JackRabbit XG review: Testing the bigger and bolder little e-bike
The JackRabbit XG is basically the stronger, bigger brother of the famous little JackRabbit micro e-bike, and I had the chance to test one out to see how well a tiny little EV could work for the average commuter. As it turns out, little is big these days!
JackRabbit is well known in the micromobility industry for its pint-sized urban runabouts. The brand’s diminutive 25 lb mini two-wheelers look like a micro take on a more or less conventional e-bike, yet despite their small size they still offer 20 mph speeds and enough range for most urban riders.
But just because the brand has long focused on being as small and lightweight as possible doesn’t mean they don’t also have aspirations for power and features. That was the idea behind the JackRabbit XG: take everything people know and love about a tiny JackRabbit and hotrod it into even more “oomph” in a mini package.
Check out what it’s like to throw a leg over one of these fun little rides in my video review below. Then keep on reading afterward for even more!
JackRabbit XG video review
JackRabbit XG tech specs
- Motor: 500W geared rear hub motor
- Top speed: 32 km/h (20 mph)
- Range: 32+ km (20+ mi)
- Battery: Dual 151 Wh batteries, plus the option to replace with larger RangeBuster batteries
- Max load: 125 kg (275 lb)
- Bike weight: 14.5 kg (32 lb)
- Brakes: Front and rear mechanical disc brakes
- Tires: 20″ x 2.4″ in front and rear
- Price: $1,749
- Extras: Thumb throttle, rotatable handlebars, foldout foot pegs, bell, LCD display, kickstand, dual battery slots, optional fenders and other accessories
What is it for?
Since the JackRabbit XG is not an e-bike in the traditional sense (lacking functional pedals in favor of foot pegs), you’re obviously not going to choose a JackRabbit if you’re looking for exercise. Instead, this is purely a get-around-town type of ride, and probably also a have-some-fun-while-doing-it ride, too.
I’ll call it a micro e-bike since that’s how JackRabbit classifies it, but you wouldn’t be wrong to call it seated electric scooter, either.
Compared to the typical standing electric scooters we usually think of, the JackRabbit XG has a lot of major advantages. The wheels are bicycle-sized, giving it a much better ride over rougher terrain and streets with pot holes. The seat and handlebars will also feel more familiar to anyone with bike experience. Yet despite ‘feeling’ like a bike, it has the lightweight portability of a scooter, truly offering the best of both worlds.
I really like the sideways spinning handlebars since they can rotate 90 degrees and shrink the width of the JackRabbit to just 7-inches (when you also fold up the foot pegs).
It only takes a few seconds and suddenly the micro e-bike is extra micro. With the bars turned, it would easily hide away under a twin bed, such as in a college dorm room.
It could also be stashed behind a couch or in the back of a closet without taking up much room for itself.
The major upgrades
I’ve spent a lot of time on JackRabbit’s smaller and more affordable micro e-bike, so it was interesting for me to compare the JackRabbit XG’s bigger size and increased features.
The biggest upgrades are likely the size of the frame and the dual battery slots.
The bigger frame gives you more space to stretch out by putting the handlebars a bit further out in front of you, and also makes the bike more robust to allow a higher weight rating of up to 275 lb.
The dual battery slots mean the bike comes with an out-of-the-box range of 20 miles instead of 10 miles.
For riders who want even more range, one or two RangeBuster batteries seen above can be swapped into those battery slots, giving riders up to 48 miles of range (or even more, if you bring the original batteries with you in your pocket or bag!).
It’s important to note that the batteries are also UL-compliant, which is critical these days for ensuring battery safety. And if you stick with the smaller batteries, their sub 160Wh rating means you may be able to bring them on many domestic airlines in your carry-on luggage (but you should check with the airline first, as batteries between 100Wh and 160Wh sometimes require advance permission).
Last year I flew through several cities with my JackRabbit OG, and its 151 Wh battery stayed safely with me in my carry-on the whole time!
But the dual battery slots and larger frame are really just scratching the surface of all the upgrades. There’s a lot more here than meets the eye.
The new display is much nicer to use, finally giving more data than the original simple LED dot display, and it now gives controls for things like LED lights.
Speaking of those lights, they’re finally available to help keep you illuminated at night for others to see you on the road! And since they run off the main battery, you don’t have to worry about charging up separate LED light batteries.
The bigger 500W motor is another nice addition since it allows for better acceleration and also more powerful hill climbing. The speed is still limited to 20 mph, but that’s fine by me. With a wheelbase this short, you probably don’t want to be hitting Class 3 speeds anyway. I don’t have any big hills around me, but I imagine bombing down a huge hill on this thing at well over 20 mph would be a bit iffy.
The new dual brakes offer more powerful stopping as well, which is nice when you have a more powerful motor. You never want to have more ‘go’ then you have ‘stop’.
There are even more interesting accessories you can add now, such as higher handle bars and a rear strut fender for keeping the puddle spray off of your back.
Basically, it feels like a lot of thought went into the new designs! Since this isn’t some out-of-the-catalog white labeled e-bike, they likely had to design a lot of this stuff from scratch without the benefit of dozens of other e-bike companies using the same parts first.
One change that doesn’t thrill me though is replacing the keyed lock for the batteries with a thumb screw lock.
On the one hand, it sure does make it easier to swap your battery out when you want to. On the other hand, it sure does make it easier for a thief to steal your battery if you lock your bike outside and don’t bring the batteries in with you.
Of course when the batteries are this small, you can easily put them in your bag to bring them inside. But I still would like the option to lock them so I’m not obligated to bring them in with me all of the time.
Fortunately, JackRabbit does give us a keylock accessory on their site if you want to swap out the thumb locks, but you’ve got to pony up an additional $25 per lock.
But what about the price?
Yep, here’s the kicker. Oh lordy, it’s priced at $1,749. That’s some serious dough!
I had gotten so used to the $999 price of the smaller JackRabbit OG that the significantly higher cost of the XG really slaps you across the face.
On the one hand, JackRabbit doesn’t get the benefit of using lots of pre-existing bike parts that they can simply select out of catalogs. Sure, some things like tires and motors are the same. But many other parts like the frame, handlebar mechanism, and unique batteries all have to be custom made for JackRabbit. So I understand that they aren’t getting the same economies of scale that bring us ultra-cheap electric bikes.
But at the same time, I know there are people out there who compare watts per dollar as their main metric, and JackRabbit will never win there. If you’re looking for the fastest or longest range ride for the least money, this ain’t it. You can leave now.
If you’re still here, then you obviously are open to other features and advantages of specific e-bikes, and that’s exactly what JackRabbit is about. Sure, you pay a premium, but you get a super lightweight and easy-to-ride micro e-bike that folds up to a mere 7 inches wide. For some people, that’s worth the premium. And if it’s not, then I still recommend checking out the OG and OG2 models from JackRabbit for $999 and $1,299. You don’t get dual batteries or some of the other features, but the prices are better and you still get a lot of the benefits found in the XG like the small size and peppy speed.
If you’ve got the cash though, the JackRabbit XG is a seriously fun ride and offers way more features than I ever expected from such a small, minimalist little e-bike.
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With the launch of the first-ever Class 8 vocational EV in the North American market, PACCAR Kenworth is raising the battery-electric bar and underscoring just how far the market has come since the Tesla Semi made its debut nearly a decade ago.
When Tesla pulled the wraps off its all electric Semi truck all the way back in November of 2017, the rest of the industry was hardly thinking about BEVs. Nearly a decade later, the world is still waiting for the Semi to begin regular production, and PACCAR is launching its second generation of HDEVs with the debut of this, the all-new Kenworth T880E vocational truck.
“The Kenworth T880E marks a groundbreaking milestone in Kenworth’s history as we bring to market the first Class 8 battery-electric solution built for vocational applications,” explains Kevin Haygood, Kenworth assistant general manager for sales and marketing. “The T880E is engineered to meet the evolving needs of operators and vocational fleets while still providing the durability, reliability and customization our customers expect.”
The new electric K-whopper is motivated by PACCAR’s in-house ePowertrain platform, capable of putting up to 605 hp and 1,850 lb-ft of peak torque to work, while delivering the same levels of drivability and dependability fleets expect from a Kenworth – but power and torque are only part of the T880E’s work-ready résumé.
Open to work
In addition to a stout, Class 8 electric chassis fitted with heavy-duty Kenworth brakes and axles, the T880E’s central drive eMotor allows for significant wheelbase flexibility so fleet buyers can spec out exactly the machine they need to get the job done. The T880E was also designed to enable lift axle installations from trusted Kenworth upfitters for a vocational-friendly BEV integration.
Additionally, the T880E features a wide selection of factory-installed options that include both high- and low-voltage ePTO (electric Power Take Off) ports, mechanical ePTOs, and the same wide array of body configurations as the ICE version.
Speaking of the ICE version, the electric T880E also can also be had in the same set-back front axle and set-forward front axle configurations with the same multi-piece hood construction. Inside the cab, the latest in driver-focused technology includes the Kenworth SmartWheel and a new 15″ DriverConnect digital touchscreen. Dash and vocational features like RAM Mounts and factory-installed PTO switches are available. The T880E is also offered with Kenworth ADAS packages for customers interested in DigitalVision Mirrors, Bendix Fusion, and Lane Keeping Assist.
It’s so big, you guys
The T880E was on static display at last week’s ACT Expo in Anaheim, California. Check with your local Kenworth dealer for availability.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Kenworth.
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The tire-blistering SU7 Ultra has been the Xiaomi brand’s flagship super sedan since its launch, but a controversial software setting has limited the car to “just” 900 hp in regular driving – resulting in an outcry from owners who ponied up for the big boy numbers. With its latest software update, that missing 648 hp is back on tap!
The SU7 Ultra made waves throughout the performance car world when a bright yellow striped example lined up alongside a white quarter mile king, the 1,000+ hp Tesla Model S Plaid, and promptly smoked it.
That wasn’t all. A preproduction SU7 Ultra prototype lapped the legendary Nürburgring circuit in just 6 minutes and 46.874 seconds, firmly stamping the 1,500+ hp Xiaomi’s alphanumeric into the track’s record books with a time nearly fifteen seconds quicker than a Rimac Nevera or, on the ICE front, either a Corvette ZR1, Viper ACR, or Porsche 918 (take your pick).
It’s hardly any wonder, then, that the customers who signed up – in droves, too – were disappointed to learn that the SU7 they were allowed to buy had been neutered by the safety nannies to the tune of nearly 650 hp. (!)
We’re so back
The outrage from SU7 Ultra owners was immediate. And, facing mounting pressure online and on social media, Xiaomi ultimately decided to withdraw the performance-limiting features while acknowledging the need for more transparent communication about future software updates they messed up, saying in a statement, “we appreciate the passionate feedback from our community and will ensure better transparency moving forward.”
So, rich people can rocket themselves down the road in 9 second hypercars again and all is right with the world. A happy ending – but one that sort of illuminates a fresh set challenges for automakers peddling “software-defined vehicles” to a market that still thinks of their cars as very much hardware defined products.
That’s evidenced by the resistance to pay for features by subscription and complaints by more informed customers that “software locked” range and convenience features just subsidize the cost of more expensive trim levels and pad profits for manufacturers and suppliers.
The new reality is playing out in real time now, and the Jeff Bezos-backed $20,000 electric compact pickup from Slate Auto is going the other way entirely – time will tell whether more, or less tech is the answer.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Xiaomi, via CarNewsChina.
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Tesla (TSLA) has started offering reduced interest rates on the new Model Y in the US — this equates to a direct discount on the brand new vehicle that was supposed to spark Tesla’s demand back.
The automaker has announced “1.99% APR or $0 Due at Signing available for well-qualified buyers” on the new Model Y in the US for the first time:
This amounts to a direct discount worth a few thousand dollars. It is the first widely available discount on the new Model Y coming just weeks after the cheaper non-Launch Edition launched in the US.
It follows a $2,000 direct discount that Tesla offered to early Model Y owners last week.
These discounts and subsidized financing point to soft demand for the updated best-selling vehicle in the US. Tesla just delivered a disastrous first quarter, which it mostly blamed on the Model Y changeover, resulting in lower inventory.
However, industry watchers, including Electrek, noted many signs that the Model Y changeover was not the only issue. Tesla added significantly to its inventory in the first quarter, and the wait times for the new Model Y were extremely short.
Now, the discount weeks after launching the new Model Y confirm the soft demand in the US.
It’s not as bad as Europe and China, where Tesla has already been offering 0% financing on the new Model Y for weeks.
Electrek’s Take
I think it’s clear by now: the new Model Y is not coming to save Tesla.
Let’s be honest: It will still be a significant vehicle program by volume. It just won’t help Tesla return to growth this year.
The RWD Model Y is still coming and has a chance to help in the US. It is already available in China, and it’s not helping Tesla much there, but that’s in a hyper-competitive market, especially at lower prices where the RWD Model Y operates.
Tesla’s performance in Q2 in China will be interesting since it is basically back to its regular lineup for the whole quarter.
The US appears to have been Tesla’s least affected market, but Q3 will be the real test with the full lineup and no backlog of demand for new Model Y.
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