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We got the chance to test ride a street-legal plus off-road electric motorcycle that comes at a reasonable price point, something of an albatross since the Sondors Metacycle went under.

For a while now, we’ve been seeing quite a few off-road e-bikes/motorcycles with similar specs, price, and design language as the Sur Ron Light Bee. Unfortunately, most of these aren’t street-legal like the more expensive and kitted out Zero FX/E. While that’s likely not a concern for those riding on private property, having more street-legal options in this segment of the market is something I’m excited to see more of. Thankfully, manufacturers are slowly starting to fill that gap.

$4,500 Dual Sport

The Caofen F-80 off-road version is an electric dual-sport motorcycle that’s fully street-legal in 50 states and has some decent specs that make for a fun day. For this test ride, I visited an off-road vehicle park in the northeast, put on my gear, and tried to see just how well this bike would perform on trails.

Now, while Caofen does have a few other models, such as the FX full-sized off-road motorcycle as well as a more street-oriented version of the F-80, for this review, we’ll be focusing mostly on the F-80 off-road version. Thankfully, we got the opportunity to test this out on an off-road course with tight turns and jumps. For the sake of the review, I made sure to try my hardest to test its limits, but full disclosure: I am a beginner at motocross and off-road riding. 

Post ride photos

Compliance parts:

The F-80 is capable of obtaining insurance, plates, and registration, but this bike was built primarily as an off-road motorcycle geared more for trails and motor tracks. So many of the parts that make the bike street-legal, such as the license plate holder, felt more like an afterthought with lower-quality parts than what is on the rest of the bike. 

Before we get into the weeds, let’s get a few specs out of the way. 

Specs:

  • Motor: 8kw
  • Top speed: 62mph
  • Battery: Liquid-cooled 2.2kWh 72v 30 ah and 2.2kWh and 3.9kWh 48 ah 
  • Weight: 165lb
  • Frame: Single-piece aluminum frame
  • Brakes: 230mm disc brakes on the front and 203mm at the rear
  • Size: 77×31×42 
  • Clearance: 14 inches

Initial thoughts:

The F80 looks and feels different from your typical Sur Ron Light bee in the sense that it has a bit more power and feels more like a full-sized motocross bike. It’s also not in that upper-echelon class of electric dirt bikes. I’d say if the classic Sur Ron was at one side of the spectrum and the higher-end dirt bikes such as Surron’s Storm Bee, Stark Varg, or KTM free ride e-xc was at the other end then this would be somewhere in between depending on how you look at it.

In terms of pricing, the street-legal off-road version of the F-80 with the 30-ah battery configuration comes in at $4,500 on the www.caofen.us website. The bigger battery 48-ah version is available for an extra $500.

Legality

At that price point, it’s close to that of most other 45-60 mph electric bikes. One big difference here for the F-80 is that Caofen is claiming that it can be registered in 50 states. When I test rode it on the east coast, I was shown registration for the vehicle as well as a license plate. Now this may not be a huge factor for those who are looking to ride primarily on trails, but for those who enjoy off-road capable bikes even on city streets and don’t necessarily want to go for the 10+k price range of a highway-suitable dual sport like a Zero FX, it’s a great thing that companies like Caofen are starting to fill that gap in the market. 

Power

In terms of power, the motor is rated for a max peak output of 8kw and claims to have 310 nm of torque. To be truthful, even though I always want as much power and torque as possible in an electric bike, with this being my first time in an offroad dedicated park with a mini motocross track, I found this to be more than enough power. 

For trail riding and beginner motocross riding I think this bike handles well and is nicely balanced. The one downside aside from the lower quality compliance parts like the plate holder that broke off was the rather small footpegs. I believe the suspension is adequate but not to the level of some of the higher-end dual sport bikes. But then again this is still a 72v off-road bike with 8kw of peak power and DOT approved. 

Getting into some of the pros here the frame is a zero-weld one-piece unit that adds strength and lowers the weight. In total, the bike weighs 165 lbs with a 30-ah battery. This, combined with the 8kw of power, made it relatively easy to skid the rear wheel on loose dirt, and I’d imagine for those who wheelie that this would be plenty of fun. 

Battery:

As for charging, the batteries can be charged from fully empty to full in three hours for the street-legal off-road bike. When it comes to the battery Caofen uses a patented immersion cooling battery system that claims to achieve 8 times the thermal balance and only 50% of normal temperature rise. The temperature control system allows you to ride freely in any case, even in a minus 40-degree environment.

When it comes to brakes, the F-80 is stopped with 230mm disc brakes on the front and 203mm at the rear. It’s an adequate feeling brake but leaves you wanting just a bit more heavy-duty braking power. In terms of size, the bike comes in at a size of 77×31×42 and gives you about 14 inches of clearance. 

For those wanting a bigger size, with better suspension and upgraded brakes, you may want to check out their full-sized version, the FX, which costs $5800 and features a 12kw motor. 

Electrek’s take:

I think it’s great that Caofen is bringing this to the market at a low price point. Being able to ride without worrying about breaking the law just to have fun on your electric motorcycle is a feature that not enough manufacturers are including. Let’s face it: A lot of people who ride high-speed e-bikes/motorcycles like Sur Rons or Talarias ride on public roads despite manufacturers saying that it’s not street legal. I think if there were more options like this on the market at lower prices, we’d be seeing a lot of young people opting to register their bikes and ride a bit safer, especially if it meant they needed a motorcycle license and the required skills to operate these types of bikes on the street. 

For more info on their bikes, you can check out www.caofen.us or www.caofenusa.com

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1,500 new Colorado homes will come with geothermal heat pumps

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1,500 new Colorado homes will come with geothermal heat pumps

Over the next two years, homebuilder Lennar is outfitting more than 1,500 new Colorado homes with Dandelion Energy’s geothermal systems in one of the largest residential geothermal rollouts in the US.

The big draw for homeowners is lower energy bills and cleaner heating and cooling. Dandelion claims Lennar homeowners with geothermal systems will collectively save around $30 million over the next 20 years compared to using air-source heat pumps. Geothermal heat pumps don’t need outdoor AC units or conventional heating systems, either.

Geothermal systems use the sustained temperature of the ground to heat or cool a home. A ground loop system absorbs heat energy (BTUs) from the earth so that it can be transferred to a heat pump and efficiently converted into warmth for a home. Dandelion says its ground loop systems are built to last for over 50 years and should require no maintenance.

Dandelion’s geothermal system uses a vertical ground closed-loop system that is installed using well-boring equipment and trenched back into the house to connect to a heat pump. The pipes circulate a mixture of water and propylene glycol, a food-grade antifreeze, that absorbs the ground’s temperature. A ground source heat pump circulates the liquid through the ground loops and it exchanges its heat energy in the heat pump with liquid refrigerant. The refrigerant is converted to vapor, compressed to increase its temperature, then passed through a heat exchanger to transfer heat to the air, which is circulated through a home’s HVAC ductwork.

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Daniel Yates, Dandelion Energy’s CEO, called the partnership with Lennar a “new benchmark for affordable, energy-efficient, and high-quality home heating and cooling.” By streamlining its installation process, Dandelion is making geothermal systems simpler and cheaper for homebuilders and homeowners to adopt.

This collaboration is happening at a time when Colorado is pushing hard to meet its clean energy targets. Governor Jared Polis is excited about the move, calling it a win for Coloradans’ wallets, air quality, and the state’s leadership on geothermal energy. Will Toor, executive director of the Colorado Energy Office, said that “ensuring affordable access to geothermal heating and cooling is essential to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, and we’re excited to be part of such a huge effort to bring this technology to so many new Colorado homes.”

And it’s not just about cutting emissions – geothermal heat pumps help reduce peak electric demand. Analysis from the Department of Energy found that widespread adoption of these systems could save the US from needing 24,500 miles of new transmission lines. That’s like crossing the continental US eight times.

Colorado is making this transition a lot more attractive through state tax credits and Xcel Energy’s rebate programs. These incentives slash upfront costs for builders like Lennar, making geothermal installations more financially viable. The utility’s Clean Heat Plan and electrification strategy are working to keep energy bills low while meeting climate goals.

Read more: This will be the first geothermal energy storage system on the Texas grid


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Polestar 2 removed from Polestar’s US website alongside tariff announcement

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Polestar 2 removed from Polestar's US website alongside tariff announcement

Polestar has removed the Polestar 2 from its US website header in an early sign of how new tariffs will restrict choice and competition for American consumers, thus increasing prices.

The Polestar 2 is Polestar’s first full EV – the original Polestar 1 was a limited-edition plug-in hybrid.

It started production in 2020 in Luqiao, Zhejiang, China, where Polestar and Volvo’s parent corporation, Geely, was founded.

And there’s the rub: while Polestar’s newer EV, the 3 (which we just drove the new single motor version of last week), is built in South Carolina, the 2 is not.

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Unfortunately, that interacts with some news that has been getting a lot of play lately: tariffs.

The US has been gradually getting stupider and stupider on the issue of tariffs, apparently determined to increase prices for Americans and decrease the competitiveness of American manufacturing in a time of change for the auto industry.

It is widely acknowledged (by anyone who has given it a few seconds of thought) that tariffs increase prices and that trade barriers tend to reduce competition, leading to less innovation.

It started with 25% tariffs on various products from China, implemented in the 2018-2020 timeframe. Then, in 2024, President Biden implemented a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs, effectively stopping their sale in the US. These tariffs included some exceptions and credits based on Volvo’s other US manufacturing, which Polestar had used to keep the most expensive versions of the 2 on sale in the US, while restricting the lower-priced versions from sale. Nevertheless, they were a bad idea.

Now, in yet another step to make America less competitive and inflate the prices of goods more for Americans, we got more tariff announcements today from a senile ex-reality TV host who wandered into the White House rose garden (which he does not belong in). These tariffs do not include the same exceptions as the previously-announced Biden tariffs.

Apparently this has all been enough for Polestar, as even in advance of today’s tariff announcements, the company suddenly removed its Polestar 2 from its website header today.

The change can be seen at polestar.com/us, where only the Polestar 3 and 4 are listed in the header area. On other sites, like the company’s Norwegian website or British website, the car is still there. The Polestar 2 page is still up on the US website, but it isn’t linked to elsewhere on the site (we’ll see how long it stays up).

We reached out to Polestar for comment, but didn’t hear anything back before publication. We’ll update if we do.

It makes sense that the Polestar 2 would still be for sale elsewhere, as it only started production in 2020. Most car models are available for at least 7 years, so this is an earlier exit than expected.

So it’s likely that all of the tariff news is what had an effect in killing the Polestar 2.

Then again, this is also just the second day of a new fiscal quarter. Perhaps the timing offers Polestar an opportunity to make a clean break – especially now that the lower-priced version of its Polestar 3 is available.

Despite the lower $67.5k base price of the new Polestar 3 variant, that represents a big increase in price for the brand, which had sold the base model Polestar 2 for around $50k originally, before all of these tariffs.

Update: Polestar got back to us with comment, but understandably, it doesn’t say much:

Polestar is a three-car company and Polestar 2 is available for customers now. There are a select number of Polestar 2s in stock at retailers that can be found on Polestar.com, but Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 will be the priority in the North American market.

Electrek’s Take

This isn’t the first car that America has been deprived of due to tariffs. The Volvo EX30, one of our most anticipated vehicles, and Electrek’s Vehicle of the Year for 2024, had its American availability pushed back due to tariffs.

Volvo decided to build the car in Belgium and export it to the US, but now that new tariffs apply to the EU as well, maybe that low-priced, awesome, fast, small EV will instead stay in Europe instead of being shipped overseas.

This shows how mercurial tariff fiats from an ignoramus are bad for manufacturing, as they mean that companies can’t make plans – and if they can’t make plans, eventually, they’ll probably just write the country making the random decisions out of their plans so they don’t have to deal with the nonsense.

And we’ve heard this from every businessperson or manufacturer representative we’ve talked to at any level of the automotive industry. Nobody thinks any of this is a good idea, because it objectively is not. All it does is make business harder, make the US less trustworthy, make things more expensive, and overall just harm America.

Yet another way that Americans are getting screwed by this stupid nonsense. 49% of you voted for inflation, and 100% of Americans are now getting it. Happy Inflation Day, everyone.


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Lucid (LCID) set another EV delivery record and the Gravity SUV is just getting started

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Lucid (LCID) set another EV delivery record and the Gravity SUV is just getting started

Lucid Motors (LCID) has now had six straight quarters with higher deliveries. The delivery record comes just as Lucid prepares to begin delivering its first electric SUV, the Gravity, to customers by the end of this month.

Lucid sets sixth straight delivery record in Q1 2025

Lucid delivered 3,109 vehicles in the first quarter, up 58% from last year and topping its previous record of 3,099 set in Q4 2024.

The company also produced 2,213 vehicles at its Casa Grande, Arizona, plant in the first three months of 2025, an increase of 28% from last year. Another 600 vehicles were in transit to Saudi Arabia, where they will be assembled at its new AMP-2 plant, Lucid’s first international manufacturing facility.

At this pace, Lucid will easily top the roughly 10,200 vehicles it delivered last year in 2025 at around 12,500. Lucid will likely see even more growth this year, with customer deliveries of its first electric SUV starting soon.

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During the Gravity SUV’s “celestial arrival” last week in NYC, Lucid’s interim CEO Marc Winterhoff said the EV maker is “nearly finished building all the vehicles that we wanted to build to put them into our studio and for test drives.”

Q4 2022 Q1 2023 Q2 2023 Q3 2023 Q4 2023 Full-year 2023 Q1 2024 Q2 2024 Q3 2024 Q4 2024 Full-year 2024 Q1 2025
Lucid EV deliveries by quarter 1,932 1,406 1,404 1,457 1,734 6,001 1,967 2,394 2,781 3,099 10,241 3,109
Lucid (LCID) EV deliveries by quarter 2023 to Q1 2025

Winterhoff added, “by the end of April, we will resume customer deliveries of the Gravity.” Lucid delivered the first models in December, but they were for employees, friends, and family.

Lucid calls the Gravity a “no compromise” SUV with a range of up to 450 miles, 120 cubic feet of interior space, advanced technology, and sports car-like performance. The Gravity Grand Touring starts at $94,900, while the Touring model will arrive later this year at $79,900.

Lucid-EV-delivery-record
Lucid Gravity Grand Touring in Aurora Green (Source: Lucid)

The new delivery record comes after Winterhoff told Fox Business last week that Lucid has seen a “dramatic uptick over the past two months” in orders from former Tesla drivers.

Currently, “50% of all the orders we have are from former Tesla owners,” Lucid’s CEO said. Winterhoff added that many are “looking for an option to not continue having a Tesla.”

Will we see the trend continue? Tesla announced earlier today that it delivered 336,681 vehicles in the first quarter, far less than the 390,000 Wall Street analysts expected.

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