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Let’s get one thing out of the way early: single-speed electric bikes aren’t perfect. If you live in the hills of San Francisco, they’re not going to be your best friend. But if you’re like the majority of city riders around the world – rolling through mostly flat neighborhoods, navigating stop-and-go traffic, and hopping on and off curbs – then a single-speed e-bike might just be the smartest and most underrated option on the market.

Yes, hill climbing is the elephant in the room. A single gear ratio means you’re stuck with whatever mechanical advantage the manufacturer decided was a good middle ground between acceleration and top speed. But here’s the kicker: most urban environments around the world are built on flat terrain.

Yes, not all of them. Please don’t blow up my comments section with “…But my city has hills!”. It may, but you’re in the minority.

There’s a reason why most cities are relatively flat. Historically, cities have often developed along rivers, coasts, and plains – places that are easier to build on and navigate with early transportation infrastructure. Cities were also built in relatively flat areas that were easier to expand as the cities grew. Flatter areas were also easier to build on, everything from structures to roads and railroads. While there are certainly exceptions (I see you Lisbon, San Francisco, Wellington, Jerusalem, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, and countless others), a huge number of the world’s densest urban centers are either completely flat or gently rolling at most. So while it’s true that single-speed e-bikes don’t climb well, it’s also true that in most cities, there’s not much climbing to be done.

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Which brings us to the real strengths of single-speed e-bikes. And they’re worth celebrating.

Simplicity that just works

Single-speed electric bikes are an ode to simplicity in a world of overcomplication.

The first and most obvious benefit is the sheer mechanical simplicity. No derailleurs, no shifters, no multi-sprocket cassettes to adjust or tune. Just hop on and go.

There’s something incredibly liberating about never needing to think about which gear you’re in.

For a lot of riders, especially newer ones, gears are a source of confusion and intimidation. Single-speeds remove that entirely. You’re literally always in the right gear.

There are fewer parts to maintain, fewer things to break, and fewer distractions while riding. That’s a win all around.

Lighter and more efficient

Without all the extra drivetrain hardware, single-speed e-bikes are often a few pounds lighter than their multi-gear counterparts. That might not sound like much, but it’s noticeable when you’re carrying the bike up stairs, lifting it onto a rack, or just maneuvering it through tight urban corners.

Plus, without derailleur drag or chain line inefficiencies, power transfer from your legs (and the motor) to the wheel is just more direct. In stop-and-go city riding, that translates to snappier acceleration and a more responsive feel.

Single-speeds are perfect for belt drives

Here’s where single-speed e-bikes really shine: they make belt drives possible – and belt drives are awesome!

Because belt drives require a tensioned system and can’t easily accommodate derailleurs, they’re a natural fit for single-speed setups. That’s why most belt drive e-bikes are single-speed.

And once you ride a belt-drive e-bike, it’s hard to go back. My daily rider e-bike is a belt drive and I absolutely LOVE it. No grease, no rust, virtually zero maintenance, and whisper-quiet operation. They last way longer than chains and don’t stretch or skip under torque. For commuters or anyone who doesn’t want to think about chain maintenance ever again, belt drives are a dream come true.

tenways cgo800s belt drive electric bike

More affordable and easier to maintain

Fewer components mean a lower price point. That’s true for both upfront costs and long-term maintenance. No derailleur adjustments, no worn-out cassettes, no shift cables to replace. And if something does go wrong, you’ve got way fewer moving parts to troubleshoot.

This makes single-speed e-bikes especially appealing for riders who want an ultra-reliable, low-fuss ride, whether that’s for a daily commute, food delivery shifts, or just errands around town.

In fact, when people tell me they are on an extremely tight budget and want an e-bike recommendation, I tell them to check out the Lectric XP Lite 2.0, which is a $799 e-bike that is too good to cost that little. It’s a single-speed, which is part of what keeps it so lightweight and inexpensive, but it’s so darn good!

Urban-optimized performance

Electric assist makes a huge difference here. On a non-electric single-speed bike, your legs have to make up for the lack of gears. But with a hub motor or mid-drive giving you a boost, that burden is lifted. A well-tuned single-speed e-bike with decent torque can handle city stops and starts just fine, especially in areas with mild inclines or flat routes.

When your commute is five miles of flat pavement and a couple of red lights, you don’t need twelve gears. You need reliability, simplicity, and a bike that gets out of the way and lets you ride.

If I’m being honest, for a lot of multi-speed electric bikes, I end up just leaving them in top gear since I’ll frequently throttle up through the lower speeds quickly. Even with me pedaling along, it doesn’t strain my legs very much because I’m only spending a few seconds at lower speeds and pedal cadences until I’ve reached cruising speed, at which point the higher gear ratio makes sense. A commenter on one of my previous articles about a single speed e-bike said it well, “the power band on an e-bike motor is much wider than the power band of your legs.”

The honest downsides of single-speed bikes

Okay, back to that elephant. Single-speed electric bikes are great, but they are not for everyone. Single-speed e-bikes are not ideal for steep hills or heavily loaded riding. If you regularly carry cargo or ride in mountainous terrain, a geared setup is going to serve you better. And because the gear ratio on a single-speed e-bike is fixed, you may occasionally find yourself ghost pedaling on long descents or pushing harder than you’d like up a rare incline.

They also offer less flexibility overall. Want to tinker with your drivetrain setup or optimize for cadence? Not much room to play with unless you want to swap sprockets, and even then, you’re still stuck with a single gear ratio, albeit a different single ratio.

If you’re one of those riders who just has to have gears, and there’s no shame in that, I’d recommend looking for an e-bike with an internally geared hub. These systems offer many of the same benefits as single-speeds: low maintenance, no exposed derailleur to get knocked out of alignment, and a clean, minimalist look. But they also give you multiple gear ratios hidden inside the rear hub, often allowing you to shift while stopped, which is perfect for city riding with lots of starts and stops. It’s a great middle ground for riders who want the convenience and durability of a single-speed but still need a bit more flexibility to tackle occasional hills or heavy cargo.

But still… they just make sense

Despite those limitations of single-speeds, for the majority of city riders, especially those in flat to mildly hilly urban areas, a single-speed e-bike is not just good enough. It’s better. Lower cost, lower maintenance, cleaner lines, quieter ride, and less to think about.

In a world where electric bikes are becoming more complex by the day, sometimes less really is more. If your daily rides don’t include a mountain pass, you might want to consider going single-speed. You might just find it’s everything you need, and nothing you don’t.

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Oil giant Equinor backs crisis-stricken Orsted as Trump lashes out at offshore wind

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Oil giant Equinor backs crisis-stricken Orsted as Trump lashes out at offshore wind

Picture taken on September 4, 2023 shows windmills at the Nysted Offshore Wind Farm constructed by Danish windpower giant Orsted in 2002-2003 in the Baltic Sea near Gedser in Denmark.

Thomas Traasdahl | Afp | Getty Images

Norwegian oil giant Equinor on Monday pledged to support Denmark’s Orsted with almost $1 billion of fresh capital, backing the beleaguered company amid sustained attacks on offshore wind projects from the Trump administration.

In an apparent show of confidence in the world’s largest offshore wind developer, Equinor signaled its intention to participate in Orsted’s planned 60 billion Danish krone ($9.4 billion) rights issue and said it intended to hold on to its 10% ownership in the company.

Equinor said its strategic support of the rights issue reflects its confidence in Orsted’s underlying business and the competitiveness of offshore wind in the future energy mix. The state-backed Norwegian energy group is the second largest shareholder in Orsted, behind the Danish government.

As part of the move, Equinor said it would nominate a candidate to Orsted’s board of directors.

Shares of Orsted rose 3.6% on the news, before paring gains. The stock price, which is down nearly 90% from a 2021, peak notched a fresh record low last month after the Trump administration ordered the company to halt work on a near complete windfarm.

Equinor shares were last seen 0.2% higher on Monday morning.

Both companies have been navigating challenges around the offshore wind industry, with Equinor saying it is closely monitoring developments in the U.S., and that it intends to remain in dialogue with Orsted.

The wind industry has been a target for U.S. President Donald Trump since his first day in office. The latest blow came on Friday when the U.S. Department of Transportation canceled $679 million in federal funding for a dozen infrastructure projects that would support offshore wind power nationwide.

“Wasteful, wind projects are using resources that could otherwise go towards revitalizing America’s maritime industry,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.

Analysts at RBC Capital Markets said Equinor’s move to support Orsted could be seen as a first step for the company considering the possibility of a potential merger between the two offshore wind portfolios.

“The challenge with participating fully is that the company will effectively increase its net exposure to two 100%-owned US offshore wind projects, neither of which look likely to be farmed down in the near term, and where political support remains uncertain,” analysts at RBC Capital Markets said in a research note.

“The incremental positive is that alongside its maintained shareholding, Equinor will now be having board representation, making the most of a challenging situation,” they added.

Spokespeople for Equinor and Orsted did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

— CNBC’s Spencer Kimball & Ganesh Rao contributed to this report.

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E-quipment highlight: Komatsu PC20E-6 electric mini excavator

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E-quipment highlight: Komatsu PC20E-6 electric mini excavator

Japanese equipment giant Komatsu has added a not-so-giant electric excavator to its growing lineup of battery-powered construction equipment. The new Komatsu PC20E-6 electric mini excavator promises a full day of work from a single charge.

Komatsu says the design of its latest mini excavator was informed by data sourced from more than 40,000 working days of comparably-sized diesel excavators. The company found that, in 90% of its global customers’ mini excavator deployments, these vehicles are in active use for less than 3.5 hours per day.

“This defined the target for the required, reliable working time with the excavator,” reads the Komatsu web copy. “This result makes it possible for Komatsu to offer an attractively priced machine with a performance that exactly matches the requirements.”

Keeping costs down are relatively conservative specs. Komatsu chose to power the PC20E-6 with a 23.2 kWh battery pack sending electrons to an 11 kW (~15 hp), high-torque electric motors. Not exactly super impressive on paper, but the machine has an operating weight of 2,190 kg and enough juice for up to four (4) hours of continuous operation.

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More than enough, in other words, to have completed 90% of of those 40,000 work days the company analyzed.

Getting it done


PC20E-6 electric mini excavator; via Komatsu.

If, for some reason, that four hours’ runtime isn’t enough, an on-board charging option for 230V and 3kW charging power compatible with various plug adapters is standard, with an external DC quick charger for 400V and 12 kW charging as optional. In either case, it won’t be long before the machine is back at work.

To help the later adopters sleep well about their battery-powered investments, the PC20E-6 ships with Komatsu’s E-Support maintenance program, which includes free scheduled maintenance by a Komatsu-trained technician, a 3 year/2,000 hour warranty on the machine, plus a 5 year/10,000 hour warranty on the electric driveline. The company says the battery should last 10 years.

“The Komatsu E-Support customer program is included free of charge with every market-ready electric mini excavator and offers exclusive machine support,” said Emanuele Viel, Group Manager Utility at Komatsu Europe. “The bottom line is that the risk for the end customer is significantly reduced, especially when it comes to exploring the electrification advances in the industry.”

Komatsu hasn’t released official pricing quite yet, but has revealed that the P20E-6 will begin series production this October.

SOURCE | IMAGES: Komatsu.


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Tesla unexpectedly ends contract at Giga Texas, letting go 82 people

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Tesla unexpectedly ends contract at Giga Texas, letting go 82 people

Tesla has unexpectedly terminated a contractor’s contract at Gigafactory Texas, resulting in the layoff of 82 workers who were supporting the automaker’s production at the giant factory in Austin.

MPW Industrial Services Inc., an Ohio-based industrial service provider specializing in cleaning and facility management, has issued a new WARN notice, confirming that it will lay off 82 workers in Texas due to Tesla unexpectedly ending its contract with the company.

Here are the details from the WARN notice:

  • State / agency: Texas Workforce Commission (TWC).
  • Notice date: August 27, 2025.
  • Employees affected: 82
  • Likely effective date: September 1, 2025
  • Context from the filing/letter: layoffs tied to an unexpected termination of a major customer contract (Tesla—Gigafactory Texas, 1 Tesla Road); positions include 61 technicians, 7 team leads, 7 supervisors, 7 managers; no bumping rights; workers not union-represented.

In April 2024, Tesla initiated waves of layoffs at the plant, resulting in the dismissal of more than 2,000 employees in Austin, Texas.

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Since then, Tesla’s sales have been in a steady decline. While the automaker is expected to have a strong quarter in the US in Q3 due to the end of the tax credit, sales are expected to decline further in Q4 and the first half of 2026.

Many industry watchers have expected Tesla to initiate further layoffs due to the situation.

Electrek’s Take

We may be seeing the beginnings of a new wave of layoffs at Tesla, as the automaker typically starts with contractors.

To be fair, Tesla could also potentially end the contract unexpectedly for other reasons, but the timing does align with the need to cut costs and staff ahead of an inevitable downturn in US EV sales.

I think it’s inevitable that we start seeing some layoffs. I think Tesla will have to slow down production in the US to avoid creating an oversupply, especially in Q4-Q1.

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