I jump on it, I can get a small amount of flex in the tail, but that’s it. It feels almost like a hard-tail bike when I’m riding off-road, which isn’t that bad considering 4-inch fat tires can make even hard-tail bikes feel pretty good off-road. But if you were expecting that two shock absorbers equals twice the shock absorption, then that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
The front suspension feels comparatively great and right where I’d want it to be. I rode this bike off road a lot, from dirt trails to no trails at all, even straight up overlanding. I never felt like the bike couldn’t handle it, especially with its 750W rear motor putting out 1,400W of peak power. But I also found that I would often raise out of the saddle to make the ride more comfortable and avoid getting taint-punched by the saddle.
So the bike seems to work well for both on and off-road riding, and has good performance in both scenarios. The powerful motor offers good acceleration and a fast top speed, though there are some downsides to the bikeas well. For example, the pedal assist lag is quite long on this e-bike, sometimes taking a full two seconds or so to kick on the motor power when you start pedaling. Many riders will only use the throttle and so that won’t be an issue, but if you like to pedal sometimes like me, then the pedal assist lag at startup can be a downer.
Speaking of the pedaling, the derailleur for the pedal drivetrain isn’t very high-end. It’s a Shimano Tourney, which is fine, but just not very robust. For a $1,399 e-bike though, it’s probably par for the course and will serve most people well – even if it needs some occasional tuning.
And lastly, I was surprised that the DYISLAND hydraulic disc brakes weren’t as grabby as I had expected. Perhaps some better brake pads with stickier braking compound could help. But for hydraulic stoppers, these just weren’t the strongest I’ve tested. The adjustable levers are a nice touch, but I’d rather just have brakes that stop on a dime with a slight pull.
On the upside though, the bike looks great and I really like that trellis frame. Not only does it protect and cradle the battery well, but it likely makes it even harder for thieves to work around the battery and try to break it loose in order to steal it. And on that note, the frame gives you a thousand different places to put your bike lock in it, which is nice for when you roll up next to weird-shaped bike racks and need a few different options for locking points.
Speaking of locks, lately I’ve been testing the Foldylock Forever and have found it to be my favorite bike lock in a long time. This thing has become my primary go-to bike lock. It’s well made and has insanely good security – likely the best folding lock on the market. I say that without exaggeration, as I’ve tested a pile of them!
Sum it up for me!
To put a bow on this review, I’d say that at $1,399 for the Fucare Scorpio, you’re getting your money’s worth. I’d have loved some softer springs in the rear suspension and perhaps some sticker brake pads, but the bike rides well and is a ton of fun for cruising on the streets or in the dirt.
You could always swap the rear suspension yourself if you were so inclined, but starting with a frame and platform that is powerful while offering long range is important since those are traits that are hard to upgrade yourself, so it’s great to see Fucare give you those basics right out of the gate.
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Powered by tech giant Huawei 5G-Advanced network, a fleet of over 100 Huaneng Ruichi all-electric autonomous haul trucks and heavy equipment assets have been deployed at the Yimin open-pit mine in Inner Mongolia.
With more than 100 units on site, China’s state-backed Huaneng Group officially deployed the world’s largest fleet of unmanned electric mining trucks at the Yimin coal plant in Inner Mongolia this past week. The autonomous trucks use the same Huawei Commercial Vehicle Autonomous Driving Cloud Service (CVADCS) powered by the ame 5G-Advanced (5G-A) network that powers its self-driving car efforts. Huawei says it’s the key to enabling the Yimin mine’s large-scale vehicle-cloud-network synergy.
Huawei is calling the achievement a “world’s first,” saying the new system has improved operator safety at Yimin while setting new benchmarks for AI and autonomous mining.
The autonomous mine project aligns with a broader push by Chinese government and industry to integrate AI and advanced connectivity into traditional industries – an approach we’ve already seen meet with great success in port environments by Hesai and Westwell.
And, if technology like Rocsys’ charging robots take off, these autonomous haul trucks won’t even need anyone to plug them in at the end of their shifts!
For their part, Huaneng Ruichi claims its cabin-less electric offer an industry-leading 90 metric ton rating (that’s about 100 imperial tons) and the ability operate continually in extreme cold temperatures as low as -40° (it’s the same, C or F), while delivering 20% more operational efficiency than a human-driven truck.
The Huawei-issued press release is a bit light on truck specs, but similar 90 tonne electric units claim 350 or 422 kWh LFP battery packs and up to 565 hp from their electric drive motors and some 2,300 Nm (1,700 lb-ft) of tq from 0 rpm.
Huawei executives said the Ruichi trucks reflect the company’s vision for smarter mining operations, with the potential to introduce similar technologies in markets like Africa and Latin America. The 100 asset electric fleet marks the first phase of a plan to deploy 300 autonomous trucks at the Yimin mine by 2028.
Electrek’s Take
From drilling and rigging to heavy haul solutions, companies like Huaneng Group are proving that electric equipment is more than up to the task of moving dirt and pulling stuff out of the ground. At the same time, rising demand for nickel, lithium, and phosphates combined with the natural benefits of electrification are driving the adoption of electric mining machines while a persistent operator shortage is boosting demand for autonomous tech in those machines.
The combined factors listed above are rapidly accelerating the rate at which machines that are already in service are becoming obsolete – and, while some companies are exploring the cost/benefit of converting existing vehicles to electric, the general consensus seems to be that more companies will be be buying more new equipment more often in the years ahead – and more of that equipment will be more and more likely to be autonomous as time goes on.
SOURCES | IMAGES: Huawei, South China Morning Post, and Supply Chain Digital.
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Tesla has started accepting Cybertruck trade-ins, something that wasn’t the case more than a year after deliveries of the electric pickup truck started.
We are starting to see why Tesla didn’t accept its own vehicle as a trade-in: the depreciation is insane.
The Cybertruck has been a commercial flop.
When Tesla started production and deliveries in late 2023, the vehicle was significantly more expensive and had less performance than initially announced.
At one point, Tesla boasted having over 1 million reservations for the electric pickup truck, but only about 40,000 people ended up converting their reservations into orders.
Now, Cybertruck inventory is sitting unsold for months and Tesla is having to offer heavy discounts to move them.
We previously reported that Tesla refused to accept the Cybertruck, its own vehicle, as a trade-in more than a year after starting deliveries.
Tesla didn’t share an explanation at the time, but we assumed that the automaker knew the Cybertruck was depreciating at an incredible rate and didn’t want to be stuck with more trucks than it was already dealing with.
Now, Tesla has started taking Cybertruck trade-ins, at least for the Foundation Series, and it is now providing estimates to Cybertruck owners (via Cybertruck Owners Club):
Tesla sold a brand-new 2024 Cybertruck AWD Foundation Series for $100,000. Now, with only 6,000 miles on the odometer, Tesla is offering $65,400 for it – 34.6% depreciation in just a year.
Pickup trucks generally lose about 20% of their value after a year and 34% after about 3-4 years.
It’s also wroth nothing that Tesla’s online “trade-in estimates” are often higher than the final offer as noted in the footnote o fhte screenshot above.
Electrek’s Take
This is already extremely high depreciation, but Tesla is actually trying to save face with estimates like this one.
As Tesla wouldn’t even accept Cybertruck trade-ins, used car dealers also slowed down their purchases as they also didn’t want to be caught with the trucks sitting on their lots for too long.
On Car Guru, the Cybertruck’s depreciation is actually closer to 45% after a year and that’s more representative of the offers owners should expect from dealers.
That’s entirely Tesla’s fault. The company created no scarcity with the Foundation Series. They built as many as people wanted. In fact, they built too many and ended having to “buff out” the Foundation Series badges on some units to sell them as regular Cybertrucks and as of last month, Tesla still had some Cybertruck Foundations Series in inventory – meaning they have been sitting around for up to 6 months.
Now, Tesla is stuck with thousands of Cybertrucks, early owners are already getting rid of their vehicles at an impressive rate, and the automaker had to slow production to a crawl.
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Australian logistics company Linfox is making big moves to electrify its heavy-duty semi fleet with the addition of thirty new Volvo FH and FM Electric semi trucks as the Swedish brand works to begin production at its Brisbane facility.
Volvo Trucks is expecting to begin full scale production of its FH and FM Electric semi trucks at the Brisbane factory in early 2026, just in time to fill the Linfox order – which happens to be the company’s largest in Australia. So far.
“We are very proud to continue our close partnership with Linfox. The order for 30 Volvo electric trucks is proof of their trust in our company and in zero-emissions transport as a viable solution here and now,” said Roger Alm, President Volvo Trucks. “Our commitment to start building electric trucks in Australia demonstrates our confidence in this technology, and means we can offer an industry-leading range of purpose-built electric trucks all around the world.”
With the production kickoff of electric trucks in Australia, it means Volvo Trucks is building its big HDEVs and prime movers in five countries on three continents. Which, as the company’s electric fleet approaches the 100 millionth mile logged mark, probably means they’re pulling well ahead of some of the other guys.
“Linfox is excited to partner with Volvo in driving the future and leading sustainable logistics in Australia,” explains Peter Fox AM (Member of the Order of Australia), Executive Chairman of Linfox. “Further electrifying our fleet sets the standard for us and our customers and the entire industry.”
Linfox’ latest order includes 29 Volvo FH Electric and one FM Electric semi. The company currently has four electric Volvo trucks in its fleet of 195 semis, with plans to continue to electrify as ICE-powered assets reach retirement.
Electrek’s Take
Now counting miles in operation in the tens of millions and rolling out its third generation of electric semi trucks, Volvo (and, by extension, Mack and Renault) continue to build a huge lead in the commercial trucking space. The competition, meanwhile, seems content to post pictures of its first factory while trucks that have been on order for years still haven’t reached customers.
I can’t see how they (Tesla) catch up from here.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Volvo Trucks.
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