I tested the Tromox MC10 electric trail bike. It’s a Sur Ron/Talaria killer

Published

12 months ago

May 14, 2024

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On a recent trip to China where I met with several micromobility companies, I was fortunate enough to spend an afternoon with the electric motorcycle maker Tromox. The team gave me the chance to be one of the first Westerners to ever take a test ride on Tromox’s new MC10 TrailX.

Ahead of the bike’s upcoming US market release, I can already tell you that this thing is a blast to ride and is likely to send shockwaves through the Sur Ron and Talaria communities for its combination of performance and packaging, offering high power riding in a small-format bike.

Tromox brought me out to a motocross track to test the MC10 TrailX, which is already beyond the target scope for this bike.

Keep in mind, this is not a dirt bike. Sure, it’s got a powerful 12.5 kW peak-rated motor and four-bar rear suspension matched by an inverted front fork. But this bike isn’t really intended for flying through the air; it’s meant for riding trails and off-road exploring. (There’s also a street version designed for commuting at speeds up to 90 km/h or 56 mph, but I tested the off-road model).

So it seems the thinking was that if it could handle a jump park, it could handle just about any more “normal” type of riding that recreational and enthusiast riders are likely to put it through on local trails or backwoods exploring.

And by the way, this is one of those test rides that you’re definitely going to want to see, not just read about. Check out my first ride video below, then continue on for the rest of the article!

So there I was, a street rider, all strapped in and ready to roll in unfamiliar territory.

To be fair, I actually already own a Sur Ron, and it’s an awesome bike for backyard hooliganism. But I’m not a motocross rider by any stretch of the imagination.

If either of my tires leaves the earth on a normal day, something has officially gone off-script. I’m a street rider, through and through, more comfortable rubbing elbows with semi-trucks than getting sideways against a soft berm. But I’m not going to say no to a chance to get down and dirty with a bike like this, lack of experience be damned.

And so as the first drop into the track loomed before me, I said “screw it” and rolled on the throttle.

The bike feels only slightly larger than my Sur Ron, but the power is much more potent. It packs around twice the peak power and it comes on quickly. In fact, I didn’t use full power mode very much since I could easily spin the rear tire in that loose dirt.

I’m not sure what the actual range is, but keeping the bike in a lower power mode offers plenty of dirt-slinging torque while helping increase the run time. Though with a pair of 72V 30Ah batteries, it has nearly twice the battery capacity of my Sur Ron anyway, so I wasn’t worried about run time. It’s like carrying a spare battery to the trails with you, except that it’s already loaded in next to your first battery and connected – no stopping and swapping required.

Someone had played around on the bike before I showed up, and yet even after all of my riding, the bike still had around half a charge remaining when I left at the end of the day.

As I mentioned, I’m not a motocross rider and so I have no idea how to hit jumps. I know just enough to be aware that there is a proper way to do it, and that what I was doing wasn’t it.

After timing a few wrong and landing on my front tire with enough force to throw my chest way further out over the bars than it has any business doing, I decided I should probably stick to my original wheels-on-the-ground approach.

But the good news is that I can tell you the suspension felt great even when I asked it to do things a better rider wouldn’t have needed it to do.

Even trying to keep the rubber side down, I could still enjoy the hill-climbing power of that central motor, which whipped me up the climbs as if they were flat ground. I was sure the speed would noticeably suffer when climbing up the jump ramps more slowly to avoid going airborne, but the Tromox MC10 just wanted to keep climbing. I was amazed that the power didn’t seem to taper off.

If your normal stomping grounds include lots of hill climbing, this is the bike to do it on.

On the berms, I definitely wasn’t going horizontal, but I tried to lean in as much as I comfortably could. The bike felt confidence-inspiring, hugging the bumps and ruts as I whipped around.

The track was quite rutted out when exiting several of the sharp turns, likely because it had been raining off and on the entire time. But the suspension soaked up those ruts and kept me on my line nicely.

As I mentioned, this type of riding is beyond the scope of what the MC10 TrailX is actually designed for. With a 90 km/h (56 mph) top speed and 4.3 kWh of battery, it’s really more of a trail bike designed for fire roads, single track, dirt paths, and other adventure-style riding.

The way its suspension handled the track showed me that trail riding would be a piece of cake for the MC10. And with the power it had for climbing up steep jumps, it will have no problem with real-world hill climbing, which is likely to be significantly less steep than what it was doing on such loose terrain I was riding on.

Combined with the comfortable sizing and refreshing new styling that we haven’t seen in this class. of bike before, I think the MC10 TrailX is likely to do well with recreational and enthusiast riders.

It’s not yet clear what the pricing will be when it enters the US market, and that will, of course, be the deciding factor for how well it will sell compared to all of the Sur Rons and Talarias already on the market. But just in a performance-based challenge, I can tell you it’s going to have no problem against the usual suspects.

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Perplexity partners with PayPal for in-chat shopping as AI race heats up

Published

1 hour ago

May 14, 2025

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Perplexity partners with PayPal for in-chat shopping as AI race heats up

Dado Ruvic | Reuters

Perplexity is extending its bet on chat-powered shopping, aiming to stand out in the crowded generative artificial intelligence market against OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.

The company said on Wednesday that it’s partnering with PayPal to let users make purchases directly in chat. U.S. customers will soon be able to book travel, buy products, and secure concert tickets without leaving the platform.

Payments will be completed in the chat with PayPal or Venmo, and PayPal will handle processing, shipping, tracking, and invoicing. Purchases will be completed with one click, with the help of the payment company’s passkey checkout.

“Perplexity wants to be wherever users are asking questions and making decisions,” said Ryan Foutty, Perplexity’s vice president of business. “Our vision for assistive AI is that everything just gets better and easier for people — wherever they are and however they prefer to make decisions.”

1 in 4 cars sold in 2025 will be EVs, and that’s just the beginning

Published

8 hours ago

May 14, 2025

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1 in 4 cars sold in 2025 will be EVs, and that's just the beginning

BYD's-largest-car-transport-ship — BYD Shenzhen, the world’s largest car transport ship (Source: BYD)

More than 1 in 4 cars sold around the world in 2025 are expected to be EVs, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). And if EVs stay on track, they could make up over 40% of global car sales by 2030.

The IEA’s Global EV Outlook 2025 report, released today, shows the electric car market is still charging ahead, even with some bumps in the road. Despite economic pressures on the auto sector, EV sales hit a record 17 million in 2024, pushing their global market share past 20% for the first time. That momentum carried into early 2025, with EV sales jumping 35% in Q1 year-over-year. All major markets saw record-breaking Q1 numbers.

China continues to lead the EV race by a wide margin. Nearly half the cars sold there in 2024 were electric. That’s over 11 million EVs – more than the entire world sold just two years earlier. EV adoption is also booming in emerging markets across Asia and Latin America, where sales shot up by more than 60% last year.

In the US, EV sales grew about 10% year over year, with electric vehicles now making up over 10% of all new car sales. Meanwhile, Europe’s EV sales hit a plateau. As government incentives started to taper off, the continent’s market share held steady at around 20%.

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“Our data shows that, despite significant uncertainties, electric cars remain on a strong growth trajectory globally,” said IEA executive director Fatih Birol. “Sales continue to set new records, with major implications for the international auto industry.”

One of the main drivers is lower prices. The average cost of a battery electric car dropped in 2024, thanks to increased competition and falling battery prices. In China, two-thirds of EVs sold last year were cheaper than their gas-powered counterparts, and that’s without subsidies. But in markets like the US and Germany, EVs are still pricier up front: around 30% more in the US, and 20% more in Germany.

Still, EVs win when it comes to operating costs. Even if oil drops to $40 per barrel, it’s still about half as expensive to charge and run an EV at home in Europe than to drive a gas car.

The report also notes the growing role of Chinese EV exports. About 20% of all EVs sold globally last year were imported. China, which produces over 70% of the world’s EVs, exported 1.25 million of them in 2024. These exports have helped push down prices in emerging markets.

And it’s not just electric cars that are on the rise. Electric truck sales jumped 80% globally last year, now making up nearly 2% of the truck market. Most of that growth came from China, where some heavy-duty electric trucks are already cheaper to run than diesel, even if the upfront cost is higher.

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April’s global EV sales were up 29% compared to a year ago, once again led by China

Published

13 hours ago

May 13, 2025

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April's global EV sales were up 29% compared to a year ago, once again led by China

Global research firm Rho Motion has shared its monthly global EV sales report for April, which details continued long-term growth. While global EV sales are down compared to March 2025, the year-over-year tally remains strong, despite uncertainty amid the threat of tariffs and trade wars.

Since merging with Benchmark Mineral Intelligence last June, Rho Motion has become one of the go-to platforms for data surrounding critical mineral and energy transition supply chains. Its monthly updates on market intelligence, including prices and sales data, are must-see research every time they’re published.

This month’s report is no different.

In March 2025, we reported that EV sales worldwide had surged to 1.7 million units, bringing the total to 4.1 million units for Q1. March marked a 40% increase compared to February 2025, and a 29% increase year-over-year.

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For April 2025, Global EV sales stumbled slightly compared to the prior month, but held steady in YoY growth.

April global EV sales fall MoM but rise YoY

According to Rho Motion’s latest report, global EV sales for April 2025 were 1.5 million units, bringing the year-to-date tally to 5.6 million NEVs (BEVs, PHEVs, and LDVs). April sales fell 12% compared to March 2025, but matched the previous month’s year-over-year growth at 29%.

Here’s how those 2025 global EV sales breakdown by region, compared to January to April 2024:

Global: 5.6 million, +29%
China: 3.3 million, +35%
Europe: 1.2 million, +25%
North America: 0.6 million, +5%
Rest of World: 0.5 million, +37%

As has been the case with every Rho Motion report we cover, China continues to lead the world in EV adoption despite sales dropping 9% month-over-month. Having recently visited the Shanghai Auto Show alongside some OEM visits in Hangzhou, I can see why adoption is moving more quickly. The number of available makes and models at affordable prices is incredible, and the technology you get for your money is downright staggering.

Even amongst ongoing talks of tariffs between global superpowers, including EV powerhouse China, EV sales continue to grow. Per Rho Motion data manager, Charles Lester:

Ongoing tariff negotiations are dominating talk in the electric vehicle industry but quietly, domestic manufacturers in China and the EU continue to perform well and grow market share. The EU is certainly the success story for EV sales in 2025 so far, with emissions targets lighting a fire under the industry to accelerate the switch to electric, they have grown the market by a quarter in the first third of the year. In China, that year on year sales increase is even greater at 35%, spurred on by the vehicle trade in scheme.

Europe, whose adoption numbers stumbled in 2024, has seen steady growth in EV adoption in 2025, landing second to China in sales growth last month (a 25% increase). This increase has been fueled by the increasing number of BEV and PHEV imports to the region from China from brands like BYD, ZEEKR, NIO, and XPeng.

North American sales have only grown by 5% in 2025, with Mexico leading the pack. The rest of the global EV market saw a 37% increase in sales, but those numbers only accounted for about half a million units.

Next time anyone tells you EV adoption is slowing down, you can just send them this data, because it is quite the contrary. Global EV sales continued to grow in April, and that trend should continue through 2025 and beyond.

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