Connect with us

Published

on

If you’ve been wanting to get your off-road e-biking thrills but think all the current eMTBs on the market are too weak with their paltry 750W motors, then Biktrix has just what you’re looking for. The new Biktrix Juggernaut FS XD is the full-suspension electric mountain bike equivalent of the hot-rodder’s hot rod.

Over 2,000 watts of power in an electric mountain bike is no joke, and Canadian electric bike maker Biktrix had to go back to the drawing board to make it happen.

The new e-bike required a custom-built mid-drive motor that was designed in-house by the Biktrix team. Instead of a massive and clunky rear wheel motor to get there, the mid-drive motor built by the company keeps the bike more balanced and allows riders to preserve the type of handling expected from a mountain bike.

And as you can imagine, having nearly 10x the amount of power produced by a human could wreak havoc on traditional bike parts like chains and sprockets, so Biktrix had to get custom there, too. The company designed a second drivetrain just for the motor power, feeding the rear wheel through a higher spec chain and sprocket set on the left side of the bike.

As the company explained:

“The innovative Coaxial-Drive motor provides all the handling and weight distribution benefits that come with a mid-drive motor. But with all this power you need a drivetrain to handle it! The Juggernaut XD features a motor side drivetrain designed specifically to handle the power this motor puts out to keep this bike even more reliable than your average mid-drive motor.”

Of course a big motor means that you’d better have a big battery as well, otherwise that fun ride is going to get cut short. Supplying the Juggernaut FS XD’s motor is a 52V 17Ah battery with 910 Wh of capacity.

The company reports an estimated range of 40 miles (64 km) from the battery, though full-power riding that makes full use of the 2,300W motor is sure to drop that range.

The range estimate likely comes from using pedal assist, though there’s a throttle too for peak fun. Riders who can resist relying purely on the throttle will find that the torque sensor pedal assist is designed to be as intuitive and responsive as possible, feeling more like a true mountain bike when you pedal it than a light dirt bike.

And it’s no surprise that a bike built with this much power also comes with heavy-duty components. The wheels feature 15mm and 12mm thru axle hubs in the front and rear, respectively. The brakes use dual-piston hydraulic calipers with 180mm and 220mm rotors. The transmission is a SRAM NX 11-speed. And the tire sizes come in three larger-than-life options of 26×4″, 27.5×3″, 26×4.8″.

To top it all off, the suspension features a Rockshox Monarch Rl rear shock with 51 mm of travel as well as five different fork options depending on how serious you want to get with your riding. The fork options include:

  • Biktrix Inverted Air Fork with 100mm travel
  • Manitou Mastadon Comp with 100mm travel
  • Wren Inverted Air Fork with 110 mm travel
  • Wren Inverted Air Fork with 150 mm travel
  • Wren Inverted Air Fork with 110 mm travel, lockout and preload

Considering the bike’s weight is listed at 71.9 lb (32.6 kg) before the battery is inserted, those suspension options (and likely the powerful hydraulic disc brakes) are going to be well-appreciated components indeed.

biktrix juggernaut FS XD e-bike

The Biktrix Juggernaut FS XD carries an MSRP of US $5,999, but there are some serious savings to be had. The bike is rolling out with a $1,000 off sale as part of the launch, and anyone who puts down a $100 pre-order deposit gets another $500 discount on top of that.

For an all-in price of $4,499, the picture is looking pretty darn rosy for such a powerful and high-spec e-bike. Just remember that with this much power comes some serious responsibility, which includes riding only where permitted and being courteous to other trail users.

Electrek’s Take

Alright, so this bike is pretty ridiculous, but in all the best ways. I mentioned the issue of being courteous of other trail users, but with this much power and suspension, you can leave the trails behind and chart your own overlanding course.

I’ve had a lot of experience with different Biktrix e-bike models over the years and have always been impressed with the company. They take pride in building e-bikes that aren’t just cookie-cutter white-labeled models chosen from an OEM’s catalog.

That means they cost a bit more, but you’re paying for the innovation. That motor certainly wasn’t cheap to develop, nor was the dual drivetrain.

Some people will probably say “just get a Sur Ron or dirt bike for that price”, but I’d argue they’re missing the point. This is still an electric mountain bike, and it still rides like one – albeit a bit heavier than most riders will be accustomed to. Just because it has 2,300W of power doesn’t mean you always need to ride it in full power mode. You can crank the power up to climb a mountain, then drop it back down to get a nice workout on the trails at the top. Most minivans can get up to 100 mph, but they rarely do. People like knowing they have the performance, even if they keep it to much lower levels most of the time. I see the Biktrix Juggernaut FS XD through a similar lens. It has the power and performance to take you places other e-bikes couldn’t, but you can always drop the power back down and ride it like an eMTB. That’s just not possible with a dirt bike or Sur Ron.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Continue Reading

Environment

Biden’s $635M good-bye, Trump’s DOT pick will investigate Tesla, and a look ahead

Published

on

By

Biden's 5M good-bye, Trump's DOT pick will investigate Tesla, and a look ahead

On today’s episode of Quick Charge we explore the uncertainty around the future of EV incentives, the roles different stakeholders will play in shaping that future, and our friend Stacy Noblet from energy consulting firm ICF stops by to share her take on what lies ahead.

We’ve got a couple of different articles and studies referenced in this forward-looking interview, and I’ve done my best to link to all of them below. If I missed one, let me know in the comments.

Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple PodcastsSpotifyTuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.

Got news? Let us know!
Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Continue Reading

Environment

In December, EV sales were still up and incentives were still sweet – Kelley Blue Book

Published

on

By

In December, EV sales were still up and incentives were still sweet – Kelley Blue Book

EV sales kept up their momentum in December 2024, with incentives playing a big role, according to the latest Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book report.

December’s strong EV sales saw an average transaction price (ATP) of $55,544, which helped push the industry-wide ATP higher, according to Kelley Blue Book. The December ATP for an EV was higher year-over-year by 0.8%, slightly below the industry average, and higher month-over-month by 1.1%. Tesla ATPs were higher year-over-year by 10.5%.

Incentives for EVs remained elevated in December, although they were slightly lower month-over-month at 14.3% of ATP, down from 14.7% in November.

EV incentives were higher by an impressive 41% year-over-year and have been above 12% of ATP for six consecutive months. Strong sales incentives, which averaged more than $6,700 per sale in 2024, were one reason EV sales surpassed 1.3 million units last year, according to Cox Automotive, a new record for volume and share.

(My colleague Jameson Dow reported yesterday, “In 2024, the world sold 3.5 million more EVs than it did in the previous year … This increase is larger than the 3.2 million increase in EV sales from the previous year – meaning that EV sales aren’t just up, but that the rate of growth is itself increasing.”)

Kelley Blue Book estimated that in December, approximately 84,000 vehicles – or 5.6% of total sales – transacted at prices higher than $80,000 – the highest volume ever. KBB lumps gas cars and EVs together into this luxury vehicle category, so this is where Tesla Cybertruck is slotted.

However, Tesla bundles sales figures of Cybertruck with Model S, Model X, and Tesla Semi(!) into a category it calls “other models,” so we don’t know for sure exactly how many Cybertrucks Tesla sold in Q4, much less in December. However, Electrek‘s Fred Lambert estimates between 9,000 and 12,000 Cybertrucks were sold in Q4, and that’s not a stellar sales figure.

What will January bring when it comes to EV ATPs? What about tax credits? Check back in a month and I’ll fill you in.


To limit power outages and make your home more resilient, consider going solar with a battery storage system. In order to find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and you share your phone number with them.

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisers to help you every step of the way. Get started here. –trusted affiliate link*

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Continue Reading

Environment

Tesla claims Cybertruck is ‘best-selling electric pickup’ without even confiming sales

Published

on

By

Tesla claims Cybertruck is 'best-selling electric pickup' without even confiming sales

Tesla is now claiming that Cybertruck was the ‘best-selling electric pickup in US’ last year despite not even reporting the number of deliveries.

There’s a lot of context needed here.

As we often highlighted, Tesla is sadly one of, if not the most, opaque automakers regarding sales reports.

Tesla doesn’t break down sales per model or even region.

For comparison, here’s Ford’s Q4 2024 sales report compared to Tesla’s:

You could argue that Tesla has fewer models than Ford, and that’s true, but Tesla’s report literally has two lines despite having six different models.

There’s no reason not to offer a complete breakdown like all other automakers other than trying to make it hard to verify the health of each vehicle program.

This has been the case with the Cybertruck. Tesla is bundling its Cybertruck deliveries with Model S, Model X, and Tesla Semi deliveries.

Despite this lack of disclosure, Tesla has been able to claim that the Cybertruck has become “the best-selling electric pickup truck” in the US in 2024:

It very well might be true. Ford disclosed 33,510 F-150 Lightning truck deliveries in the US in 2024 while most estimates are putting Cybertruck deliveries at around 40,000 units.

Those are global deliveries, but Tesla only delivered the Cybertruck in the US, Canada, and Mexico in 2024, and most of the deliveries are believed to be in the US.

However, there’s essential context needed here, as we highlighted in our recent ‘Tesla Cybertruck sales are disastrous‘ article.

First off, Tesla had a backlog of over 1 million reservations for the Cybertruck that it has been building since 2019. This led many to believe Tesla already had years of demand baked in for the truck and that production would be the constraint.

However, based on estimates, again, because Tesla refuses to disclose the data, Cybertruck deliveries were either flat or down in Q4 versus Q3 despite Tesla introducing cheaper versions of the vehicle and ramping up production.

Again, that’s after just about 40,000 deliveries.

Furthermore, with almost 11,000 deliveries in Q4 in the US, Ford more likely than not outsold Cybertruck with the F-150 Lightning in Q4.

Electrek’s Take

Tesla is in damage control here. There’s no doubt that it is having issues selling the Cybertruck.

Inventory is full of Cybertrucks and Tesla is now discounting them and offering free lifetime Supercharging.

Tesla is great at ramping up production, and it’s clear the Cybertruck is not production-constrained anymore. It is demand-constrained despite having over 1 million reservations.

Again, those reservations were made before Tesla unveiled the production version, which happened to have less range and cost significantly more.

The upcoming cheaper single motor version should help with demand, but I have serious doubts Tesla can ramp this program up to more than 100,000 units in the US.

As a reminder, Tesla installed a production capacity of 250,000 units annually and Musk said he could see Tesla selling 500,000 Cybertrucks per year.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Continue Reading

Trending