Weird Alibaba: Operate your own electric towing business with this tiny tow truck

Published

2 years ago

January 14, 2023

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It would give a whole new meaning to the term “small business” if you became the owner and operator of a towing company using this electric tow truck. That’s because despite getting with the times and swapping in an electric drivetrain, this tow truck is a bit on the diminutive side. Though there’s a good reason for that — mostly because it’s built for children.

But it’s just too awesome for me to pass up wanting to take my own ride in it! So fortunately for all of us, this little electric tow truck has won a highly coveted prize that it didn’t even know it was in the running for: a spot as this week’s Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week.

First of all, I love the fact that this product even exists.

Like, with all the little ride-on sports cars and off-road Jeeps and other wild or aggressive Powerwheels on the market, there would be kids out there that would rather clock in at 9 AM for a union job towing the other kids around when they break down.

Imagine if as the other neighborhood children were dressing up as Superman or Batman, your kid wanted to be a municipal waste worker for halloween. “Yea, those other kids in my class may think they’re heroes. But it’s the hard working men and women that keep this city’s waste moving orderly and systematically away from our curbs that are the real keepers of the peace.”

So good for you, kids that give up the flashy ride-on Corvette or Barbie’s Dream Car and instead have their hearts set on double clutching that four axle beast down to the rich part of town to pick up a stranded little Timmy when his ride-on Ferrari his parents got him Christmas throws a belt and can’t get service from the exotic powerwheels importer until Monday.

What? I’m not bitter.

And look, I’m not just drooling over this thing because it looks like it’d be fun to drive. I also love the features!

One of the coolest parts about it is that it’s not just a knock-off Powerwheels for your kids to drive around (or for you to “test out” first to make sure it’s safe). It’s also a giant RC car. It comes with a remote control and you can actually drive it around remotely!

Think about how funny it would be to leave that little detail out when you give it to your kids and then surprise them by taking over the controls while they’re behind the wheel. You could have your fun and teach them a valuable lesson about giving in to the convenience of connected technology despite the inherent hacking vulnerabilities that creates.

That girl is tired of your s*** and has a job to do just like everyone else, now get out of the way

The real kicker here though is the price! At just $200, how can you not buy one of these? A dumb ride-on Silverado on Amazon costs more than this and can’t even tow anybody!

To be fair, the weak 12V system in this electric tow truck probably doesn’t have the most oomph either. It’s a far cry from a half ton truck. Hopefully it’s a half dozen pound truck, at least.

Oh, and can we all just appreciate that the little electric motorcycle on back is not only functional, but it’s also a rip-off of a BMW CE-04 electric scooter?

Let’s just hope that if one of my ill-guided readers does decide to get one of these things, that they share the details (and video) with us soon! Me? I’ll keep working on that electric boat I have on the way from Alibaba.

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Environment

Cybertruck backlog runs out, Model S gets stuck, GM hits a sales milestone

Published

7 hours ago

November 5, 2024

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Cybertruck backlog runs out, Model S gets stuck, GM hits a sales milestone

On today’s episode of Quick Charge, Tesla’s Cybertruck is now available in Canada – and, like in the US, there’s no waiting! Plus, we’ve got an “actually” smart summon Tesla that’s actually stuck, GM reaches a sales milestone, and we get a brand-new title sponsor!

Today’s episode is the first with our new title sponsor, BLUETTI – a leading provider of portable power stations, solar generators, and energy storage systems.

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New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonusLucid proves than an EV company can keep its promises while Xiaomi teams up with Chevrolet and Honda to prove – at least conceptually – that records are made to be broken. 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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Environment

This ‘supercharger on wheels’ brings fast charging to you [update]

Published

9 hours ago

November 4, 2024

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This 'supercharger on wheels' brings fast charging to you [update]

Mobile car care company Yoshi Mobility launched a DC fast charging EV mobile unit that it likens to “a supercharger on wheels.”

November 4, 2024 update: Yoshi Mobility will only be charging EVs on the side of the road now – it announced today that it’s selling its fleet fueling operation to EZFill Holdings (Nasdaq: EZFL).

It was originally founded as a direct-to-consumer, mobile fueling business in 2016, but now it’s going to focus on mobile EV charging, virtual vehicle inspections for partners like Uber and Turo, and onsite preventative maintenance.

Bryan Frist, Yoshi Mobility’s CEO & cofounder, said, “By spinning off our fuel business and focusing all of our energy on solving hair-on-fire problems that fleet owners face, we are meeting the changing needs of enterprise customers while making the future of transportation safer, cleaner, and more sustainable.”

May 22, 2024: Yoshi Mobility saw that its existing customers needed mobile EV charging in places where infrastructure has yet to be installed, so the Nashville-based company decided to bring the mountain to Moses.

“We recognized a demand among our customers for convenient daily charging, reliable private charging networks, and proper charging infrastructure to support their fleet vehicles as they transition to electric,” said Dan Hunter, Yoshi Mobility’s chief EV officer and cofounder.

The company says its 240 kW mobile DC fast charger, which can turn “any EV” into a mobile charging unit, is the first fully electric mobile charger available. It can provide multiple charges in a single trip but doesn’t detail how they charge the DC fast charger or who manufactured it. (I asked for more details, and they replied that they won’t disclose client names or the manufacturer of its DC fast charger yet.)

Yoshi is launching its mobile charger on two GM BrightDrop Zevo 600s and will introduce additional vehicles throughout 2024. It aims for full commercialization by Q1 2025. (I wonder if the Zevo 600 ever charges itself? Yes, I asked that too.)

Yoshi Mobility says it’s already deployed its EV charging solutions to service “major OEMs, autonomous vehicle companies, and rideshare operators” across the US. Its initial customers are made up of large EV operators managing “hundreds” of light-duty vehicles requiring up to 1 megawatt of energy per day that don’t yet have grid-connected EV chargers. I’ve asked Yoshi for details of who it’s working with, and will update if they share that info.

The company says pricing is based on location and enterprise charging needs. Once under contract for service, the service will be deployed to US-based customers within 10 days.

To date, Yoshi Mobility has raised more than $60 million, with investments from GM Ventures, Bridgestone, ExxonMobil, and Y-Combinator in Silicon Valley.

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Environment

Marqeta shares plunge more than 30% on big forecast miss

Published

9 hours ago

November 4, 2024

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Marqeta shares plunge more than 30% on big forecast miss

Marqeta celebrates its initial public offering at the Nasdaq on June 9, 2021.

Source: The Nasdaq

Marqeta shares tumbled more than 30% in extended trading on Monday after the company issued weaker-than-expected guidance for the fourth quarter.

Here’s how the company did compared with Wall Street estimates, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Loss per share: 6 cents adjusted vs. a loss of 5 cents expected
Revenue: $128 million vs. $128.1 million expected

While third-quarter results showed a slight disappointment on the top and bottom lines, Marqeta’s forecast for the current period was more concerning.

The payment processing firm said revenue in the fourth quarter will increase 10% to 12% from a year earlier. Analysts were looking for growth of more than 17%, according to LSEG.

Marqeta, which primarily functions as a card-issuing platform, attributed the guidance miss to “heightened scrutiny of the banking environment and specific customer program changes.” The company has been struggling for a while, and its stock is now down more than 80% from its peak in 2021, the year it went public. The stock was down 15% for the year prior to the report.

Total processing volume of $74 billion was up more than 30% from a year earlier. Net revenue and gross profit were up 18% and 24%, respectively.

Marqeta’s digital commerce business sells payment technology designed to detect potential fraud and ensure that money is properly routed. It also issues customized physical cards that look like a credit or debit card that can be used for point-of-sale purchases.

The company has been trying to break into the buy now, pay later business with a recently launched product called Marqeta Flex. The service brings BNPL from lenders such as Affirm or Klarna to any credit card wherever Mastercard and Visa are accepted.

“It’s an orchestration layer, but it’s tied to issuing and processing and disputes and chargebacks,” CEO Simon Khalaf told CNBC at Money2020 in Las Vegas last week. “So it is not actually a Wild West in BNPL. It is actually very well established. And there is a reason why a lot of people are jumping to it.”