Lectric XPress e-bike launched as $999 torque sensor commuter electric bike
In what should no longer come as a surprise to anyone, Phoenix-based Lectric Ebikes has done it again. With today’s launch of the Lectric XPress, the maker of North America’s #1 best-selling electric bike just entered yet another e-bike category with a new model designed to crush the competition.
The Lectric XPress follows the best-selling Lectric XP 3.0 at the same price point, just $999, yet offers a full-size commuter tire alternative to the company’s hot-selling folding fat tire e-bike.
Riding on 27.5 x 2.1-inch urban tires, the bike sports several sought-after commuter features including a custom suspension fork, torque sensor, thru-axle front wheel, integrated front and rear lighting, color LCD screen, hydraulic disc brakes, 7-speed transmission, and an easily removable battery.
Interestingly, the bike has multiple options, and I’m not just talking about the choice between a step-over and a step-through variant. Riders can also choose their motor power and battery capacity.
The entry-level model features a 500W continuous-rated motor and a 500 Wh battery (48V 10.4 Ah) good for 45 miles (70 km). The upgraded model has a 750W continuous-rated motor and a 672 Wh battery (48V 14 Ah) good for 60 miles (100 km). Both e-bike models are certified to UL2849, which covers the entire e-bike system including the motor, battery, charger, and the bike’s electronics.
While the upgraded motor and battery model is priced higher at $1,299, it’s one heck of a deal during the pre-launch period now since Lectric includes a free spare battery in that package, meaning riders will get two 672 Wh batteries for over 120 miles (200 km) of range.
The 500W motor offers 55 Nm of torque, which is modest but not overly powerful. It’s likely more than sufficient for beachside cruising or commuting through flat cities. The 750W motor offers 85 Nm of torque, providing more “oomph” and increased hill-climbing ability. It’s also worth noting that the peak watt ratings for the two motors are substantially higher at 1,092W and 1,310W, respectively.
Both models top out at Class 3 speeds of 28 mph (45 km/h), use a trigger-style thumb throttle, and feature a torque sensor. That torque sensor pairs with Lectric’s proprietary PWR pedal-assist system to use a wattage-based setup providing a pedal assist output that most riders find much more comfortable than the typical, lurching and jerkier pedal assist found on most budget-minded electric bike models on the market.
The move into the urban commuter e-bike market follows Lectric’s past expansions into cargo e-bikes, adventure e-bikes, electric trikes, premium commuter e-bikes, and lightweight folding e-bikes, all at much lower prices than nearly any other company in the North American market.
It’s part of what has become the company’s modus operandi, summed up by Lectric’s co-founder and CEO Levi Conlow:
“The reason for our success is simple — if you build an e-bike with all the value and high quality that people want and offer it for a price that’s not a penny more than it needs to be, it will resonate with people and build lasting relationships.”
Electrek’s Take
Well, that’s it. There’s a new king of the budget-friendly commuter e-bikes in town. Sure, plenty of people already used the Lectric XP 3.0 as a commuter e-bike, but now the company has launched a dedicated commuter e-bike that likely better fills that role.
The Lectric XPress offers basically everything most value-oriented commuter riders want, and does it for an incredibly reasonable price. At just $999, getting a suspension fork, hydraulic disc brakes, and torque sensor is an incredible deal. It’s so good that I’m willing to look past the decision to put a thumb throttle on the bike instead of the only correct choice: a half-twist throttle. The only other downside is that color options are a bit limited. The step-over only comes in black and the step-thru only comes in white. I’d have loved some more color options, but Lectric is already flirting with SKU proliferation as it is, so I understand the desire to limit color options for the sake of simplifying fulfillment.
To me, this basically replaces what the RadMission e-bike was designed to do several years ago: be a simple and effective metro-style commuter bike. Except that for the same price, Lectric is throwing a lot more features at us than Rad did. The downside is it weighs a good bit more than the RadMission, tipping the scales at 57 lb (26 kg), but most riders never pick their e-bikes up so the added weight may not put off too many people.
I would have liked to see racks and fenders included as standard equipment, but the RadMission didn’t include them either back in the day, and it even left the kickstand as an add-on. So by comparison, I guess we should be happy we get a kickstand this time.
One thing we definitely get is a lot more variation. The ability to upgrade to a more powerful motor is also an interesting add-on feature, letting flatland riders save a few hundred bucks while still giving hilly terrain riders the option for better climbing power and stronger acceleration. And a choice of battery capacity also lets riders decide whether it’s worth spending more to increase range, or saving money for the modest range of a 500 Wh battery pack.
All told, this looks incredibly promising. It’s not going to rival commuter e-bikes priced several times as much, but it’s not meant to. Lectric’s whole thing is giving riders e-bike models that do a lot for a little, and the Lectric XPress fits that play perfectly.
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Environment
It seems like Elon Musk stoking a civil war in England isn’t good for Tesla’s sales there
Tesla’s EV registrations in the UK, its biggest market in Europe, took a dramatic hit in October 2025 — just 511 units — marking one of the brand’s weakest showings in recent memory. That’s a steep drop from 971 in October 2024 and 2,677 in October 2023. The tone of the market is shifting.
Maybe Tesla’s CEO stoking a civil war in England isn’t helping the automaker’s demand in the important market.
Tesla’s sales have been struggling in Europe over the past two years, and the decline has been accelerating in 2025.
While some believed that things were stabilizing for the American automaker in Europe, the October data tells a different story. Tesla had its worst month of deliveries of the year in 12 of its 15 biggest European markets.
As Tesla sales in Germany crashed over the last year, partly because Tesla CEO Elon Musk supported the far-right AfD party, the UK became Tesla’s biggest market in Europe.
But now it looks like the UK is going in the same direction.
According to registration data, Tesla delivered only 511 vehicles in the UK in October 2025. Tesla has over 50 stores in the country – that’s an average of roughly 10 vehicles per location for the whole month.
It’s the worst monthly performance since October 2022.
Much as Tesla’s demand crashed in Germany, Elon Musk’s politics might be behind the lower demand in the UK.
The CEO regularly comments on UK politics and often shares inflammatory reports about crimes perpetrated by immigrants. He also shares misleading crime and immigration statistics aimed at spreading hatred.
After he tweeted that “Civil war is inevitable. Just a question of when.”, he was accused of stoking a civil war in the country.
Musk’s public commentary on UK topics has sparked backlash and resulted in his “unfavorability rating” reaching 80% in the country.
Electrek’s Take
Meanwhile, Tesla’s demand cliff is opening the door to competitors. BYD is now expected to outsell Tesla in the whole year of 2025 in the UK despite Tesla having a presence in the market for much longer.
Not many industry watchers thought it would happen this fast.
Tesla appears to be completely missing out on the surge of EV sales in Europe due to a mix of having a stagnant EV lineup, brand problems brought on by a controversial CEO, and increased competition.
In the US, Musk is believed to have cost Tesla about 1 million sales over the last 3 years.
I think it will soon be approaching this number in Europe.
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Rondo Energy and energy producer EDP are installing a massive 100 MWh renewable-powered heat battery at HEINEKEN’s brewery in Lisbon, Portugal. The project will deliver round-the-clock renewable steam and reduce emissions without altering the facility’s beer brewing process.
Brewing HEINEKEN with zero-carbon steam
The Rondo Heat Battery (RHB) will be the biggest deployed in the beverage industry worldwide. It can store electricity as high-temperature heat using refractory bricks, then convert that heat into 24/7 steam, all without burning fossil fuels.
At HEINEKEN’s Central de Cervejas e Bebidas Brewery and Malting Plant, the heat battery system will supply 7 MW of steam, powered by renewable electricity from onsite solar and the grid. That steam is identical to steam created by gas-fired boilers, but without the carbon pollution.
EDP is providing the renewable electricity and will deliver the steam directly to HEINEKEN via a Heat-as-a-Service model. Rondo is supplying the battery, and HEINEKEN gets to ditch fossil fuels without retooling its brewing process.
Why this matters
This project is a big win for industrial decarbonization. High-temperature steam is one of the most complex parts of manufacturing to electrify, and the beer industry runs on it. HEINEKEN’s Lisbon site already uses solar panels for electricity and electric heat pumps for hot water, and this move helps it go even further.
It’s part of HEINEKEN’s “Brew a Better World” plan to hit net zero emissions by 2040 and decarbonize all of its global production sites by 2030.
Additionally, the deployment aligns with Portugal’s national target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030.
The bigger picture
With the European Investment Bank and Breakthrough Energy Catalyst backing this and other Rondo projects with €75 million in funding, this Lisbon installation is just the beginning. Rondo’s technology enables energy-hungry industries to switch from fossil fuels to renewable electricity without compromising 24/7 operations.
Rondo CEO Eric Trusiewicz sums it up: “We are thrilled to be installing our first Rondo Heat Battery in Iberia, and to support HEINEKEN to reach its goals. We look forward to helping industries across Iberia cut costs and carbon, and help Iberia capitalize on the opportunity.”
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Lucid Group (LCID) reported third-quarter earnings after the market closed on Wednesday, missing top and bottom-line estimates.
With 4,078 vehicles delivered in Q3, Lucid marked its seventh straight quarter with higher deliveries. Through the first nine months of 2025, Lucid delivered nearly 10,500 vehicles, more than the roughly 10,200 it handed over in 2024.
Although supply chain issues hampered production in the first half of the year, Lucid’s CEO Marc Winterhoff said the company made “significant progress ramping production of the Lucid Gravity through Q3,” including adding a second manufacturing shift at its Casa Grande, Arizona, plant.
Lucid produced 3,891 vehicles in Q3, missing estimates of around 5,600. With 9,966 EVs produced through the third quarter, Lucid will need to build over 8,000 more to meet its full-year production goal of 18,000 to 20,000.
According to estimates, Lucid is expected to report an adjusted quarterly loss of $2.27 per share on revenue of $352 million in Q3 2025.
Lucid Group Q3 2025 earnings breakdown
Lucid missed top and bottom-line estimates as it continues to address industry-wide supply chain issues that are hampering production of the Gravity SUV.
Although it missed estimates, Lucid reported Q3 revenue of $336.6 million, which is still up 68% from $200 million in the same period last year.
Lucid’s net loss narrowed to $978.4 million in the third quarter, or $3.31 per share, from $992.5 million, or $4.09 per share, in Q3 2024. On an adjusted basis, Lucid posted a loss of $2.65 per share.
In addition, Lucid said it agreed with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to increase the delayed draw term loan credit facility (DDTL) from $750 million to around $2 billion.
Given the increase, Lucid said total liquidity would have been around $5.5 billion at the end of Q3, up from the $4.2 billion it reported. Lucid ended the third quarter with $1.6 billion in cash and equivalents.
Lucid said liquidity is enough to fund it through the first half of 2027, up from the second half of 2026, as previously forecast. Lucid plans to launch production of its more affordable midsize platform in late 2026 with vehicles starting at around $50,000.
Lucid confirmed it was still on track to start production of the midsize platform later next year. However, given the supply chain issues, it now expects to hit the lower end of its production goal at around 18,000.
Winterhoff said the company “remains intensely focused on ramping up production and addressing the significant supply chain disruptions impacting the entire industry.”
Lucid is advancing other emerging tech, including autonomy and intelligent mobility. Through a new partnership with NVIDIA, Lucid aims to be among the first to offer Level 4 autonomous driving.
The third-quarter earnings miss comes after Rivian (RIVN) beat expectations this week, reporting higher revenue and improving gross margins.
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