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In what is likely to the biggest shock unveiling in the e-bike industry so far this year, leading electric bike maker Lectric Ebikes has just rolled out the new Lectric ONE. Positioned as a premium commuter e-bike in the budget space, the new model marks equally new territory for the low-cost e-bike company turned premium space competitor.

To understand how industry-shaking this e-bike launch is, you have to understand the company behind it. Lectric Ebikes’ entire MO has been to find highly-demanded niches in the US e-bike market and then roll out new models at a fraction of the cost of competitors. That’s how we got crowd favorites like the $799 Lectric XP Lite and the $999 Lectric XP 3.0, known as the best-selling e-bike in the country.

Now the company is doing it again, but targeting a much… much fancier type of e-bike segment. That means that the traditional budget-level derailleurs and chains are now being replaced by top-tier European transmissions and carbon fiber-reinforced drive belts.

lectric one e-bike
That dual kickstand appears to have not made it onto the final version

Look no further than the Lectric ONE’s auto-shifting electric gearbox from Pinion, a German manufacturer whose same gearboxes routinely land on $10,000+ e-bikes such as those from Swiss manufacturer Stromer. Pinion’s highly acclaimed bike gearboxes are modeled after automotive transmissions and are widely seen as the holy grail of bicycle transmissions.

But Lectric didn’t just opt for a fancy gearbox, they chose the even higher-end version of Pinion’s 6-speed lineup with automatic electric shifting. That feature allows complete customization of the shifting parameters, letting riders dial in their performance marks such as ideal cadence, shift points, preferred gear to downshift into at stops automatically, and more, all from the bike’s dashboard display.

The weather-sealed gearbox is maintenance-free, just like the industry-leading Gates Carbon Belt drive found on the bike. As a replacement for bicycle chains, Gates’ carbon fiber-reinforced belts are quieter, smoother, longer-lasting, and more efficient than chains over their entire lifespan. And to top it all off, they don’t require maintenance such as oiling or washing.

And similarly to the move with Pinion’s gearbox, Lectric again climbed up to nearly the top shelf of the component hierarchy, opting for Gate’s premium CDC belt and CDX sprocket.

The inclusion of largely maintenance-free hydraulic disc brakes on 180 mm rotors adds one more component to the list of parts that riders won’t have to worry about keeping in tune.

And despite the 55-lb (25 kg) Lectric ONE‘s positioning as a lightweight commuter e-bike, it still packs in the extra power we’ve come to know and love from Lectric. A true 750W-rated Stealth M24 motor can be found in the rear wheel, offering speeds of up to 28 mph (45 km/h). The company explained, “As the lightest e-bike with a 750-watt motor, the Lectric ONE boasts the highest power-to-weight ratio of any e-bike ever, offering lightning-fast starts and quick acceleration.”

Two 48V battery options are available, either 10.4Ah or 14Ah. The 500Wh and 672Wh batteries offer maximum ranges of 50 miles and 75 miles, respectively. Both are UL-compliant for added safety and peace of mind.

The Lectric ONE includes a new color LCD display, a 24-amp potted motor controller helping that 750W motor put out over 1,300W of peak power, a left-side thumb throttle, a side-sweeping kickstand, 20″x2.5″ city tires, a thru-axle front hub, integrated front and rear LED lighting, a telescoping seat post and handlebars for wider range of size adjustments, and hidden cable routing.

The one area that struck me as an odd choice was the inclusion of a cadence sensor over a torque sensor. Generally, torque sensors are incorporated on nicer bikes like these to reduce sensor lag, which is often associated with cadence sensors. But Lectric Ebikes’ Co-founder and CEO Levi Conlow reassured me, explaining how “while most cadence sensors have 12 magnets, our has 96 of them, so we’ve got 8x the resolution and much snappier feedback.”

Lectric’s signature PWR pedal assist is also included, offering current-based pedal assist levels instead of speed based. While it’s not the same as a true torque sensor, it does significantly bridge the gap by removing the lurching feeling often found in speed-based pedal-assist e-bikes. And with 8x the number of cadence sensor magnets, the pedal assist lag should be significantly reduced as well.

Perhaps the most impressive feature of all on the Lectric ONE isn’t a component, but rather the price. The bike is launching at $1,999 with a standard range battery, though a longer range battery is available as a $200 upgrade. To put that into perspective, it would be difficult to walk into a bike shop today and order that Pinion automatic shifting gearbox for less than $1,999, let alone receive an entire well-designed bike for that price.

Pre-orders for the new e-bike are now open, with shipping expected to begin in May. Color choices are limited to black or… well, just black. Fortunately, the company has a wide range of accessories to choose from, helping riders make the bike unique and customized to various types of riding. Just don’t worry about a rear rack or fender set, those are included free for anyone who puts down a pre-order now.

lectric one e-bike

Electrek’s Take

This is kind of crazy, folks.

At this point, it seems like Lectric is just playing God with the entire e-bike market. I’m not exaggerating when I say this gearbox is extremely expensive. You literally couldn’t buy just gearbox for the price of this bike. It’s only through Lectric’s massive size and extreme purchasing power that they could even put it on a bike in this price class. The next cheapest e-bike I can find that has this same Pinion C1.6i auto-shifting gearbox is the Stromer ST7, which is a $13,000 electric bike.

Why they even went this direction, that’s a whole other question. Belt drive e-bikes can’t use a derailleur like a chain drive can, so if you don’t want to be stuck with a single speed on a belt drive, you need to either use an internally geared rear hub, which forces you to use a mid-drive motor (the standard solution) or use a gearbox at the pedals. And if you want to include a throttle, then your mid-drive options are limited and problematic (mid-drive motors with throttles love to chew up transmissions), giving more weight to the idea of replacing a mid-drive motor with a central gearbox. I never thought I’d actually see Lectric do it though, as it’s truly several classes above anything the company has produced before.

When trying to think about which bikes the Lectric ONE will compete against, I’m largely coming up empty. Instead, I think it’s creating a new class of bikes – premium value commuters. It sounds like an oxymoron, a premium-value bike. But that’s what they’ve built here. It almost fills the void left by bikes like the VanMoof A5, creating a fairly lightweight and small-wheeled, automatic shifting commuter e-bike with a sleek design. Except that it does so at half the price, and without the same level of in-house proprietary technology that doomed VanMoof into bankruptcy.

I feel like I’m still processing all that went into this bike, and the craziness of launching it at this price. Sure, it’s not for everyone. If you want fat tires or suspension, they’ve got a great $999 e-bike for you. But for folks who want a lighter, more efficient commuter e-bike, and suddenly want an insanely fancy automatic shifting gearbox paired with a Gates carbon belt drive, this is a weirdly affordable way to make it happen at just $1,999.

It’s a brave new world.

lectric one e-bike

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Global energy giant RWE halts US offshore wind because of Trump

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Global energy giant RWE halts US offshore wind because of Trump

Global renewable developer and energy giant RWE has halted its US offshore wind operations “for the time being” because of the “political environment” the Trump administration has created.

RWE, Germany’s biggest electricity producer, said in March that it had dialed back its US offshore wind activities. But now, CEO Marcus Krebber said in a speech transcript, which he’ll deliver at the company’s Annual General Meeting in Essen on April 30, that its US offshore wind business is now closed (but it wasn’t all bad news): 

In the US, where we have stopped our offshore activities for the time being, our business in onshore wind, solar energy, and battery storage has so far been developing very dynamically. At the start of this year, we reached an important milestone when our US generation capacity hit the 10 gigawatt mark. The construction of a further 4 gigawatts is secured.

He went on to say that renewables have created regional value and jobs, but that the company remains “cautious given the political developments.” RWE has introduced more stringent requirements for future US investments:

All necessary federal permits must be in place. Tax credits must be safe harbored and all relevant tariff risks mitigated. In addition, onshore wind and solar projects must have secured offtake at the time of the investment decision. Only if these conditions are met will further investments be possible, given the political environment.

About half of RWE’s installed renewable capacity is in the US, where it’s the third-largest renewable energy company through its subsidiary, RWE Clean Energy. RWE holds the rights to develop US offshore wind projects in New York, Louisiana, and California.

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RWE paid $1.1 billion for the New York lease area in 2022, where it’s meant to develop the 3 gigawatt (GW) Community Offshore Wind with the UK’s National Grid. Community Offshore Wind was projected to come online in the early 2030s and expected to power more than a million homes.

The developer paid $5.6 billion for the Louisiana lease in the Gulf of Mexico in 2023 as the lone bidder for development rights, and the Canopy Offshore Wind project off Northern California was not expected to be completed for another decade.

Read more: Trump admin halts $5 billion NY offshore wind project mid-build


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Trump’s memecoin dinner contest earns insiders $900,000 in two days

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Trump's memecoin dinner contest earns insiders 0,000 in two days

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump and his allies have raked in nearly $900,000 in trading fees over the past two days from the president’s $TRUMP cryptocurrency token, according to Chainalysis, a blockchain data company. 

The surge came after a Wednesday announcement in which the top 220 holders of the token were promised dinner with the president.

“Have Dinner in Washington, D.C. With President Trump,” reads a message on the front page of the Trump coin’s website. The event, which is black tie optional and hosted at the president’s private club in the Washington area, is scheduled for May 22, with a reception for the top 25 holders. A “VIP White House Tour” will take place the following day, the site says. The website also hosts an active leaderboard displaying the usernames of top buyers.

The $TRUMP memecoin jumped more than 50% on the dinner news, boosting its total market value to $2.7 billion. It was met with fierce criticism from some of Trump’s political opponents who said the move was further evidence that the president was using crypto to enrich himself. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., a prominent Trump critic, wrote on X that the sale was “the most brazenly corrupt thing a President has ever done. Not close.”

Roughly 80% of the $TRUMP token supply is controlled by the Trump Organization and affiliates, according to the project’s website. Since its launch in January, trading activity has generated about $324.5 million in trading fees for insiders, Chainalysis found. These fees are generated through the token’s built-in mechanism that routes a percentage of each trade to wallets controlled by the project — wallets that, according to the website, are linked to the coin’s creators.

Memecoins, often referred to as meme tokens, are a subset of digital assets that use blockchain technology and derive their value largely from internet culture, memes and social media hype rather than from an underlying utility or asset. The originators of memecoins can make fees when their coins are bought and sold.

They have grown in popularity in recent years as speculative assets, with some coins including dogecoin and fartcoin amassing total market values in excess of $1 billion.

Most of the $TRUMP supply remains locked under a three-year vesting plan, with coins gradually becoming available over time. Lockups like these are meant to protect investors by preventing insiders from cashing out all at once — a scheme commonly known in the crypto world as a “rug pull.” Vesting schedules aim to give retail buyers confidence that early holders won’t overwhelm the market and tank the token’s value.

Still, the dinner contest is being viewed by critics as an unusually explicit attempt to monetize presidential access. 

As CNBC reported Friday, Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts are urging the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to investigate whether the promotion constitutes “pay to play” corruption.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The company behind the memecoin also did not respond to a request for comment.

Delaney Marsco, the director of ethics at the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit focused on campaign finance and government accountability, told NBC News the coin and dinner contest amounted to an unprecedented ethics breach — though it is unlikely to be illegal.

“Criminal conflicts of interest statutes don’t apply to the President,” she said. “That has allowed him to go against decades of of norms that every modern president since Carter has adhered to, which is to divest your financial interests, rid yourself of your businesses, and kind of go in to the presidency with a clean financial slate so that no one could accuse you of manipulating policy decisions or using your position in order to enrich yourself.” 

“The fact that he is not barred by the law from having these financial interests like this meme coin allows him to engage in a lot of seemingly corrupt activity. It has the appearance of a pay to play, so the President is apparently selling access to himself,” Marsco added.

Molly White, an independent crypto researcher, told NBC News that the leaderboard only shows top $TRUMP holders — and then only by their chosen screen name, making it difficult to identify who is paying to potentially join the dinner.

Schiff and Warren have cited public reports showing that some $TRUMP investors have ties to foreign exchanges or received funds from crypto platforms banned in the U.S., including Binance.

White also noted that at least one top $TRUMP owner has an account on Binance, a cryptocurrency company that doesn’t allow American users.

Trump was elected with significant help from the cryptocurrency industry, which poured tens of millions of dollars into the 2024 election, outpacing corporate donations from traditional sectors like banking and oil. After opposing digital assets during his first term, Trump pivoted in 2024 to campaign as a champion of cryptocurrency, casting Democrats as hostile to innovation and as advocating for tighter regulation. 

The $TRUMP token itself offers no product or service, according to the project’s website. It is part of a broader push by the Trump family into digital assets, despite the market’s volatility and regulatory risks.

In addition to the $TRUMP and $MELANIA meme coins, the family is backing World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance venture that has raised $550 million across two token sales since last October. Buyers are barred from reselling their tokens and receive no share of profits — but a Trump-affiliated entity is entitled to 75% of net revenue, including token sale proceeds.

Together, these projects have created new streams of revenue for Trump and his inner circle at a time when regulatory oversight of cryptocurrency has weakened sharply under his administration.

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Drive Electric Earth Month, continues this weekend, get your EV Qs answered

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Drive Electric Earth Month, continues this weekend, get your EV Qs answered

It’s that time of year again, time for events across the country to show off electric vehicles at Drive Electric Earth Month.

Drive Electric Earth Month is an offshoot of Drive Electric Week, a long-running annual tradition hosting meetups mostly in the US, but also occasionally in other countries. It started as Drive Electric Earth Day, but since not every event can happen on the same day, they went ahead and extended it to encompass “Earth Month” events that happen across the month of April. It’s all organized by Plug In America, the Sierra Club, the Electric Vehicle Association, EV Hybrid Noire, and Drive Electric USA.

Events consist of general Earth Day-style community celebrations, EV Ride & Drives where you can test drive several EVs in one place, and opportunities to talk to EV owners and ask them questions about what it’s like to live with an EV, away from the pressure of a dealership.

This month, there are 158 events registered across the US and 1 in Mexico (including one online webinar about things to consider when purchasing an EV).

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Events have been happening all month, but the biggest weekend is this upcoming one, APril 26-27.

One really neat event was the Asheville event, which showcased the resiliency of EVs in an area devastated by Hurricane Helene, which was made more severe by climate change. That event was attended by the Rivian R1T which famously got dragged 100 feet submerged in mud and came out running fine.

But the bulk of the events happened on the weekends surrounding Earth Day, April 22, so there were several last weekend and will be even more this upcoming weekend.

There are plenty of events in the big cities where you’d expect, but Plug In America wanted to highlight a few of the events in smaller places around the country. Here’s a sampling of upcoming events:

  • Big Island EV – Cruise and Picnic in Waimea, HI on April 26, 10am-1pm – EV drivers will congregate in various places around the Big Island (Kona, Waimea, Waikoloa and Hilo), then drive up Saddle Road to the Gil Kahele Recreation Area on Mauna Kea for a potluck and a chance to talk about the experience of owning EVs on the Big Island.
  • Santa Barbara Earth Day 2025 and Green Car Show in Santa Barbara, CA on April 26-27, 11am-8pm – This is part of Santa Barbara’s Earth Day celebration, which routinely attracts 30,000 participants and is one of the longest-running Earth Day celebrations on the planet. The Green Car Show includes ride & drives and an “Owners Corner” where owners can showcase their EVs and attendees can check them out and ask questions.
  • Earth Day’25 – EV’s role in a sustainable future in Queretaro City, Mexico on April 26, 9am-4pm – The sole Mexican event, this is a combined in-person/online seminar at the Querétaro Institute of Technology.
  • Norman Earth Day Festival in Norman, OK on April 27, 12-5pm – Another municipal Earth Day festival, with hands-on activities for kids to learn about the environment. A portion of the parking lot reserved for an EV car show for EV owners who pre-register to show off their vehicles.
  • Oregon Electric Vehicle Association Test Drive & Information Expo in Portland, OR on April 27, 10am-4pm – This one is at Daimler Truck’s North American HQ, and will have several EVs for test drives, owner displays (including DIY gas-to-EV conversions), and keynote presentations by EV experts. They’ll even have a 1914 Detroit Electric EV available for test rides!
  • And, we at Electrek want to give a shoutout to Rove’s EV Drive Days in Santa Ana 10am-3pm April 28 – ROVE is the company behind the “full-service” EV charging concept that we’ve talked about several times here on Electrek, and we like what they’re doing for EV charging. They’ve hosted a few community events, and this is their contribution to Earth Month.

Each event has a different assortment of activities (e.g. test drives won’t be available at every event, generally just the larger ones attended by local dealerships), so be sure to check the events page to see what the plan is for your local event.

These events have offered a great way to connect with owners and see the newest electric vehicle tech, and even get a chance to do test rides and drives in person. Attendees got to hear unfiltered information from actual owners about the benefits and trials of owning EVs, allowing for longer and more genuine (and often more knowledgeable) conversations than one might normally encounter at a dealership.

And if you’re an owner – you can show off your car and answer those questions for interested onlookers.

To view all the events and see what’s happening in your area, you can check out the list of events or the events map. You can also sign up to volunteer at your local events, and if you plan to show off your electric car, you can RSVP on each event page and list the vehicle that you plan to show (or see what other vehicles have already registered).


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