Velotric’s electric bikes stand out from all the other electric bike makers for more than just their eye-catching colors. Underneath that paint you’ll find a number of major differences. Everything from component selection, design choices, embedded technology, and a lot more helps to create a unique and high-performing electric bike that separates itself from the competition. Let’s take a closer look at the new Velotric Discover 2 to see just what goes into these premium e-bikes.

Velotric gets UL certification for the battery and bike

This is incredibly important because UL certification is the gold standard for e-bike safety these days. Not only does Velotric go directly to Underwriter Laboratories for the testing and certification, unlike others that often use third-party tests, but both the battery and the entire e-bike received separate testing and UL certifications. You can actually look it up and find their published UL certifications, which can’t be said for most e-bike companies.

The battery is certified to UL 2849 and the entire e-bike’s drive system is certified to UL 2271. That means the motor, controller, charger, electrical system, and battery pack are all UL-certified.

As more cities and states require UL certification for e-bikes to be legally sold, having this important level of testing already secured is a major advantage.

Proprietary drive system – investing where it matters

A lot of e-bike makers simply pull various components off a shelf and assemble them onto a frame selected from a catalog. Velotric is different.

The company builds its e-bikes using proprietary systems like the powertrain to ensure that it is the highest quality and offers the best performance possible. That’s not something you can get when simply selecting parts à la carte like many others.

Velotric has its own manufacturing team and has 42 utility patents and counting (plus more design patents and software copyrights), meaning they develop their own gear to ensure it all works together properly and provides the performance that riders demand. That’s a big part of the secret behind how Velotric’s Discover 2 and other e-bikes in its lineup can offer more torque and longer range compared to other electric bikes with the same specs.

It’s also an important aspect to ensure timely deliveries. By controlling its own supply chain, Velotric averages just 85 days total compared to the industry average of 150-180 days. That means you get better-designed e-bikes delivered more quickly! And with over 500 partner stores, those bikes show up where you can actually test ride them or return for support when you need it.

Bead welded frame that is hand-finished

When you see as many electric bike frames as we do each week, you notice the small details and differences that might slip by an untrained eye. Welding quality is one of them, and it’s an area where Velotric excels.

On the Discover 2’s own in-house designed frame, the Velotric team uses quality hand-finished bead welding for smooth and strong construction.

We’ve seen some shady weld jobs on other e-bikes, and we’ve even seen multiple e-bikes break in half under normal commuter usage. So Velotric’s assistance on quality welding on a purpose-designed frame is a major safety benefit that will ensure long-lasting, good-looking e-bikes that can withstand the test of time.

The attention to detail in quality manufacturing might also explain how they can offer a two-year warranty when many e-bike companies offer just half of that.

Included battery handle

This might sound like a small feature, but it makes a big difference. When you carry an e-bike battery around, having a convenient and secure handle is about more than comfort, it’s also a safety feature. Most e-bikes have bulky batteries without any good way to carry it other than gripping around the entire chunky battery shell. But the Velotric Discover 2 has a built in handle that folds away when you battery is installed but lifts up to give you a convenient way to carry it with just a few lazy fingers.

It’s another great example of taking the time to design and include small but important features that help differentiate the bike from others that haven’t been able to match Velotric’s attention to detail.

The Velotric Discover 2 is surprisingly waterproof!

This might sound strange, but you can actually toss the Velotric Discover 2 battery into a tub of water and it will be fine! The battery is IPX7 rated, which means it can withstand being submerged in over three feet of water!

In fact, the company demonstrated that feature by putting the battery in a washing machine for an entire cycle!

The rest of the bike is nearly as waterproof, carrying an IPX6 rating. That means you can pressure wash it without any issues.

If you read the fine print on most e-bikes, they explicitly warn against pressure washing and may even void your warranty if you use a pressure washer. But Velotric actually encourages it because the Discover 2 is designed to withstand high pressure water jets, making it easier to clean it after a dirty ride. And even if you never plan to pressure wash your e-bike, it sure does give us some nice peace of mind to know that getting caught in a rain storm won’t have any negative effects on the bike!

Peak performance that you can really feel

A lot of electric bikes claim to have 750W motors, but that’s often a “peak rating”, meaning the motor is actually more like a 500W motor that is capable of short bursts of 750W. But with the Velotric Discover 2, you’re getting a true 750W continuous-rated motor. That means the peak rating is actually much higher, allowing the motor to do bursts of power up to 1,100W. For anyone who enjoys strong acceleration or needs to climb big hills, that’s the kind of power you want!

And speaking of hill climbing, the 75Nm of torque found in the motor is a big part of flattening those hills. While many electric bikes struggle to climb steeper hills, the Velotric Discover 2’s torquey motor eats hills for breakfast.

Don’t believe me? Consider that the Discover 2 is rated to tow 880 lb (400 kg) of weight, showcasing just how powerful it truly is!

Tested tougher than necessary

Standard e-bike torture tests usually involve loading a bike with a certain amount of weight on a test machine and then running it for a certain number of miles. But Velotric prefers to exceed those standards so that they know the bike can truly last longer than the competition.

The standard ISO-4210 testing protocol provides a series of tests to confirm the safety and robustness of a bike, but Velotric doesn’t use the normal values for the test. Instead, they increase them to 150% of the test standards, turning the torture test into an even more torturous test.

While nearly every other company settles for the minimum standard, Velotric voluntarily raises the bar to test their e-bikes at 50% tougher conditions. Not only does it result in stronger bikes designed to handle anything thrown their way, but it also speaks to the company’s ethos, designing and building e-bikes that riders can trust to overcome the unexpected.

More PAS levels for more pedaling options

Having a torque sensor is a nice feature, and the Discover 2’s torque sensor provides comfortable, responsive, and natural feeling pedal assist for riders who enjoy feeling like they’re part of the pedaling experience. But Velotric goes beyond merely including a torque sensor, and has included an unprecedented 15 levels of PAS (pedal assist system) settings, meaning riders will have a lot more variation to choose from. It’s all right there on the brightly-lit color LCD screen, making it easy to choose your optimum assist level.

Whether you’re looking for a relaxing and easy cruise along the beach or you want a fast workout ride that has you sweating by the end, you can find it in the Discover 2’s wide range of PAS levels. There are even other nice features like the included cruise control so you can set your desired speed and then forget about it!

Sure, it’s nice to have the throttle there for times when you just want to fly along without pedaling and quickly increase speed at a moment’s notice. But for the other times when an easy-going pedal ride is what you’re after, that torque sensor combined with the unprecedented 15 levels of pedal assist settings make the pedal experience so much nicer than any other commuter or recreational e-bike on the market.

Serious suspension designed with quality in mind

Quality suspension makes a major difference. If you’ve ever tested a budget bike with a loud, clickity-clackity front fork, you’ve experience cheap suspension. It doesn’t feel very good because it isn’t designed to truly absorb bumps and road vibration the way a true hydraulic suspension fork does.

The Velotric Discover 2 features a quality hydraulic suspension fork with 80 mm (over three inches) of travel. Whether you’re staring down a speed bump, pot hole, branch across the road, or any other obstacle in your path, this is the kind of suspension you want to actually protect your bike and body from the bruising bumps along the way.

Apple FindMy integration

In a perfect world, we’ve never need to worry about protecting our e-bikes from going missing. But until then, having a built-in tracking device is the best chance you’ll ever have of getting your e-bike back in a case of theft.

Apple’s FindMy technology is the leading low-cost tracking solution that uses a network of hundreds of millions of phones, computers, and other Apple products to wireless transmit AirTag tracker locations. Devices like the Velotric Discover 2, which have the hardware found in AirTags built into their own design, make use of that network to protect the device with constant tracking ability. We still recommend a good lock, but if your e-bike some how goes missing, the Apple FindMy technology included in Velotric’s e-bikes can show you or the police exactly where it’s now sitting.

Or, you know, you can also use it if you forget where you parked!

Attention to detail makes the difference

There is so much about an e-bike that impacts its ride and ownership experience. Power and speed are nice, but all the other little things truly affect how the bike feels, rides, and fits into your life.

Velotric obviously took the time to consider those important differences and design them into the Discover 2 and many of the company’s other new models of e-bikes. In the end, that makes a huge difference when comparison shopping between a field of electric bikes that all claim to offer similar speeds, power levels, and prices.

When it comes time to make a decision, the bikes that offer all the other features that improve longevity, comfort, safety, and security, those are the ones that truly stand out!

You can learn more at the company’s website and use the promo code electrekv1rv60 to get $60 off your new e-bike!

Tesla is now offering heavily discounted 0.99% financing on Model Y for a limited time in an attempt to boost orders.

For the past year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has mostly blamed the company’s demand issues on high interest rates.

Most people buy new vehicles with loans and the 5 to 7% interest rates are currently adding thousands of dollars to the cost of any new vehicle.

Last month, Tesla brought 0% loans to China in an attempt to boost sales in the critical auto market.

Now, Tesla is doing something similar in the US with the announcement of a new 0.99% APR financing product for Model Y until May 31:

Here are the terms on Tesla’s website with a $4,250 down payment and 72 month-loan:

For the new Model Y Long Range RWD, it comes down to monthly payments of $603 before incentives.

If you are eligible for the Federal Tax Credit (single income $150,000 or under, or $300,000 for joint-fillers), your monthly payment will be just $499. That’s all before gas savings if you are coming from a gas car.

Electrek’s Take

People have been arguing that Tesla should cover the difference in interest rates in financing rather than slash prices, and it looks like the company is finally resorting to that.

A 0.99% APR loan is near free cash. It’s attractive to many. Between $500 and $600 a month for the best-selling vehicle in the world, which also happens to be electric.

Not a bad deal. I think that might enable Tesla to come up with more end-of-quarter incentives this quarter.

You’ve perhaps heard of the original Tesla Roadster, the car that started Tesla and the EV revolution. Now, a Roadster you probably haven’t heard of is for sale – a one-of-a-kind prototype for a performance package that never saw the light of day.

Recently, we got an email tip about an original Tesla Roadster which the owners were about to put up for sale.

Normally, we wouldn’t write an article just because someone is trying to sell any old car, even a Roadster (that said, I’m thinking of selling mine). But this email stood out because it came from Jamison Cummings, Tesla’s Chief Technician from the Roadster days, and it was about a particularly special Roadster – and one which most people haven’t heard of.

The car, a Tesla Roadster Sport with VIN #1124, was originally bought from Tesla in 2012, then was damaged in an accident and reacquired by Tesla. Tesla’s VP of Service at the time, Joost de Vries, acquired the car and it was repaired and rebuilt under the supervision of Carl Medlock, who at the time was the manager of Tesla’s Seattle service location, and who now runs one of the only third-party Roadster repair shops in the US, Medlock and Sons (Medlock currently co-owns the car along with Cummings).

After being repaired internally by Tesla, de Vries had the idea to develop a performance package for Tesla Roadsters, with the goal of coming up with a way that service could be made profitable – a directive leadership had established for him. An after-purchase performance package would be a way to bring revenue in through service departments.

The project never ended up being released as an option to the public, but the Roadster in question, which was going to be called either “Roadster RR” or “Roadster E-Sport” still assembled a large list of custom cosmetic and performance modifications:

• Tarox Italian Performance Brakes Front and Rear (only 1 of 3 cars known to be equipped with this system)
• Custom ABS Flash engineered to work seamlessly with the Tarox Braking System, developed by Continental (also 1 of 3)
• Hollinger Limited Slip Differential customized for EV torque (one of 2)
• Custom Tuned Bilstein Performance Sport Suspension (sole unit)
• Custom Roadster RR camber plates and handling package
• Hand-laid raw carbon bodywork, making it the only raw carbon Roadster in existence

The most striking feature is that last one, with the entire body clear-coated rather than painted, making the fibers of the carbon fiber visible on all body panels except the bumpers (which are plastic). The Roadster has a carbon fiber body normally, but it’s usually painted, with the carbon fiber only visible on the roll bar (and possibly a few other parts of the body, depending on option kits).

The package was proposed to cost $30,000, and would include several performance upgrades. But the project never finished due to changes in leadership, so it was never offered to the public, and this ended up being the only prototype.

While there are other customized Roadsters out there, this one occupies the unique space of being “factory customized,” at least to some extent. While it didn’t originally come out of the factory like that, the work was done under Tesla’s purview after the fact, with the intent of being an official manufacturer upgrade package – though the project was also controversial within Tesla, as there were accusations of overspending and the package never ended up seeing the light of day.

The car went on to be owned by de Vries until it was bought by Cummings and Medlock in 2022. Since the battery had died, the car was given a new “Roadster 3.0” 80kWh pack, and has been driven less than 100 miles on the new battery. Otherwise, the car has around 31,600 miles total, most of which was applied before the rework was completed.

To find out more about this special Roadster, visit the car’s website (or see it displayed at The Shop in Seattle, sometime soon™). It is for sale right now, and interested buyers can find contact information on the website. Internal documentation about the project will be provided to the buyer.