
Travel 120 miles on Aventon Pace 500.3 e-bike at $1,599, AeroGarden Harvest Elite 360 at $109, dual one-day Greenworks discounts, more
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11 months agoon
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Kicking off this week’s Green Deals is Aventon’s updated Labor Day sales which are offering up to $900 in combined savings now, with the brand’s Pace 500.3 Step-Through e-bike getting one of the better deals to $1,599 while also receiving $738 in free gear (including an extra battery for a doubled travel distance). It is joined by AeroGarden’s Harvest Elite 360 Indoor Hydroponic Garden System at $109, as well as dual one-day discounts on Greenworks’ 1,900 PSI Electric Pressure Washer for $120 and the Surface Cleaner Attachment for $23. There’s also an opportunity to grab the Worx 40V Power Share 13-inch Cordless Electric Weed Trimmer and Edger below $150 for the first time in 2024 – plus, all the other hangover Green Deals that are still alive and well, like last week’s Rad Power discount on the RadRover 6 Plus to its new $999 low (ending tomorrow), and more.
Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.
Aventon Labor Day sales offer Pace 500.3 Step-Through e-bike with 120-mile range at $1,599 + $738 in free gear
Aventon has increased the deals in its Labor Day sales, now offering up to $900 in combined savings on e-bikes and their bundled packages. The brand’s popular Soltera.2 e-bike is down at the lowest price here for $1,099 shipped, which you can learn more about in our hands-on review over at Electrek, but it’s the Pace 500.3 Step-Through e-bike that is seeing one of the best deals for $1,599 shipped, and also coming along with over $700 in free gear – including a free extra battery! While we saw a few discounts direct from Aventon in the beginning of the year, taking costs as low as $1,399 before June’s tariffs went into effect, the biggest discounts came from Best Buy, where we saw it fall to $1,099 in January and $1,199 in May, albeit without any free gear. Today you’re looking at a solid $200 markdown off its price tag, giving you the third-lowest price we have tracked along with a free extra battery, a suspension seatpost glide, and a portable air pump all valued at $738.
The Pace 500.3 Step-Through e-bike arrives with a 500W rear-hub motor paired alongside a fully integrated 48V battery and four levels of pedal assistance supported by a torque sensor – eco, tour, sport, and turbo. You’ll be cruising around town, your school campus, and beyond at a top speed of 28 MPH for up to 60 miles on a single charge – which is doubled here, thanks to the extra battery, for a massive 120-mile range. Its upright cruiser frame comes with integrated lights that give you turn signal functionality for any rides or commutes in the early morning and later nights. It also sports hydraulic disc brakes, puncture-resistant tires, an 8-speed Shimano derailleur, and an LCD smart “easy read” display with a concealed USB port so you can charge your smartphone and sync up with the Aventon app as you go.
Aventon Labor Day deals:
- Soltera.2 e-bike: $1,099 (Reg. $1,199)
- 20 MPH for up to 46 miles
- with suspension seatpost and portable air pump
- Sinch.2 Foldable e-bike: $1,499 (Reg. $1,699)
- 20 MPH for up to 55 miles
- with suspension seatpost and portable air pump
- Level.2 Commuter e-bike: $1,699 (Reg. $1,899)
- 28 MPH for up to 60 miles
- with suspension seatpost and portable air pump
- Level.2 Step-Through e-bike: $1,699 (Reg. $1,899)
- 28 MPH for up to 60 miles
- with suspension seatpost and portable air pump
- Aventure.2 All-Terrain e-bike: $1,799 (Reg. $1,999)
- 28 MPH for up to 60 miles
- with suspension seatpost, air pump, and a child trailer
- Aventure.2 Step-Throughe-bike: $1,799 (Reg. $1,999)
- 28 MPH for up to 60 miles
- with suspension seatpost, air pump, and a child trailer
- Abound Cargo e-bike: $1,899 (Reg. $1,999)
- 20 MPH for up to 50 miles
- with rear basket, seat pad, handrail, panniers, cargo net, and child trailer
- Ramblas Electric Mountain Bike: $2,799 (Reg. $2,899)
- 20 MPH for up to 80 miles

Fresh herbs are at your fingertips with AeroGarden’s Harvest Elite 360 hydroponic system at $109
Amazon is offering the AeroGarden Harvest Elite 360 Indoor Garden Hydroponic System for $109.26 shipped. Recently going for $159 since it fell from its $180 MSRP at the top of 2024, we saw it close out last year at its $90 low during Black Friday and Christmas sales. It kept above $145 for the first four months of the new year before dropping to $97.50 at the tail-end of April and spending a few months down around $129. After rising back up in price, we’re getting a solid $50 markdown today that drops it down to its fourth-lowest price we have tracked – just $19 above the all-time low from last year.
The cylindrical Harvest Elite 360 gives you the chance to grow your favorite vegetables, herbs, or flowers in water without the mess of soil by using a spacious grow deck and water bowl. It gives you everything you need to grow up to six different live plants at once, up to 12 inches tall – including a 3-ounce bottle of liquid plant food and a Gourmet Herb Seed Pod Kit that will alow you to grow Genovese Basil, Curly Parsley, Dill, Thyme, Thai Basil, and Mint. It features a full spectrum 20W LED grow light that has an automatic on/off timer to mimic natural sunlight “helping plants germinate up to 5x faster than in soil.” It even has a touch-sensitive illuminated digital display control panel that reminds you when to add water and plant food, as well as a vacation mode to keep your plants healthy while you’re out of town.

Get tag-team one-day deals on Greenworks’ 1,900 PSI Pressure Washer and Surface Cleaner Attachment
Courtesy of its Deals of the Day, Best Buy is offering the Greenworks 1,900 PSI Electric Pressure Washer for $119.99 shipped for the rest of the day. Going for $200 most days, this framed electric pressure washer spent most of 2023 sitting at its MSRP, with occasional discounts dropping costs in the range of $174 and the $120 low. In 2024 we’ve seen drops to its lowest-tracked price every few months, with June being when we last saw this same deal. It’s repeating here again today with a solid $80 markdown and matching its Black Friday and Christmas rates at the lowest price we have seen to date.
Sporting a heavy-duty cast aluminum axial cam pump alongside its onboard detergent tank, this electric pressure washer also comes with several attachments to round out its versatility, ultimately providing you with a 1,900 PSI at a 1.2 GPM flow rate. Its 25 feet of Uberflex kink-resistant hose does away with the headache-inducing untangling that common hoses tend to require with some age or after the kids have had their fun, and its five interchangeable nozzles (15 degrees, 25 degrees, 40 degrees, a soap nozzle, and a turbo nozzle) all have a place for storage along the frame. It also features a Total Stop System, which automatically shuts off the pump when the trigger is not engaged, saving you energy, money, and extending your pump’s life.
Also seeing a one-day only discount is the Greenworks 12-inch Pressure Washer Surface Cleaner Attachment for $23, down from $40. By attaching the above pressure washer’s wand (or most pressure washers up to 2,300 PSI) to the quick connector, your tools cleaning power will be instantly boosted with the dual-nozzle cleaning head to tackle bigger jobs like driveways, garages, all your sidewalks, or patios.
Summer e-bike deals!
- Vanpowers UrbanGlide-Ultra e-bike: $2,299 (Reg. $2,499)
- MOD Bikes Berlin Step-Thru 3 Commuter e-bike (pre-order): $2,299 (Reg. $2,499)
- Lectric ONE Long-Range e-bike with $269 in free gear: $2,199 (Reg. $2,468)
- Juiced JetCurrent Pro Foldable e-bike with on-page 15% off code: $1,954 (Reg. $2,799)
- Aventon Abound Cargo e-bike with $439 in free gear: $1,899 (Reg. $1,999)
- Maui Jack Folding e-bike: $1,650 (Reg. $1,750)
- Rad Powers RadRunner Plus Utility e-bike: $1,599 (Reg. $1,799)
- Aventon Sinch.2 Foldable e-bike with $208 in free gear: $1,499 (Reg. $1,699)
- RadCity 5 Plus Commuter e-bike with free extra battery: $1,499 (Reg. $1,699)
- Lectric XPeak Off-Road e-bike with $727 in free gear (extra battery) for $1,399 (Reg. $2,126)
- Vanpowers UrbanGlide-Pro e-bike: $1,399 (Reg. $1,899)
- Rad Power RadRover 6 Plus Step-Thru e-bike with free extra battery: $1,399 (Reg. $1,599)
- Lectric XP 3.0 Long-Range e-bikes with $647 in free gear: $1,299 (Reg. $1,946)
- Heybike Mars 2.0 e-bike with Jackery Explorer 600 Plus power station bundle: $1,299 (Reg. $1,998)
- Lectric XPress 750 High-Step e-bike with $217 in free gear: $1,299 (Reg. $1,398)
- Lectric XPress 750 Step-Thru e-bike with $217 in free gear: $1,299 (Reg. $1,398)
- Vanpowers UrbanGlide-Standard e-bike: $1,099 (Reg. $1,299)
- Worx + Aventon PowerShare e-bike: $999 (Reg. $1,700)
- Vanpowers City Vanture Commuter e-bike: $999 (Reg. $1,699)
- RadRover 6 Plus High-Step e-bike: $999 (Reg. $1,599)
- Lectric XP Lite 2.0 Long-Range e-bikes with $148 in free gear (pre-order): $999 (Reg. $1,245)
- Lectric XP Lite 2.0 e-bikes with $148 in free gear (pre-order): $799 (Reg. $947)

Other new Green Deals landing this week
The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine. Winter means you can lock in even better off-season price cuts on electric tools for the lawn while saving on EVs and tons of other gear.
- Shape up borders with Worx’s 40V Power Share 13-inch cordless electric trimmer/edger at $149 (Reg. $180)
- Score Rad Power’s RadRover 6 Plus e-bike at a new $999 all-time low before it’s gone forever ($600 off)
- Anker SOLIX F2000 bundle offers 4,096Wh capacity, 400W panel, and free EverFrost cooler at $2,699 low ($5,196 value)
- Hiboy launches new EX7 full suspension all-terrain e-bike with huge $600 price drop at $1,400, more
- Add the EGO Power+ 10-inch pole saw attachment to your 56V power head arsenal at $98 (Save $51), more
- Travel with Bluetti’s AC200L portable power station and 200W solar panel for $1,399 low (Save $1,100)
- Greenworks 24V portable electric power cleaner kit tackles routine cleaning starting from $124 (Reg. $190, 2024 low)
- Jackery’s Explorer 3000 Pro solar bundle can power your home at $2,759 low (Save $1,540), more from $90
- MOD Bikes’ new Berlin Step-Thru 3 commuter e-bike debuts for pre-order at $2,299
- Goal Zero’s 6,071Wh Yeti 6000X portable power station returns to $2,500 low (Up to 50% off)
- Lectric’s Back to School sale shifts to higher gear with up to $727 off e-bike bundles from $799 – plus, 40% off accessories
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Environment
Upcoming electric Bentley blends 1930s style with 2030s tech
Published
4 hours agoon
July 13, 2025By
admin

British ultra-luxe brand Bentley is teasing the upcoming, first-ever all electric model that will take it into the 2030s with a new concept car inspired by the iconic 1930 “Blue Train” Speed Six coupe – and it looks fantastic!
More than any other brand, Bentley was defined by its engine. For decades, in fact, the only meaningful mechanical difference between a Rolls-Royce and a Bentley was the 6.75L twin-turbocharged V8 engine under the flying B hood ornament.
That all changed at the dawn of the twenty-first century. Rolls-Royce was acquired by BMW, while Volkswagen took the reins at Bentley, setting both brands on distinct paths. Now, without its own engine, Bentley faces the challenge of proving to discerning buyers that its cars justify a premium over its mechanical cousins at VW, Audi, and Porsche. That’s why the company is looking to it pre-Rolls merger past, all the way back to the legendary 1930 “Blue Train” Speed Six coupe.
Bentley Blue Train EXP 15 concept

“Bentley’s then-chairman Woolf Barnato had a Speed Six four-door Weymann fabric saloon by H J Mulliner, which he used to race the Blue Train in 1930,” explains Darren Day, Bentley’s Head of Interior Design. “Meanwhile, he had a unique one-of-one Speed Six coupe being built, with a body by Gurney Nutting. Even though the coupe wasn’t finished when the race took place, it’s that car (the coupe) that’s become associated with it and has since become an iconic Bentley. What we were influenced by is the idea of a three-seat car with a unique window line and super slick proportions used for grand tours.”
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The EXP 15 concept car features a unique, three-door, three-passenger layout under a sweeping, dramatic roofline lifted from the 1930 tourer. “The seat can rotate and you step out, totally unflustered, not trying to clamber out of the car like you see with some supercars,” continued Day, before dropping the biggest hint yet as to who they’re building the car for. “You just get out with dignity and the Instagram shot is perfect.”
Bentley EXP 15 interior


While almost no technical specs have been revealed other than “full electric,” Bentley says its new concept’s innovative interior layout allows passengers to stretch out in comfort alongside accessible storage compartments that can house a bar, hand luggage, or even pets. The EXP 15 even offers tailgate seating for outdoor parties or suburban soccer games.
But, while the new concept is tall, Bentley hopes it manages to offer the commanding driving position and comfort of an SUV while giving off the “vibe” of a classic grand tourer – something Bentley thinks could be the next wave of the luxury car market.
“The beauty of a concept car is not just to position our new design language, but to test where the market’s going,” offers Robin Page, Bentley Director of Design. “It’s clear that SUVs are a growing segment and we understand the GT market … but the trickiest segment is the sedan because it’s changing. Some customers want a classic ‘three-box’ sedan shape, others a ‘one-box’ design, and others again something more elevated. So this was a chance for us to talk to people and get a feeling.”
As before: no specs, no range estimates, and no promises about if and nothing definitive about when the oft-promised all-electric Bentley will finally bow – but this is certain: when it does arrive, it will be big, brash, and fast.
Electrek’s Take


Now that SUVs are everywhere and in every segment, automakers are desperate to explore or open new niches, hoping to find that next “SUV-like” growth segment. As weird as the three-door, three-seat EXP 15’s interior layout is, you have to admit that it’s different. And, for a vehicle that spends 90% of its time with just one person inside it, it might be more than practical enough.
Let us know if you think Bentley has a winner, or just another concept car gimmick on its hands in the comments.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Bentley.

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Environment
In rare earth metals power struggle with China, old laptops, phones may get a new life
Published
9 hours agoon
July 13, 2025By
admin
A stack of old mobile phones are seen before recycling process in Kocaeli, Turkiye on October 14, 2024.
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images
As the U.S. and China vie for economic, technological and geopolitical supremacy, the critical elements and metals embedded in technology from consumer to industrial and military markets have become a pawn in the wider conflict. That’s nowhere more so the case than in China’s leverage over the rare earth metals supply chain. This past week, the Department of Defense took a large equity stake in MP Materials, the company running the only rare earths mining operation in the U.S.
But there’s another option to combat the rare earths shortage that goes back to an older idea: recycling. The business has come a long way from collecting cans, bottles, plastic, newspaper and other consumer disposables, otherwise destined for landfills, to recreate all sorts of new products.
Today, next-generation recyclers — a mix of legacy companies and startups — are innovating ways to gather and process the ever-growing mountains of electronic waste, or e-waste, which comprises end-of-life and discarded computers, smartphones, servers, TVs, appliances, medical devices, and other electronics and IT equipment. And they are doing so in a way that is aligned to the newest critical technologies in society. Most recently, spent EV batteries, wind turbines and solar panels are fostering a burgeoning recycling niche.
The e-waste recycling opportunity isn’t limited to rare earth elements. Any electronics that can’t be wholly refurbished and resold, or cannibalized for replacement parts needed to keep existing electronics up and running, can berecycled to strip out gold, silver, copper, nickel, steel, aluminum, lithium, cobalt and other metals vital to manufacturers in various industries. But increasingly, recyclers are extracting rare-earth elements, such as neodymium, praseodymium, terbium and dysprosium, which are critical in making everything from fighter jets to power tools.
“Recycling [of e-waste] hasn’t been taken too seriously until recently” as a meaningful source of supply, said Kunal Sinha, global head of recycling at Swiss-based Glencore, a major miner, producer and marketer of metals and minerals — and, to a much lesser but growing degree, an e-waste recycler. “A lot of people are still sleeping at the wheel and don’t realize how big this can be,” Sinha said.
Traditionally, U.S. manufacturers purchase essential metals and rare earths from domestic and foreign producers — an inordinate number based in China — that fabricate mined raw materials, or through commodities traders. But with those supply chains now disrupted by unpredictable tariffs, trade policies and geopolitics, the market for recycled e-waste is gaining importance as a way to feed the insatiable electrification of everything.
“The United States imports a lot of electronics, and all of that is coming with gold and aluminum and steel,” said John Mitchell, president and CEO of the Global Electronics Association, an industry trade group. “So there’s a great opportunity to actually have the tariffs be an impetus for greater recycling in this country for goods that we don’t have, but are buying from other countries.”
With copper, other metals, ‘recycling is going to play huge role’
Although recycling contributes only around $200 million to Glencore’s total EBITDA of nearly $14 billion, the strategic attention and time the business gets from leadership “is much more than that percentage,” Sinha said. “We believe that a lot of mining is necessary to get to all the copper, gold and other metals that are needed, but we also recognize that recycling is going to play a huge role,” he said.
Glencore has operated a huge copper smelter in Quebec, Canada, for almost 20 years on a site that’s nearly 100-years-old. The facility processes mostly mined copper concentrates, though 15% of its feedstock is recyclable materials, such as e-waste that Glencore’s global network of 100-plus suppliers collect and sort. The smelter pioneered the process for recovering copper and precious metals from e-waste in the mid 1980s, making it one of the first and largest of its type in the world. The smelted copper is refined into fresh slabs that are sold to manufacturers and traders. The same facility also produces refined gold, silver, platinum and palladium recovered from recycling feeds.
The importance of copper to OEMs’ supply chains was magnified in early July, when prices hit an all-time high after President Trump said he would impose a 50% tariff on imports of the metal. The U.S. imports just under half of its copper, and the tariff hike — like other new Trump trade policies — is intended to boost domestic production.
Price of copper year-to-date 2025.
It takes around three decades for a new mine in the U.S. to move from discovery to production, which makes recycled copper look all the more attractive, especially as demand keeps rising. According to estimates by energy-data firm Wood Mackenzie, 45% of demand will be met with recycled copper by 2050, up from about a third today.
Foreign recycling companies have begun investing in the U.S.-based facilities. In 2022, Germany’s Wieland broke ground on a $100-million copper and copper alloy recycling plant in Shelbyville, Kentucky. Last year, another German firm, Aurubis, started construction on an $800-million multi-metal recycling facility in Augusta, Georgia.
“As the first major secondary smelter of its kind in the U.S., Aurubis Richmond will allow us to keep strategically important metals in the economy, making U.S. supply chains more independent,” said Aurubis CEO Toralf Haag.
Massive amounts of e-waste
The proliferation of e-waste can be traced back to the 1990s, when the internet gave birth to the digital economy, spawning exponential growth in electronically enabled products. The trend has been supercharged by the emergence of renewable energy, e-mobility, artificial intelligence and the build-out of data centers. That translates to a constant turnover of devices and equipment, and massive amounts of e-waste.
In 2022, a record 62 million metric tons of e-waste were produced globally, up 82% from 2010, according to the most recent estimates from the United Nations’ International Telecommunications Union and research arm UNITAR. That number is projected to reach 82 million metric tons by 2030.
The U.S., the report said, produced just shy of 8 million tons of e-waste in 2022. Yet only about 15-20% of it is properly recycled, a figure that illustrates the untapped market for e-waste retrievables. The e-waste recycling industry generated $28.1 billion in revenue in 2024, according to IBISWorld, with a projected compound annual growth rate of 8%.
Whether it’s refurbished and resold or recycled for metals and rare-earths, e-waste that stores data — especially smartphones, computers, servers and some medical devices — must be wiped of sensitive information to comply with cybersecurity and environmental regulations. The service, referred to as IT asset disposition (ITAD), is offered by conventional waste and recycling companies, including Waste Management, Republic Services and Clean Harbors, as well as specialists such as Sims Lifecycle Services, Electronic Recyclers International, All Green Electronics Recycling and Full Circle Electronics.
“We’re definitely seeing a bit of an influx of [e-waste] coming into our warehouses,” said Full Circle Electronics CEO Dave Daily, adding, “I think that is due to some early refresh cycles.”
That’s a reference to businesses and consumers choosing to get ahead of the customary three-year time frame for purchasing new electronics, and discarding old stuff, in anticipation of tariff-related price increases.
Daily also is witnessing increased demand among downstream recyclers for e-waste Full Circle Electronics can’t refurbish and sell at wholesale. The company dismantles and separates it into 40 or 50 different types of material, from keyboards and mice to circuit boards, wires and cables. Recyclers harvest those items for metals and rare earths, which continue to go up in price on commodities markets, before reentering the supply chain as core raw materials.
Even before the Trump administration’s efforts to revitalize American manufacturing by reworking trade deals, and recent changes in tax credits key to the industry in Trump’s tax and spending bill, entrepreneurs have been launching e-waste recycling startups and developing technologies to process them for domestic OEMs.
“Many regions of the world have been kind of lazy about processing e-waste, so a lot of it goes offshore,” Sinha said. In response to that imbalance, “There seems to be a trend of nationalizing e-waste, because people suddenly realize that we have the same metals [they’ve] been looking for” from overseas sources, he said. “People have been rethinking the global supply chain, that they’re too long and need to be more localized.”
China commands 90% of rare earth market
Several startups tend to focus on a particular type of e-waste. Lately, rare earths have garnered tremendous attention, not just because they’re in high demand by U.S. electronics manufacturers but also to lessen dependence on China, which dominates mining, processing and refining of the materials. In the production of rare-earth magnets — used in EVs, drones, consumer electronics, medical devices, wind turbines, military weapons and other products — China commands roughly 90% of the global supply chain.
The lingering U.S.–China trade war has only exacerbated the disparity. In April, China restricted exports of seven rare earths and related magnets in retaliation for U.S. tariffs, a move that forced Ford to shut down factories because of magnet shortages. China, in mid-June, issued temporary six-month licenses to certain major U.S. automaker suppliers and select firms. Exports are flowing again, but with delays and still well below peak levels.
The U.S. is attempting to catch up. Before this past week’s Trump administration deal, the Biden administration awarded $45 million in funding to MP Materials and the nation’s lone rare earths mine, in Mountain Pass, California. Back in April, the Interior Department approved development activities at the Colosseum rare earths project, located within California’s Mojave National Preserve. The project, owned by Australia’s Dateline Resources, will potentially become America’s second rare earth mine after Mountain Pass.
A wheel loader takes ore to a crusher at the MP Materials rare earth mine in Mountain Pass, California, U.S. January 30, 2020. Picture taken January 30, 2020.
Steve Marcus | Reuters
Meanwhile, several recycling startups are extracting rare earths from e-waste. Illumynt has an advanced process for recovering them from decommissioned hard drives procured from data centers. In April, hard drive manufacturer Western Digital announced a collaboration with Microsoft, Critical Materials Recycling and PedalPoint Recycling to pull rare earths, as well as copper, gold, aluminum and steel, from end-of-life drives.
Canadian-based Cyclic Materials invented a process that recovers rare-earths and other metals from EV motors, wind turbines, MRI machines and data-center e-scrap. The company is investing more than $20 million to build its first U.S.-based facility in Mesa, Arizona. Late last year, Glencore signed a multiyear agreement with Cyclic to provide recycled copper for its smelting and refining operations.
Another hot feedstock for e-waste recyclers is end-of-life lithium-ion batteries, a source of not only lithium but also copper, cobalt, nickel, manganese and aluminum. Those materials are essential for manufacturing new EV batteries, which the Big Three automakers are heavily invested in. Their projects, however, are threatened by possible reductions in the Biden-era 45X production tax credit, featured in the new federal spending bill.
It’s too soon to know how that might impact battery recyclers — including Ascend Elements, American Battery Technology, Cirba Solutions and Redwood Materials — who themselves qualify for the 45X and other tax credits. They might actually be aided by other provisions in the budget bill that benefit a domestic supply chain of critical minerals as a way to undercut China’s dominance of the global market.
Nonetheless, that looming uncertainty should be a warning sign for e-waste recyclers, said Sinha. “Be careful not to build a recycling company on the back of one tax credit,” he said, “because it can be short-lived.”
Investing in recyclers can be precarious, too, Sinha said. While he’s happy to see recycling getting its due as a meaningful source of supply, he cautions people to be careful when investing in this space. Startups may have developed new technologies, but lack good enough business fundamentals. “Don’t invest on the hype,” he said, “but on the fundamentals.”
Glencore, ironically enough, is a case in point. It has invested $327.5 million in convertible notes in battery recycler Li-Cycle to provide feedstock for its smelter. The Toronto-based startup had broken ground on a new facility in Rochester, New York, but ran into financial difficulties and filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in May, prompting Glencore to submit a “stalking horse” credit bid of at least $40 million for the stalled project and other assets.
Even so, “the current environment will lead to more startups and investments” in e-waste recycling, Sinha said. “We are investing ourselves.”

Environment
LiveWire gives surprise unveil of two smaller, lower-cost electric motorcycles
Published
10 hours agoon
July 13, 2025By
admin

LiveWire, the electric motorcycle company that was spun out of Harley-Davidson several years ago, has just shown off two fun-sized electric motorcycles designed to make powered two-wheelers more accessible to new riders, both physically and financially.
The company took to HD Homecoming, a motorcycle festival in Milwaukee, to give a surprise unveiling of the new bikes.
The bikes, which wear what look to be smaller 12″ tires and offer a barely 30″ (76 cm) seat height, are smaller and nimbler than anything we’ve seen from LiveWire before.
But that doesn’t mean they can’t perform. These aren’t some 30 mph (48 km/h) mopeds. LiveWire confirmed that early testing shows respectable performance figures of around 53 mph (85 km/h) speeds and 100 miles (160 km) of range from the pair of removable batteries.
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I’m assuming that range is measured at a lower urban speed, but these appear to be purpose-built to give riders the capability to ride where and how they want at a much more affordable price than LiveWire has ever offered.


Showing off both a trail and a street version, the LiveWire seems to be covering all of its bases.
“The trail model is intended for riding backyards, pump tracks, or even out on the ranch or campgrounds,” the brand explained. “The street model is perfect for urban errands, new riders, mini-moto fans, and anyone looking for a new hobby in the form of a readily customizable, approachable electric moto experience.”
LiveWire hasn’t shared any pricing details yet, and the two models are understood to still be in their development phase, but the advanced stages of the designs mean we likely won’t have to wait too much longer.
And with most of LiveWire’s current electric motorcycle models in the $16k- $17k, these bikes could conceivably cost less than half of that figure, changing the equation for young riders who can’t afford a luxury ride.




Electrek’s Take
Of course, they had to do this unveiling at the exact time that I was banging out a multi-thousand-word treatise bemoaning the fact that LiveWire hadn’t launched any smaller models yet. Hmmm, maybe it’s time for an article about how the e-bike industry needs a single battery standard.
Anyway, I’m all-in on this! I can’t even describe how excited this news makes me! This is an important step for LiveWire’s growth because the kind of folks who are drawn to electric motorcycles are often a different market than that sought by traditional legacy motorcycle manufacturers. LiveWire’s existing models are impressive, both in their extreme performance and their design, but they’re still powerhouses that provide more kick than most riders probably need.
These new mini e-motos could be exactly what new riders are looking for. Consider all the teens and young adults ripping it up on Sur Rons in towns across the US right now. Those Sur Rons aren’t street-legal bikes and they were never meant for the riding they’re most commonly being used for. But a street bike in a fun little Grom form factor like LiveWire is showing off? It could scratch that itch and also provide riders with the safety and support of a motorcycle company that comes from a storied history of over 100 years of motorcycle design, all from a new brand like LiveWire that speaks young riders’ language.
And that trail version – same thing. It’s going to offer the fun off-road riding that so many are looking for, yet do it in a well-designed package that isn’t just produced by some nameless factory in China trying to eke out the best profit margin.

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