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In cities around the world, e-bikes, scooters, and motorcycles make up the brunt of the food delivery industry. They serve as the critical backbone, connecting hungry customers ordering app-based food with the restaurants that serve up that savory delight. At least, that’s how it works almost everywhere except North America. So I took a trip to the US and spent a day as a food delivery rider to see what the big hangup is.

If you don’t know me, then hello! I’m an electric bike journalist and YouTuber, or at least that’s my normal day job. But this summer I hung up my keyboard for a day and hopped on an e-bike in South Beach, Miami to try Doordashing during a busy afternoon.

My ride for the day was a Lectric XP 3.0 folding e-bike, outfitted with a cargo package and food delivery bags. It’s a great bike for this type of use thanks to its low entry price (just $999!), its low frame, and its small diameter fat tires that make it easy to cruise rough city streets and hop curbs or potholes when necessary.

I made an action-packed video of my day here, and you should check it out if you want the firsthand experience of food delivery by e-bike (and a little Miami culture at the same time).

micah toll lectric xp 3.0

My goal for the day wasn’t necessarily to make money, though that was a nice side-benefit of the experiment. This was a job, after all (albeit an “independent contractor” job that allows the food app companies to avoid paying a living wage or benefits).

Instead of money, my main goal was to earn experience and insight into what goes into trying to deliver food by e-bike in the US. [And as a quick note: yes, I’m aware e-bike riders are the main delivery method in New York City. Congrats NYC, you’re the only US city that has mainly figured it out. Some other areas like San Francisco are on their way, but for the most part, the US is a laggard in this regard.]

If my goal had been to earn good money on this adventure, I would have been disappointed. More on that in a moment. But since the experience was my aim, I definitely came out as a winner. See what I learned below.

Delivery riders don’t make much money

In total, my day consisted of four and a half hours of food delivery in the bustling South Beach area, covering the lunch rush from 11:00 to 15:30, chosen to (hopefully) maximize profit. Over that period, I delivered nearly a dozen orders from a wide range of restaurants, smoothie bars, cookie shops, liquor stores, and more.

I raked in a total of US $48.75, or roughly $10.80/hour. That included tips, which in fact were a majority of my earnings. For comparison, the minimum wage in Florida where I was riding is $12/hour.

One of the main issues limiting my income was that the app just didn’t seem to give me many offers to deliver food. There were several periods where I was sitting in a “hot spot” as designated on the map in the app, but it took 30 minutes until I received a low-paying offer, such as $3.50 to pick up a McDonald’s order and deliver it. That was the second issue, that the offers simply paid poorly.

Anecdotal evidence from the experience of other delivery workers shows that these food apps often prioritize delivery car drivers over riders, though the exact reason isn’t clear. The apps won’t admit to this practice, but the workers seem pretty confident in its veracity. After talking about my experience with other Doordash delivery workers, several told me that the low-paying orders I got probably sat around for a while on the app getting passed over by delivery drivers until they were finally offered to me.

riding to delivery

Cars don’t make space for you

Where I live in Tel Aviv, bikes share the road. There’s also a large motorcycle and scooter culture, so car drivers are used to seeing two-wheelers on the road, and they generally move over to make space. That’s not the case in Florida, nor much of the US. The only place I’ve seen it in the US is in California, where drivers tend to move over for me when I’m lane-splitting on a motorcycle – though they’re also required to by law.

I found that South Beach in Miami had a decent amount of bike lanes, though they were usually just painted onto the road and thus don’t offer much real protection from cars. A few areas, such as the main beach road, had protected bike lanes separated by physical barriers.

Since I was riding a relatively fast e-bike (up to 28 mph or 45 km/h), I would often slide out of the painted-on bike lane and into the main road, especially when I could travel faster than cars in traffic or other pedal bikes ahead of me in the bike lane. Boy, the drivers did not like that! Forget the fact that the drivers were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic sometimes – those drivers still seem to hate seeing cyclists blow past them on the road.

Fortunately, I didn’t experience aggressive enough driving to the point of fearing harm, though such accounts are sadly numerous among cyclists in the US. It can be dangerous riding a bike with cars in the US, partially due to the lack of proper infrastructure and partially due to drivers just seeming to be surprised at seeing a bike sharing the road with them. And while road rage against cyclists accounts for a smaller segment of the injuries and deaths than good old-fashioned distracted operating of heavy machinery, it’s still an important consideration.

These lurking dangers are something that cyclists simply have to keep in mind. The road is ours too, but we can’t afford the same disregard that drivers have been permitted. We always have to be on the lookout for those that aren’t on the lookout.

doordash delivery rider
As the afternoon Miami sun started baking me, I had to throw on the UV sleeves

Being a bike delivery rider is harder than it looks

I was surprised at just how difficult the job was. I’m a hard worker, I’ve worked plenty of manual labor jobs, I served in the military, and I’m no stranger to getting my hands dirty. But I still have a newfound respect for the job performed by delivery riders.

It’s not just the effort – sure, I was on an electric bike, but I was often pedaling hard to make my battery last as long as possible. I had a second battery but only swapped it after nearly four hours of working. Riding a heavy bike with non-aerodynamic food bags in a city with cars trying to wipe you out isn’t easy. And I did it on a nice, sunny day. Imagine this in the rain, snow, or brutal heat.

Then there’s the mental stress. You’re constantly on your toes for orders. When you get one, you have to rush wherever it sends you, fight your way to the food, then use a crappy map with a vague dot to find your destination for delivery. The address may be there, or it may just be wrong. And you’re being timed with a delivery deadline that is nearly unachievable. If you don’t rush to make it on time, you’ll be dinged with fewer future delivery offers. But you better not break a traffic rule – car drivers love to cite that as a reason for endangering cyclists on the road. “He blew through a stop sign back there, why should I give him space when I pass?”

Then you’ve got to find a way to lock your bike so it won’t get stolen, locate your customer, not get stabbed if it’s a bad part of town, then hurry back for the next order – all for as little as three bucks. Delivery riders on e-bikes have faced an alarming increase in assaults, either for cash or to steal their e-bikes. I always carry protection, and I think it’s a good idea for e-bike delivery riders to consider it while working.

e-bike delivery rider

Another surprise was that I sometimes had to do people’s shopping. Doordash gave me a type of limited credit card when I signed up, and twice I had to shop for things people ordered on Doordash.

The first was at a liquor store, where I had to buy some guy’s booze and then scan his ID when I got to his apartment. The second was a CVS order where someone needed a pink hairbow immediately, so they ordered it for delivery.

CVS stores aren’t known for being easy to find things, let alone a single hairbow. And I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a liquor store in Florida, but booze is apparently the state bird, and these things are like a Costco of alcohol. Good luck finding a specific bottle of obscure champagne and getting on your way by the deadline.

A second battery definitely makes things easier

If you’re going to do delivery work on an e-bike, having a second battery is a good thing to consider. I tried to go easy on my first battery and make it last, but there were times that I throttled at full-speed comfortably knowing I had a spare battery in case I drained my first one.

The downside is there usually isn’t a good place to lock a second battery on a bike – unless you have a dual battery e-bike – and so I kept my spare battery in one of my two food bags. I was constantly worried someone would steal it while I was handing off a delivery, so I always rushed back so as not to leave my bike unattended very long.

lectric xp change battery
Swapping batteries on the side of the road and still trying to make a delivery on-time

You should always tip your delivery rider

If you’re one of those people who says “I shouldn’t tip because their company should pay workers fairly instead of me paying their wages” then you’re 50% correct and 100% a jerk.

Yes, companies should pay workers fairly. But they don’t, at least not in the US. Until then, service workers who are not getting an hourly wage (like food delivery riders) depend on those tips as real income. They’ve got families to feed and bills to pay, just like you.

Over half of my earnings for the day came from tips. Without those tips, I would have earned around $5/hr just from the base pay.

So please tip your delivery rider. I always did before, but now I tip even better. And when it’s raining outside or rockets are falling, I tip delivery riders even better than that.

These people do hard work that is not made any easier by society, road infrastructure, or pretentious jerks wondering why their burger is 2 minutes late from a delivery rider sporting a fresh dog bite.

In conclusion

I still firmly believe two-wheelers are the only correct way to deliver food in cities. I’ve never seen a car deliver food where I live, and it’s the same for every European city I’ve ever ordered food in, with the exception of car-loving Germany.

Why we need slow-moving 4,500 lb (2,000 kg) vehicles to deliver a sandwich in a city is beyond me. In a city environment, food arrives faster on a bike, it requires less energy, and it’s better for the air we breathe. Everyone wins.

But there are some serious problems here too. These riders are doing critical work for very little pay and even less respect. They sometimes risk their lives, yet if they ever get hit by a car, there’s no one offering health insurance to heal them. And on top of all that, the delivery apps seem to prioritize car drivers instead of bike riders, further limiting their ability to earn a living wage.

I’m not saying I have all the answers here. But I do know that work needs to be done to improve this system. And I also know one other thing: now I’m hungry.

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Tesla unveils its LFP battery factory, claims it’s almost ready

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Tesla unveils its LFP battery factory, claims it's almost ready

Tesla has unveiled its lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery cell factory in Nevada and claims that it is nearly ready to start production.

Like several other automakers using LFP cells, Tesla relies heavily on Chinese manufacturers for its battery cell supply.

Tesla’s cheapest electric vehicles all utilize LFP cells, and its entire range of energy storage products, Megapacks and Powerwalls, also employ the more affordable LFP cell chemistry from Chinese manufacturers.

This reliance on Chinese manufacturers is less than ideal and particularly complicated for US automakers and battery pack manufacturers like Tesla, amid an ongoing trade war between the US and virtually the entire world, including China.

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As of last year, a 25% tariff already applied to battery cells from China, but this increased to more than 80% under Trump before he paused some tariffs on China. It remains unclear where they will end up by the time negotiations are complete and the trade war is resolved, but many expect it to be higher.

Prior to Trump taking power, Tesla had already planned to build a small LFP battery factory in the US to avoid the 25% tariffs.

The automaker had secured older manufacturing equipment from one of its battery cell suppliers, CATL, and planned to deploy it in the US for small-scale production.

Tesla has now released new images of the factory in Nevada and claimed that it is “nearing completion”:

Here are a few images from inside the factory (via Tesla):

Previous reporting stated that Tesla aims to produce about 10 GWh of LFP battery cells per year at the new factory.

The cells are expected to be used in Tesla’s Megapack, produced in the US. Tesla currently has a capacity to produce 40 GWh of Megapacks annually at its factory in California. The company is also working on a new Megapack factory in Texas.

Ford is also developing its own LFP battery cell factory in Michigan, but this facility is significantly larger, with a planned production capacity of 35 GWh.

Electrek’s Take

It’s nice to see this in the US. LFP was a US/Canada invention, with Arumugam Manthiram and John B. Goodenough doing much of the early work, and researchers in Quebec making several contributions to help with commercialization.

But China saw the potential early and invested heavily in volume manufacturing of LFP cells and it now dominates the market.

Tesla is now producing most of its vehicles with LFP cells and all its stationary energy storage products.

It makes sense to invest in your own production. However, Tesla is unlikely to catch up to BYD and CATL, which dominate LFP cell production.

The move will help Tesla avoid tariffs on a small percentage of its Megapacks produced in the US. Ford’s effort is more ambitious.

It’s worth noting that both Ford’s and Tesla’s LFP plants were planned before Trump’s tariffs, which have had limited success in bringing manufacturing back to the US.

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Senate votes to send 2 million US jobs to China, increase deficit, energy costs

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Senate votes to send 2 million US jobs to China, increase deficit, energy costs

Senate republicans passed their version of the republican tax bill previously passed by the House. The bill retains most of the bad parts of the House bill, and still kills a slew of tax credits to help working families become more energy efficient, improve US air quality, and boost US manufacturing – instead channeling that money to wealthy elites, increasing the deficit by trillions of dollars along the way.

The Senate bill retains much of the language killing off energy efficiency credits and credits responsible for green manufacturing growth in the US.

The credits were largely established under President Biden as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, which raised hundreds of billions of dollars through tax enforcement on wealthy individuals and corporations and channeled that into energy efficiency credits for American families.

We’ve covered how families could save thousands of dollars on upgrades to lower their energy costs through these credits.

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But these credits aren’t just money-saving for Americans, they also work to boost American manufacturing, due to various provisions in the bill, particularly around the $7,500 EV tax credit which was limited to cars that undergo final assembly in North America.

While loopholes exist, nevertheless the IRA resulted in a massive expansion of American manufacturing, driving hundreds of billions of dollars of investment and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.

So of course, republicans want to repeal this good thing. The republican tax plan currently working through Congress repeals most of the credits established in the IRA which were responsible for this boom in investment.

Republicans in the House narrowly passed their version of the bill in May, which then went to the Senate and was modified. The Senate mostly kept the job-killing language of the House bill, eliminating consumer and business tax credits that helped to spur investment in US manufacturing – specifically the 30D and 25E credits for new & used clean vehicles, the commercial clean vehicle credit, the EV charger credit, and funding to reduce pollution from heavy duty vehicles. Many of these credits have domestic sourcing provisions which encouraged companies to establish US manufacturing facilities.

It’s estimated that the elimination of these credits will kill 2 million jobs by nipping a nascent US EV manufacturing boom in the bud before it really gets started. Many of those jobs will be lost in states whose Senators voted for the bill, like Tennessee and South Carolina which will lose 140k and 135k jobs respectively. All four Senators from those states – Marsha Blackburn, Bill Hagerty, Lindsey Graham, and Tim Scott – voted to put their constituents out on the street.

All told, every Democrat voted against the job-killing, deficit-increasing measure, and three republicans had even a small amount of good sense and joined to oppose the bill – Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. But it managed to pass with a 50-50 vote with tiebreaker from J.D. Vance, the runningmate of the convicted felon currently squatting in the White House (despite being Constitutionally barred from holding office in the US).

Originally, there were additional measures in the bill that seemed to have been included just out of spite. For example, republicans wanted to sell off USPS’ awesome new EVs for scrap, losing billions of dollars in the process and killing the American jobs building them. And republicans wanted to add a punitive tax on EVs while subsidizing gas vehicles even more, increasing the budget shortfall for highways.

Thankfully, neither the USPS or registration tax measures seem to have made it into the final Senate bill, but the main measures killing American jobs have remained.

The Senate bill is, in some ways, worse than the House bill. For example, it eliminates the consumer EV credit 3 months earlier, thus increasing inflation faster for one of the most costly items that a consumer owns – their car. And that won’t just affect EVs – by making EVs $7,500 more expensive, competing gas vehicles will feel less downward pressure on price from the competition of cleaner, cheaper-to-own EVs, and manufacturers could well increase prices.

All of this occurs in the context of a global automotive industry which is rapidly shifting to electrification, currently led by China. China is the number one EV maker in the world, and is rapidly transforming its manufacturing industry to meet the needs of the future.

Domestic EV sales in China have ballooned in recent years. China got a slower start than some countries, having low EV penetration until around 2020, but has gone exponential in recent years. In 2023, ICE car values began to plummet and these cars became unsellable in China, acting as a canary in the coal mine for what will happen to the global auto industry if other automaking countries don’t take EVs seriously.

It’s estimated that this year, China will sell more EVs than the US sells cars overall.

But China is not just the number one EV maker, it’s also the number one car maker. As of last year, China is the top auto exporter in the world, eclipsing Japan which had been the primary holder of that title for decades.

Japan came to international prominence in automotive manufacturing in the 1970s, led primarily by the adoption of technologies that better confronted the environmental challenges of the day, while Western automakers continued to try to sell unpopular, inefficient gas guzzlers. Western governments failed to recognize the threat of growing overseas competition, and responded fecklessly with tariffs that didn’t work. Sound familiar?

And so, the Senate bill, which would strangle the attempt to catch US EV manufacturing up to China’s long-planned dominance of the field, will only serve to reduce potential international competition to the rise of China. China is taking EVs seriously, and the US could have, if it weren’t for the spiteful actions of the republicans.

They’re trying to kill off these manufacturing investments likely to snub one of President Biden’s biggest wins, and as a giveaway to the fossil fuel industry that bribes them disproportionately. But all this will do is harm US manufacturing and make Americans sicker and poorer – and help the US’ geopolitical rivals step into the vacuum left by America’s abdication of the auto industry.

The bill now moves back to the House, where that body will have its chance to vote on the changes made in the Senate bill. The last vote passed by the narrowest possible majority, so it’s possible that the changes will kill the bill in the House, but given the recent history of republicans as wanting to make literally everything worse out of spite, it might take a miracle.

If you happen to want good things to happen to America, instead of bad things, you could perhaps call your Congressperson and ask them to vote against this job-killing, deficit-increasing, inflation-causing bill.


Another thing republicans want to kill is the rooftop solar credit. That means you could have only until the end of this year to install rooftop solar on your home, before republicans raise the cost of doing so by an average of ~$10,000. So if you want to go solar, get started now, because these things take time and the system needs to be active before you file for the credit.

To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.

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. – ad*

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Komatsu scores $440 million electric mining equipment sale in Pakistan

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Komatsu scores 0 million electric mining equipment sale in Pakistan

Barrick Mining Corp. and Komatsu have formalized a $440 million deal that will see the Japanese construction giant begin delivering electric and electrified mining equipment assets to the company’s Reko Diq copper-gold project in Pakistan.

When Komatsu announced its 400-ton PC4000-11E hydraulic mining excavator last year, you knew it was only a matter of time before the world’s largest mining operations — keen to decarbonize — would come knocking.

“The Reko Diq project represents a long-term investment in our future and that of mining in Pakistan, and our partnership with Komatsu is an important part of that vision,” explains Mark Bristow, Barrick president and CEO. “Komatsu equipment has proven its performance and reliability at our operations worldwide, and we are confident in its ability to support our goals at Reko Diq. We look forward to building on this strong relationship as we develop one of the world’s newest greenfield assets.”

Big spending, bigger savings


The equipment package includes haulers, electric rope shovels, mining excavators, and electric wheel loaders
P&H 4100XPC AC electric rope shovel and haul truck, via Komatsu.

The new electric drives featured in the 409 ton Komatsu PC4000-11E (at top) and Komatsu-owned P&H grid-connected electric rope shovel (above) are designed to reduce job site emissions by up to 95%. And, when paired the Komatsu Trolley Truck Assist System, the company says its new hydraulic excavator can offer a 50% savings in the total cost of ownership compared to a similar, conventional Tier 4 diesel drive equipment.

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That 50% number? It’s not just a projection – It’s backed by real-world data. Komatsu says customers using the PC4000-11E in pilot programs have already realized 47% savings in total cost of ownership.

The fully automatic cable drum is designed for easier operation of the electrically driven excavator in backhoe configuration. The automatic winding of the cable makes maneuvering in the pit significantly easier and saves time. Simplified electric machine control enables fast troubleshooting and maintenance of the electrical system and contributes significantly to increasing the overall availability of the machine and helping our customers work toward achieving the highest safety standards.

KOMATSU

“We see ourselves as partners to our customers, supporting and collaborating with them on their journey toward a more sustainable and efficient mining operation,” explains Peter Buhles, Vice President Sales and Service, Komatsu Germany GmbH – Mining Division. “We are looking forward to meeting everyone in person at our booth and showcasing our latest technical solutions for hydraulic mining excavators.”

Barrick Mining’s order includes an undisclosed mix of assets that includes a number of ultra-class haul trucks, mining excavators, rope shovels, and wheel loaders. Barrick will begin receiving the first examples of its new Komatsu mining machinery at its Pakistani operations in early 2026.

Electrek’s Take


Komatsu supports Barrick’s Middle East mining project with $440 million in equipment
980E electric haul truck; via Komatsu.

With billions of dollars on the line and pressure to reduce carbon emissions coming from all sides, it should come as no surprise that the race is on to bring practical, electric, and even autonomous heavy mining equipment to market. At CES 2024, electric equipment from HyundaiBobcat, Volvo CE, Caterpillar, and others garnered lots of attention with their innovative concepts, and analysts like IDTechEx estimate that a single 150-ton haul truck can use over $850,000 worth of fuel in a single year.

Meanwhile, big electric locomotives like the Fortescue Infinity Train can, in certain use cases with high amounts of regenerative braking, operate without any significant cost to recharge. At that point, the reduced maintenance and downtime of BEVs compared to diesel vehicles becomes icing on the TCO cake.

SOURCE | IMAGES: Barrick Mining, via Heavy Equipment Guide.


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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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