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NIU, one of the world’s leading smart electric scooter and micromobility companies, has just launched a new lightweight commuter option, the NIU KQi 200F. Designed for riders who need a balance between portability and performance, the new model introduces folding handlebars – following up on a feature introduced late last year to NIU’s popular KQi scooter line.

The NIU KQi 200F stands out immediately for its compactness. Thanks to the foldable handlebars and stem, it can easily fit into tight spaces like office corners, public transit, or the trunk of a car.

While nearly all electric scooters can fold at the stem, wide scooter handlebars still tend to stick out and limit storage options. With folding handlebars, the KQi 200F’s widest component is likely its deck, measuring just 6.9 inches (17.5 cm) at its widest, making it ultra slim and easier to stuff into tight spaces.

Under the hood, the KQi 200F carries a 48V 7.8Ah battery that provides 365Wh of stored capacity. That’s enough for up to 33.6 miles (54 km) of range on a single charge. The scooter is powered by a 350W rear hub motor, which peaks at 700W with 22 Nm of torque, giving it enough oomph to tackle hills and achieve a top speed of 20 mph (32 km/h).

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The motor offers a significant boost compared to NIU’s KQi2 Pro scooter, including 7% more speed, 33% better hill climbing, 17% more power, and 38% more torque. The battery also offers 35% more range.

Weighing in at 44 pounds (20 kg), it’s not the lightest scooter on the market, but it’s a reasonable weight given the scooter’s relatively high performance compared to more basic scooters. NIU also rates the KQi 200F for riders up to 265 pounds (120 kg).

The KQi 200F comes with 10 x 2.3-inch pneumatic tires, which should offer a smoother ride than the smaller or solid tires found on many ultra-portable scooters. The front suspension fork also helps contribute to that smoother ride. The scooter includes dual-wheel braking with a front disc brake combined with rear regenerative braking for enhanced stopping power. NIU claims a stopping distance of just 14 feet (4.2 meters) at moderate speeds.

The scooter also includes a bright LED headlight, taillight, and integrated side lighting for nighttime safety, along with handlebar-mounted turn signals to increase the chances of cars actually seeing and correctly interpreting the turn signal lights.

On the tech side, the scooter connects to the NIU app via Bluetooth, allowing riders to lock the scooter remotely, customize riding modes, track rides, and monitor battery health. An LED dashboard display on the handlebars shows speed, battery level, and riding mode at a glance. And for customization on the hardware side, NIU offers multiple grip tape options allowing riders to play with the scooter’s aesthetics (though the scooter still only comes in a single color that I like to call NIU Gray).

The KQi 200F is priced at $799, but carries a $100 discount for $699 during its launch, positioning it competitively against other mid-range electric scooters. In addition to competitive pricing, NIU is banking on its reputation as a major smart scooter company (known for both standing and seated scooters) to differentiate itself in the increasingly crowded market.

For those unfamiliar with NIU, the company was founded in 2014 and quickly made a name for itself, producing connected electric mopeds and scooters for urban commuters. In fact, we recently took a trip to the company’s factory to get a peek behind the scenes at how they produce millions of these smart e-scooters.

NIU now operates in over 50 countries and has sold millions of vehicles worldwide. In the US, NIU is best known for its standing electric scooters and expanding line of commuter e-mopeds or seated e-scooters, but in Europe and Asia, their seated e-scooters dominate their lineup.

Electrek’s Take

By offering folding handlebars on the KQi 200F, NIU seems to be targeting city dwellers who may have limited storage space or need to mix scooter commuting with public transportation. It’s an interesting move, especially as demand for last-mile solutions continues to grow and cities worldwide encourage alternatives to car ownership.

NIU has long been known for its tech-focused scooters, and so in addition to getting what appears to be a nicely-performing ride, I think a big part of the value here is the connectivity that NIU builds into these things. I’ve got a NIU KQi 200F with my name on it that I’m excited to get testing with shortly, so I’ll be sure to come back and let you guys know what I think.

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Tesla Autopilot less safe, Optimus freezes, electric Mustang goes 250,000 miles

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Tesla Autopilot less safe, Optimus freezes, electric Mustang goes 250,000 miles

On today’s road-ready episode of  Quick Charge, Tesla released data hinting that its Autopilot ADAS solution may be less safe to use than before. We’ve also got some news from inside the Tesla diner experience, plus a 250,000 mile Ford Mustang Mach-E that still has more than 90% of its battery capacity left!

We also cover Lucid’s plans to reinvigorate American EV manufacturing WITHOUT help from Washington by forging stronger bonds between automakers, mineral miners, and battery recyclers – plus: Optimus breaks down.

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 (most weeks, anyway). 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.

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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.


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Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.

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91% of renewables are cheaper than fossil fuels, but Trump just defunded a vital US grid upgrade

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91% of renewables are cheaper than fossil fuels, but Trump just defunded a vital US grid upgrade

Renewables continued to dominate fossil fuels on price in 2024, according to a new report from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). The big takeaway: Clean energy is the cheapest power around – by a wide margin. So it’s pretty bad business that the biggest grid upgrade project in US history just got kneecapped by Trump’s Department of Energy to stop the “green scam.”

On average, solar power was 41% cheaper than the lowest-cost fossil fuel in 2024, and onshore wind was 53% cheaper. Onshore wind held its spot as the most affordable new source of electricity at $0.034 per kilowatt-hour, with solar close behind at $0.043/kWh.

IRENA’s report says global renewables added 582 gigawatts (GW) of capacity last year, which avoided about $57 billion in fossil fuel costs. That’s not a small dent. Even more impressive: 91% of all new renewable power projects built in 2024 were cheaper than any new fossil fuel option.

Technological innovation, strong supply chains, and economies of scale are driving the cost advantage. Battery prices are helping too: IRENA says utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) are now 93% cheaper than they were in 2010, with prices averaging $192/kWh in 2024.

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But it’s not all smooth sailing. The report flags short-term cost pressures from trade tensions, material bottlenecks, and rising costs in some regions. North America and Europe feel more squeezed than others due to permitting delays, limited grid capacity, and higher system costs.

Meanwhile, countries in Asia, Africa, and South America could see faster cost drops thanks to stronger learning rates and abundant solar and wind resources.

One big challenge is financing. In developing countries, high interest rates and perceived investor risk inflate the levelized cost of electricity of renewables. For example, wind power generation costs were about the same in Europe and Africa last year ($0.052/kWh), but financing made up a much larger share of project costs in Africa. IRENA estimates the cost of capital was just 3.8% in Europe but 12% in Africa.

And even if projects are affordable to build, many are getting stuck in grid connection queues or stalled by slow permitting. Those “integration costs” are now a major hurdle, especially in fast-growing G20 and emerging markets.

Tech is helping with some of that – hybrid solar-wind-storage setups and AI-powered tools are improving grid performance and project efficiency. But digital infrastructure and grid modernization still lag in many places, holding renewables back.

“Renewables are rising, the fossil fuel age is crumbling,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “But leaders must unblock barriers, build confidence, and unleash finance and investment.”

IRENA’s bottom line is that the economics of renewables are stronger than ever, but to keep the momentum going, governments and markets need to reduce risks, streamline permitting, and invest in grids.

Electrek’s Take

Speaking of unblocking barriers and investment, the opposite just happened today in Trump World. The Department of Energy just canceled a $4.9 billion conditional loan commitment for the 800-mile Grain Belt Express Phase 1 transmission project, the biggest transmission line in US history.

It’s a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line connecting Kansas wind farms across four states. It will connect four grids, improving reliability. It will be able to power 50 data centers and create 5,500 jobs. Phase 1 is due to start next year.

The new grid will also connect all forms of energy, not just renewables, and it’s super pathetic that Invenergy had to stoop to put up a map on the project’s home page today showing how it will transmit fossil fuels, the “existing dispatchable generation source,” and felt it had to leave renewables off the map entirely. Sorry, Kansas wind farms, you get no mention because this administration doesn’t like you.

Chicago-based Invenergy plans to build the 5 GW Grain Belt Express in phases from Kansas to Illinois. The company says the project will save customers $52 billion in energy costs over 15 years. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) complained to Trump about the project, calling it a “green scam,” and got the government loan canceled based on a lie, claiming it would cost taxpayers “billions.” This was Invenergy’s response on X:

As usual, Trump was swayed by the last person in the room, and Hawley shot an entire region in the foot when an upgraded grid and more renewables are needed more than ever. Hopefully, this project can continue despite the ignorant shortsightedness coming from the Republicans (who ironically released an AI Action Plan today).

It beggars belief that this political party is this isolated from the rest of the world – well, besides our besties Iran, Libya, and Yemen, who aren’t part of the Paris Agreement either – and being that the US is the world’s No 2 polluter, the world will suffer for its arrogance.

Read more: FERC: Solar + wind made up 96% of new US power generating capacity in first third of 2025


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Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.

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Elon Musk with a straight face: Tesla Robotaxi will cover half of US population by end of the year

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Elon Musk with a straight face: Tesla Robotaxi will cover half of US population by end of the year

Elon Musk claims that Tesla Robotaxi will cover half of the US population by the end of the year and we can’t stop laughing.

Today, Tesla released its Q2 2025 financial results.

Earnings are down 23% on falling electric vehicle sales and lower margins, but Tesla’s stock is not crashing because CEO Elon Musk is promising a return to earnings growth through autonomous driving and humanoid robots.

We previously reported on how Tesla’s Robotaxi effort is a major shift in strategy for Tesla, which has been promising unsupervised self-driving in its customer vehicles for years.

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Instead, the Robotaxi service consists of an internal fleet operating within a geo-fenced area, currently only in Austin, Texas, and powered by teleoperation and in-car supervisors with a finger on a kill switch at all times.

“I believe half of the population of the US will be covered by Tesla’s Robotaxi by the end of the year.”

He added that he believes that regulatory approval will be the biggest hurdle, even though Tesla’s current service requires a Tesla employee in each car, which is a major hurdle to scaling.

Musk and Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s head of self-driving, both claimed that the Bay Area will be the first market where Tesla plans to expand its Robotaxi service. However, Elluswamy added that the program will initially have a driver in the driver’s seat.

This makes sense considering we learned last week that Tesla has yet to apply for the proper permits to operate an autonomous ride-hailing service in California.

Electrek’s Take

This is laughable. Who believes that? How can Elon say that with a straight face when Tesla only has a joke of a system that requires supervision at all times?

For context, Tesla currently only operates in a little over half of Austin, Texas. Here’s the list of all the metro areas Tesla would need to launch Robotaxi by the end of the year to cover half of the US population:

Rank Metro Area Population Cumulative Total
1 New York 19.15 M 19.15 M
2 Los Angeles 12.68 M 31.83 M
3 Chicago 9.04 M 40.87 M
4 Houston 6.89 M 47.76 M
5 Dallas–Fort Worth 6.73 M 54.49 M
6 Miami 6.37 M 60.86 M
7 Atlanta 6.27 M 67.13 M
8 Philadelphia 5.86 M 72.99 M
9 Washington, DC 5.60 M 78.59 M
10 Phoenix 4.83 M 83.42 M
11 Boston 4.40 M 87.82 M
12 Seattle 3.58 M 91.40 M
13 Detroit 3.54 M 94.94 M
14 San Diego 3.37 M 98.31 M
15 San Francisco 3.36 M 101.67 M
16 Tampa 3.04 M 104.71 M
17 Minneapolis–St. Paul 2.62 M 107.33 M
18 St. Louis 2.80 M 110.13 M
19 Denver 2.99 M 113.12 M
20 Baltimore 2.83 M 115.95 M
21 Orlando 2.76 M 118.71 M
22 Charlotte 2.75 M 121.46 M
23 San Antonio 2.60 M 124.06 M
24 Austin 2.42 M 126.48 M
25 Pittsburgh 2.43 M 128.91 M
26 Sacramento 2.42 M 131.33 M
27 Las Vegas 2.32 M 133.65 M
28 Cincinnati 2.26 M 135.91 M
29 Kansas City 2.19 M 138.10 M
30 Columbus 2.14 M 140.24 M
31 Cleveland 2.16 M 142.40 M
32 Indianapolis 2.12 M 144.52 M
33 San José 1.99 M 146.51 M
34 Virginia Beach–Norfolk 1.76 M 148.27 M
35 Providence 1.68 M 149.95 M
36 Milwaukee 1.57 M 151.52 M
37 Jacksonville 1.60 M 153.12 M
38 Raleigh–Durham 1.45 M 154.57 M
39 Nashville 1.43 M 156.00 M
40 Oklahoma City 1.42 M 157.42 M
41 Richmond 1.30 M 158.72 M
42 Louisville 1.28 M 160.00 M
43 Salt Lake City 1.26 M 161.26 M
44 New Orleans 1.23 M 162.49 M
45 Hartford 1.20 M 163.69 M
46 Buffalo 1.11 M 164.80 M
47 Birmingham 1.10 M 165.90 M

This is ridiculous. The lies are becoming increasingly larger and more brazen. We know what that means.

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