This new style of electric tuk-tuk makes me want to drive a taxi in India
This one style of vehicle is known by many names. In India, it’s an auto rickshaw. In Thailand, a tuk-tuk (a fun onomatopoeia that arose from the traditionally loud two-stroke engines powering them). But whatever it’s called, these three-wheeled taxis have used their half-bike, half-wagon design to shuttle folks around cities for decades. And now, a new era of rickshaws is seeing electric drives enabling interesting new designs.
Take for instance this yellow behemoth of a bike I found while perusing Alibaba. It may just be one of my favorite Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week entries in a while based on just how useful it looks!
Got some kids you need to shuttle down the neighborhood to a friend’s house? Throw ’em in!
Have some grocery shopping to do? Strap those eggs into the backseat!
Does Granny need a ride to the doctor? Toss that lady in back and drive Miss Daisy to the orthopedist!
With your own electric rickshaw, you can become the open-air, eco-friendly neighborhood cab driver you’ve always dreamed of!
Behold the features such as the “stylish and exquisite exterior styling,” the “fully-functional turn signals and headlights,” and the “spacious front and rear seats for up to six people at a time.”
I’m not quite sure how you cram six people into this little thing, unless you’ve got a clown car situation or part of the rear suspension becomes the lap of your riding companion. But hey, the more merrier!
For power, we’ve got a rear axle-mounted 1,000W motor supplied by a 48V battery. It’s not clear how big the battery is, but the vendor claims a range of 70-90 km (43-55 miles), which I think is larger than any neighborhood operator could need.
At a top speed of around 35 km/h (22 mph), you’re not going to be taking this on any major roads. And even if you could, I’m not sure you’d want to go much faster in a tricycle. Three-wheelers are fun, but they do have a nasty habit of turning into two-wheelers in the turns, if you catch my drift.
And if you get going too fast into a hairpin, you’d better have someone on hand to catch your own drift.
One of the things I Iike about this design, other than the fun and bubbly shell, is that the large-diameter bike-style wheels will likely help with rougher terrain. These vehicles sometimes skimp on the suspension, and so larger wheels can help reduce the impact of bumps and dips in the road surface. It’s not going to be an off-roader, but I think that sounds like a bad enough idea that no one was planning on hitting up their local ATV trails anyway.
My favorite part of this vehicle is just how cheap it is – a mere $592! Though there are a couple of catches. First, that’s likely the price without batteries. Second, and more importantly, that’s the price when buying 100 units, which is the minimum order quantity of the Chinese factory that makes this lovable little runabout. However, if you’re prepared to buy just over half a billion units, they’ll drop the price down to $400 per unit. I’m not kidding.
I guess I won’t be riding around in my own silly yellow e-bike tuk-tuk anytime soon, at least not unless I can find 99 friends who also want to join in on the fun. I’ve got my hands full with a few containers of Chinese EVs as it is. But just imagine the sight of pulling into your neighborhood one day and seeing a parade of 100 bubble trikes rolling past in all of their bright yellow glory. Now that’s a world I want to live in!
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First Solar just cut the ribbon on a huge new factory in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, and it dwarfs the New Orleans Superdome. The company’s $1.1 billion, fully vertically integrated facility spans 2.4 million square feet, or about 11 times the size of the stadium’s main arena.
The factory began production quietly in July, a few months ahead of schedule, and employs more than 700 people. First Solar expects that number to hit 826 by the end of the year. Once it’s fully online, the site will add 3.5 GW of annual manufacturing capacity. That brings the company’s total US footprint to 14 GW in 2026 and 17.7 GW in 2027, when its newly announced South Carolina plant is anticipated to come online.
The Louisiana plant produces First Solar’s Series 7 modules using US-made materials — glass from Illinois and Ohio, and steel from Mississippi, which is fabricated into backrails in Louisiana.
The new factory leans heavily on AI, from computer vision that spots defects on the line to deep learning tools that help technicians make real‑time adjustments.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry says the investment is already a win for the region, bringing in “hundreds of good-paying jobs and new opportunities for Louisiana workers and businesses.” A new economic impact analysis from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette projects that the factory will boost Iberia Parish’s GDP by 4.4% in its first full year at capacity. The average manufacturing compensation package comes in at around $90,000, more than triple the parish’s per capita income.
First Solar CEO Mark Widmar framed the new facility as a major step for US clean energy manufacturing: “By competitively producing energy technology in America with American materials, while creating American jobs, we’re demonstrating that US reindustrialization isn’t just a thesis, it’s an operating reality.”
This site joins what’s already the largest solar manufacturing and R&D footprint in the Western Hemisphere: three factories in Ohio, one in Alabama, and R&D centers in Ohio and California. Just last week, First Solar announced a new production line in Gaffney, South Carolina, to onshore more Series 6 module work. By the end of 2026, the company expects to directly employ more than 5,500 people across the US.
Read more: First Solar pours $330M into a new South Carolina solar factory
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No, it’s not the new Bolt. GM’s design team previewed a new high-riding “sporty Chevrolet EV” that should be brought to life.
Is Chevy launching a new sporty EV?
This is the all-electric vehicle Chevy should sell in the US. General Motors’ design team released a series of sketches previewing a sporty new Chevy EV.
Although it kinda looks like the new 2027 Chevy Bolt EV as a higher-sitting compact crossover SUV, the design offers a fresh take on what it should have looked like.
The new Bolt is essentially a modernized version of the outgoing EUV model with a similar compact crossover silhouette. Nissan adopted a similar style with the new 2026 LEAF as buyers continue shifting from smaller sedans and hatchbacks to crossovers and SUVs.
Will we see the sporty Chevy EV in real life? It’s not likely. For one, the “exploration sketch” is by GM China Advanced designer Charles Huang.
GM Design posted the sketches on its global social media page, but the caption read “Sporty Chevrolet EV for the China Market.”
It’s too bad. The Bolt could use a sporty sibling like an SS variant. Chevy introduced the Blazer EV SS (check out our review) for the 2026 model year, its fastest “SS” model yet. Packing up to 615 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque, the Chevy Blazer SS can race from 0 to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds when using Wide Open Watts (WOW) mode.
Will the Bolt be next? I wouldn’t get my hopes up. And if GM does bring the sporty Chevy EV to life, it will likely only be sold in China. Like all the fun cars these days.
What do you think of the design? Would you buy one of these in the US? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
While deliveries of the 2027 Bolt are set to begin in early 2026, Chevy is offering some sweet deals on its current EV lineup, including up to $4,000 off in Customer Cash and 0% APR financing for 60 months.
Ready to test drive one? You can use our links below to find Chevy Equinox, Blazer, and Silverado EVs at a dealership near you.
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Environment
Podcast: Electricity is the base currency, Tesla Robotaxi crashes, new Porsche Cayenne EV, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss electricity becoming the base currency, Tesla Robotaxi crashes, the new Porsche Cayenne EV, and more.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
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