Game-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
If I told you that Phoenix-based Lectric eBikes took another popular-yet-expensive electric bike and found a way to produce something that is almost as good but at a fraction of a price, would you even be surprised anymore? That’s become the brand’s defining ethos, and they’ve proven it once again with the release of the Lectric XPedition electric cargo bike.
There are a lot of cargo e-bikes that we could compare side-by-side with the Lectric XPedition. Heck, there are simply a lot of electric cargo bikes out there these days.
But if you ask me, this is a poor man’s Tern GSD.
The Tern GSD is one of the most highly refined, beautifully designed, and expertly engineered electric cargo bikes on the market. It also ranges from $5,000 to $9,000, depending on the version.
At just $1,399, the Lectric XPedition probably costs less than just the Bosch powertrain on the GSD.
If you’re a cynic, then the XPedition was designed to eat the GSD’s lunch. If you’re more idealistic, then the XPedition brings much of the GSD’s convenience (small size, massive cargo capacity, wide range of rider fitment) to the masses at a price that normal folks can afford.
However you see it, the end result is undeniable. This is an electric cargo bike that will change the industry. Period.
Check out my video review of the new e-bike below, then read on for more about the bike!
Lectric XPedition video review
Lectric XPedition – key specs
I’ll have a more in-depth ride experience review coming in a couple days, but for now let’s start with the bike’s specs and my first impressions from several days of riding.
To start with, there are two models: a single and dual battery version.
They’re otherwise identical. They both use a 48V system, have a 750W continuous-rated motor and claim 1,310W of peak power. More on that peak power in a moment.
The single battery version has a 48V 14Ah battery for 672Wh of capacity, while the dual battery version double that to 1,344Wh of battery. That’s enough for 75 or 150 miles (120 or 240 km) of range on pedal assist, respectively. Even on throttle, you’ll probably still get a solid 30 or 60 miles (48 or 96 km) of range.
The Lectric XPedition hits 20 mph (32 km/h) on throttle-only riding but can reach as high as 28 mph (45 km/h) on pedal assist. The large 54-tooth chainring up front and the small 11-tooth sprocket on the 7-speed cassette help achieve a reasonable pedal cadence even at high speeds.
The bike rolls on 20″ wheels and features a custom 3″ urban tire designed by Lectric. The tires come with pre-Slimed tubes, meaning you basically get your first few flat tires for free. You probably won’t know that the self-healing Slime in your tubes saved you, but you ultimately could have several thorns, staples or other road debris in your tires months from now and still be rolling pretty with air in your tires.
Also, those tires may be custom but they’re still a standard size, so you can easily find tubes to fit.
For stopping, the bike includes a pair of hydraulic disc brakes on 180mm rotors. There’s an IP65-rated water-resistant display, a sturdy dual kickstand, a long rear bench, and support for a front rack/basket.
The handlebars fold down to make the bike even shorter, which is perfect for sliding it between the seats in an SUV or minivan.
And get this: the weight rating is insane. Not only is the bike rated for a max rider weight of 330 lb. (150 kg), but the total payload capacity is rated at 450 lb. (204 kg). The rear rack alone is rated for 300 lb. (136 kg) loads.
That means a 150 lb. rider like me can still have a 300 lb. passenger on back and remain within the bike’s weight ratings, as long as neither of us had a big lunch.
What about that power?
So I mentioned that I wanted to talk about that “1,310 watts of peak power” that Lectric claims. I’m going to have call B.S. on that. Allow me to put my rarely used engineer hat on for a second here (hey, I dust off that degree occasionally!).
E-bike power can be calculated as simply as multiplying the electrical voltage by the current (amps). That gives you the electrical power flowing through the system and ignores losses due to inefficiencies, such as how much power actually makes it from the battery to the rubber to the road. But it’s a good enough proxy for e-bike power that it is basically what we use.
The XPedition has a 24A controller, but the 48V battery (like all 48V Li-ion batteries) actually charges to 54.6V when fully charged. So Lectric took that higher number, multiplied it by 24 amps, and got that magically impressive 1,310 W peak power figure. But the problem is that the battery will only ever be at 54.6V for the first fraction of a second coming off a fresh full-charge. It drains throughout the ride, eventually dipping below 40V before cutting out at empty. So we generally use 48V as an average voltage, which gives us a more realistic 48V x 24A = 1,152W. And while the 1.15 kW peak power isn’t that different than the 1.31 kW claimed by Lectric, it’s a measurable difference. Okay, now let’s put that journalist/YouTuber/bike tester hat back on.
Having said all that, now let me tell you this. Whether you use the 1.3 kW or 1.1 kW number, the bike is disgustingly powerful. Like, just grossly powerful. And I mean that in the absolute best way possible. It has so much power that I grin ear to ear when I use it to haul a load or climb a hill. It feels like it can outpull a donkey. On hill climbs, it feels like the tires are filled with helium. The thing simply climbs and climbs. And it does so fast.
Remember when I tested the Lectric XP Trike and took it to a massive hill? I was amazed I could even climb up the hill on the trike. It wasn’t terribly fast, but rolling at 6-10 mph up a hill that was difficult to walk up felt impressive. Well, get this. After that test, I went back with the Lectric XPedition. It climbed that hill and flew past the XP Trike so fast it was just a three-wheeled blur.
So there’s no lack of power here. If anything, I’d recommend springing for the second battery model if you can, just so that you have extra charge to supply that power-hungry motor.
Better pedal assist that almost feels like a torque sensor
An interesting note about the Lectric XPedition’s pedal assist is that even though it uses a cadence sensor, it feels a bit more like a fancier torque sensor’s pedal assist.
There’s still telltale cadence sensor lag when you begin pedaling, but it doesn’t rocket you up to preset speeds at each pedal assist level. That’s because instead of using a speed-based pedal assist programming structure, Lectric used a power-based structure. Essentially, each pedal assist level allows progressively higher power, meaning you can pedal at whatever speed you wish and just enjoy more or less power, not more or less speed.
Lectric eBike’s CEO Levi Conlow explained it to me before I had the chance to test it as his form of cheating. “We like to cheat here. Just like how we cheated a mid-drive into the Lectric XP Trike by starting with a hub motor, we’re basically cheating our way to a torque sensor with this type of pedal assist programming.” Having tried it myself, I can confirm. They cheated, and it works great. It’s just a more comfortable way to use pedal assist as it allows you to ride at your own pace, more like a torque sensor-based system.
It doesn’t do anything to solve the pedal assist lag, but it makes the rest of the pedal assist experience so much better.
Top value, as usual
Value has become Lectric’s calling card. They might as well be named “Bang For Your Buck E-bikes” because that’s exactly what they do. And that’s exactly what you get with the Lectric XPedition.
It’s nowhere near as good as the Tern GSD or other many-thousand dollar bike shop e-bikes out there. It lacks the Bosch mid-drive motors, the quick-release thru-axles, the higher end automatic shifting and ultra powerful brakes, the fancier tail-standing rack, the higher spec hardware, and many of the nicer fit and finish details. It doesn’t come in a rainbow of colors and it doesn’t have a super-optimized weight saving frame (though 68 lb. isn’t bad for a high-power cargo e-bike). But you could also buy a parking space full of XPeditions for the price of one of the e-bikes that it imitates.
And for most people, that’s darn good enough.
The bike is a heavy-hauling, accessible e-bike that comes priced for the common man. And that’s something that the world needs more of.
If you can afford to buy a GSD, do it. It’s an amazing bike and you won’t regret it. But for those that could never justify spending several thousand dollars on an e-bike when money is tight enough as it is, bikes like the $1,399 Lectric XPedition will give you 80-90% of the day-to-day utility. And that’s good enough for me!
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An Angus ranch in southern Oregon has become the test case for a new kind of cattle-friendly solar, hosting RUTE SunTracker’s first commercial project.
The one‑acre, 120‑kilowatt array is the first real‑world installation of RUTE’s patented, cable‑stayed solar tracker designed specifically to coexist with grazing cattle. RUTE supplies the hardware and is also acting as the developer for its first regional cattle‑plus‑solar demonstrations.
What makes the setup different is the clearance. The tracker system provides about 10 feet of headroom, with panel heights reaching up to 16 feet across the array. That gives cattle full access to the pasture underneath while allowing ranchers to keep managing the land as usual. The project is interconnected to Pacific Power’s grid in Jackson County, Oregon.
Projects like this are getting more attention as the solar industry runs into land‑use limits. In the US alone, about 30 gigawatts of new solar capacity installed last year covered roughly 150,000 acres. Meanwhile, the country has close to 120 million acres of cattle pasture, much of it facing rising heat and water stress.
That’s where agrivoltaics come in. By adding solar to working pastureland, ranchers can create a second revenue stream while improving growing conditions for forage through partial shade.
“Within weeks of installing the RUTE canopy, the crew observed leafier forage and increased legume presence inside the array compared to outside,” RUTE president Doug Krause said. “Even on irrigated pasture, direct summer sun can be too intense.”
RUTE’s work has been supported by grants from the US Department of Energy’s American‑Made Solar Prize and the US Department of Agriculture. In October, Oregon State University’s Agrivoltaics Program began quantitative studies at the site to measure pasture production, adding hard data to what ranchers are already seeing on the ground.
Next, RUTE plans to take the project on the road. This winter, the company will present at cattlemen’s association meetings as it looks for ranch partners with onsite electric loads, such as irrigation pivot systems.
“In the near term, our focus is on regional, behind‑the‑meter installations so ranchers and power producers can see the equipment operating in real conditions,” Krause said. “While interconnection timelines are long, these projects allow us to build momentum as we connect with developers and ranches on utility‑scale pipeline.”
Read more: Sunrun + NRG launch a virtual power plant to ease Texas power demand
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Environment
Tesla rental fleet that bought into Elon Musk’s self-driving lies goes bankrupt due to depreciation
Dutch leasing company Mistergreen, known for its “Tesla only” fleet and bold bets on a future of autonomous robotaxis, is reportedly facing bankruptcy. The company’s financial collapse highlights the danger of buying into Elon Musk’s claims that Tesla vehicles would become “appreciating assets”—a prediction that has faced a harsh reality check in the used EV market.
According to reports from Europe, the Dutch Tesla-only car rental firm Mistergreen has wiped out its bondholders and is selling off its operations.
Mistergreen had built its entire business model around the premise of operating a fleet of Tesla vehicles that would not only hold their value but eventually generate revenue as robotaxis.
Instead, the company has been forced to write down millions in fleet value as Tesla aggressively cut new car prices over the last two years, pulling the rug out from under used EV prices, and never delivered on its promise of consumer vehicles becoming robotaxis.
Back in 2019, Elon Musk famously claimed that Tesla vehicles were now “appreciating assets” because of their Full Self-Driving (FSD) capability. He stated:
“I think the most profound thing is that if you buy a Tesla today, I believe you are buying an appreciating asset – not a depreciating asset.”
He even went so far as to suggest that a Tesla Model 3 could be worth $100,000 to $200,000 as a revenue-generating robotaxi. Mistergreen bought into that claim and was essentially a leveraged bet on this exact scenario.
They wrote their annual report in 2022:
Our focus is driven by the fact that Tesla’s electric vehicles are currently the highest quality electric vehicles on the market (in terms of battery quality, software updates, efficiency and range, charging network and speed), their hardware and software are prepared for future self-driving cars, and the quality and range of the Tesla (supercharger) charging network is superior. As a result, there is a significant market demand for Tesla’s and we anticipate that Tesla’s will have better residual value in the future due to the good quality of the Tesla’s currently on the market.
However, as we discussed in an article earlier this year about Elon Musk’s biggest lie, the reality has been the exact opposite. Tesla vehicles have depreciated faster than the industry average, exacerbated by Tesla’s own decision to slash prices to maintain demand and by the fact that it never delivered on its promise that software updates would make its consumer vehicles autonomous without supervision.
At its peak, Mistergreen had a fleet of over 4,000 Tesla vehicles, which is impressive, but it meant that it was hit even harder by the depreciation.
For buyers, a cheaper Tesla is great news. For owners or leasing companies holding thousands of them on their books, with high residual-value guarantees, it’s a death sentence.
Mistergreen had issued bonds to buy the Tesla vehicles, but it hasn’t been able to repay them since last year. It’s unclear how much of investors’ money has been wiped out by the bet, but it is in the tens of millions of dollars.
A couple of Dutch, Belgian, and German leasing companies will purchase the remaining fleet.
Electrek reached out to CEO Florian Minderop and co-founder Mark Schreurs for comments, but we didn’t hear back by the time of publishing.
Electrek’s Take
They believed Elon and they lost tens of millions of dollars worth of investors’ money for it.
We have been saying for years that while FSD is impressive, there’s no evidence that it can reach level 4 autonomy in consumer vehicles. Banking on it turning cars into appreciating robotaxis in the near term is financial suicide.
Musk has been promising “1 million robotaxis by the end of the year” since 2020. It’s now late 2025, and while we have seen progress, we only have a small pilot program in a geo-fenced area in Texas under constant supervision, and certainly don’t have a fleet of appreciating assets.
If you bought a Tesla for $50,000 in 2022 expecting it to be worth $100,000 today, you are likely disappointed. If you bought 4,000 of them with borrowed money, you are Mistergreen.
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Kia is offering generous discounts on its EVs with low finance rates and thousands in savings across its entire lineup.
What deals is Kia currently running on its EVs?
After launching a promotion in the US offering over $10,000 off the EV6, EV9, and Niro EV this month, Kia is now extending the savings overseas.
Kia introduced a New Year’s offer in the UK on Tuesday, offering savings across its entire range, including electric vehicles.
The new deal offers generous finance deposit contributions (FDC) of up to £3,000 ($4,000) toward all EV3 models, plus the EV4 GT-Line and GT-Line S trims. A £1,500 ($2,000) FDC is available toward the EV4 Fastback (sedan), EV5, EV6, EV6 GT, EV9, and EV9 GT. The EV4 Air grade is available with a £1,000 ($1,300) FDC.
Kia is also offering a low 3.9% APR across its entire EV lineup, considerably lower than the 5.9% APR for the new Sportage and the 7.9% APR for the Picanto, K4, Niro PHEV, and Sorento.
And that’s not all. Current Kia drivers looking to upgrade can save an extra £1,000 ($1,300) with the “Kia EV Finance Upgrade” loyalty incentive.
The New Year’s EV deals run from December 17, 2025, to March 31, 2026. Kia is also offering two years of free service on all electric models through its “Discover Your Kia EV” campaign, available on all EV3, EV4, EV4 Fastback, EV5, EV6, EV9, and PV5 Passenger grades and variants.
On Friday, the EV4 and PV5 Passenger became the brand’s first vehicle eligible for the UK’s Electric Car Grant. Buyers can now earn £1,500 ($2,000) off the on-the-road purchase price for the EV4 Air and PV5 Passenger Essential and Plus trims.
Although not exactly a promotion, Kia launched the EV4 as Canada’s most affordable EV this week. Starting at under $40,000, Kia’s electric sedan (fastback) is even cheaper than the tiny Fiat 500e.
For those in the US, don’t worry, Kia is offering some pretty great year-end deals, including over $10,000 in savings across its entire EV lineup.
The 2025 Kia EV6 and Niro EV are available with up to $11,000 in customer cash, while the larger EV9 is listed with $10,500 in customer cash.
If you’re looking to finance, Kia is offering 0% APR for up to 72 months, plus $3,500 APR Bonus Cash on the EV6 and Niro EV. The three-row Kia EV9 is available with 0% APR for up to 60 months and a $3,000 APR Bonus Cash offer. In the US, Kia’s “New Traditions” sales event runs until January 2, 2026.
Kia’s deals are generous, but its sister company, Hyundai, may have it beat. You can lease a Hyundai IONIQ 5 right now for as low as $189 per month. That’s about as cheap as EV leases get right now.
If you’re wondering what deals are available in your area, you can find local offers using the links below.
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