This is the funky electric bike that got Himiway sued for copying its design
In the highly-competitive world of electric bike design, there are often originators and follow-on imitators. But when Himiway rolled out its new Pony micro e-bike a few months ago, the blurry line between imitation and inspiration seemed quite clear to JackRabbit, who alleges that Himiway ripped off the design of its popular electric micro e-bike.
JackRabbit landed on the micromobility scene around five years ago when it debuted a novel electric two-wheeler design.
Technically more of a “seated scooter” than a traditional e-bike due to the lack of pedals, the JackRabbit sports a bike-like seating posture on a shortened wheel-base and with a much more compact design.
The 24 lb (10.9 kg) weight and high maneuverability of the $999 micro e-bike rivals scooters, but the ride posture offers the comfort and stability of most e-bikes. And with a throttle-operated top speed of 20 mph (32 km/h) and an airline-approved battery allowing riders to fly with the bike, the JackRabbit quickly began racking up fans around North America.
After crowdfunding success and then a subsequent second generation product release, JackRabbit has developed a large and dedicated fanbase of riders who tout the funky little ride’s extreme convenience compared to both e-bikes and e-scooters.
And so you can imagine their dismay when the JackRabbit team awoke to see what looked like a nearly identical copy of the JackRabbit unveiled as part of rival e-bike company Himiway’s 2023 product line announcement less than two months ago.
Comparing the two side by side, it’s easy to see the similarities. While many e-bikes and e-scooters seem to display convergent evolution dictated by common trends in the industry, the JackRabbit went its own way with several key design features. The extremely short wheel base with truncated box tube frame, relatively large diameter wheels (for a small ride like this), folding foot pegs, and stubby handlebars all combine to create the unique look, ride and portability for which JackRabbit has become famous.
Based on Himiway’s apparent copy of much of the design, JackRabbit announced today that it has filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California against Himiway for patent infringement and trade dress infringement. In its complaint, JackRabbit Mobility alleges that the Himiway Pony electric bike infringes the trade dress of its JackRabbit micro ebike under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a) and infringes JackRabbit Mobility’s Design patent, No. D964,218, among other claims.
In the lawsuit, the JackRabbit team explains that they have been able to – “develop a product that, until copied by the Himiway Pony, is visually unlike any other product previously seen and that performs impressively well despite the appearance to some professionals in the bicycle industry that such a design would have performance problems. Up until now, this JackRabbit is the only vehicle that uniquely employs two 20-inch diameter wheels in a short wheelbase configuration and in which the rear wheel is electrically powered, uses fold-down foot pegs instead of operable pedals, utilizes a rectangularly shaped main frame area, and a single rear brake. Extensive ride testing and interviews occurred throughout the inventive process and for several years the JackRabbit was uniquely different from a product impression and performance standpoint.”
To be fair, I can attest to those claims from my own firsthand experience using the JackRabbit. I’ve even seen riders braver than I that have taken the micro e-bike off dirt jumps and performed other extreme stunts that I wouldn’t have believed the bike would have been capable of without seeing it in action.
Suffice it to say that the design may be unorthodox, but it has resulted in a highly capable and extremely portable little ride.
As JackRabbit’s CEO Jason Kenagy explained:
JackRabbit Mobility has taken this action today to protect and enforce its valuable intellectual property rights by bringing suit against those responsible for selling or offering to sell the Himiway Pony, which we believe infringes JackRabbit Mobility’s trade dress and Patent rights. This lawsuit seeks to stop Himiway’s infringement and provides notice to others that we will vigilantly protect our rights and will make use of any and all legal means to do so.
Electrek’s Take
I have very little legal background (i.e. none whatsoever), and so I’ll let the courts decide the final outcome here. But as a fairly well researched and longtime member of the electric bike community who perhaps stands closer than anyone else to the title of having sat on the most e-bikes, it’s quite obvious to me that JackRabbit has a strong case here.
While there are subtle differences in the two designs, most come down to the fact that the JackRabbit simply has more features. In other words, it looks like the Himiway Pony is a JackRabbit copy, but that they just didn’t finish copying some of the cooler parts like the airline-sized battery or the way the handlebars clip onto the side of the frame to fold even more compactly.
I even stated as much in my original article about the Himiway Pony’s unveiling, so surely this won’t come as a shock to anyone.
I’ll be interested to see how this case is resolved, and we’ll be sure to update when we learn more.
In the meantime, check out this video of a skilled rider doing things on a JackRabbit that make my palms sweaty.
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Tesla has released a new navigation feature to make it easier for people towing trailers to find charging stations that can accommodate them.
Towing trailers with electric vehicles is not yet super popular, but it is rapidly gaining in popularity, with more electric SUVs and pickup trucks having increasingly impressive towing capacity.
Tesla has had the Model Y and Model X with a limited but still useful towing capacity for a few years, but with now the Cybertruck and the opening of its Supercharger network to other EVs, including many pickup trucks, the automaker is starting to see more people arriving at its popular charging stations with trailers.
This can be problematic as if you don’t want to block several chargers, you are going to have to unhook your trailer to go charge your vehicle. That’s less than ideal and something gas-powered vehicles rarely have to do at gas stations.
Tesla’s solution has been to build a few “pull in” charging spots at some Supercharger stations that enable you to park with your trailer while charging (via Tesla Motors club):
Tesla is currently building more of these stations, but they are still far and few in between and hard to find.
The automaker is now making it easier to find with a new software update. Now, you can click on a Supercharger station, and it will tell you if it has trailer stalls.
Furthermore, if you are driving on “trailer mode” and searching for charging stations, those with “trailer friendly” stalls will appear at the top:
However, as usual, when traveling long distances in an electric vehicle, you are better off just doing a bit of planning about where to charge ahead of time, especially if you are going to be towing over long distances.
Now that Tesla can distinguish between trailer-friendly and non-trailer-friendly stations, the automaker can hopefully include it in its API for other automakers to integrate into their own navigation systems as many of them can start using the Supercharger network.
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Corporate America is investing in clean energy at record levels, with tech giants taking the top spots for users of solar.
Meta, Google, and Amazon are leading the charge in solar and battery storage adoption, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA’s) latest “Solar Means Business” report.
Meta continues to hold the title of the top solar user in corporate America, with nearly 5.2 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity installed. Meanwhile, Google leads the way in energy storage, boasting 936 megawatt-hours (MWh) of installed battery capacity. Through the first quarter of 2024, these companies have added the most solar capacity to their electricity portfolios, with major players like General Motors, Toyota, and US Steel also climbing the ranks.
The report reveals that US businesses have installed nearly 40 GW of solar capacity both onsite and offsite through Q1 2024, and corporate storage use now exceeds 1.8 gigawatt-hours (GWh). Even more growth is coming: Companies have over 3 GWh of battery storage under contract that will come online in the next five years.
“Some of the largest industrial and data operations in the world continue turning to solar and storage as a reliable, low-cost way to power their operations,” said SEIA president and CEO Abigail Ross Hopper.
Technology companies are at the forefront of this shift as data center growth drives skyrocketing electricity demand. Amazon, for example, leads the US with 13.6 GW of solar procurements under contract, while Meta and Google each have nearly 6 GW under contract – pipelines over 10 times larger than the next company in the rankings.
Target remains the US’s leading onsite corporate solar user for the ninth year in a row, with Prologis, Walmart, Amazon, and Blackstone also making the top five. For the first time, the “Solar Means Business” report is also tracking corporate battery energy storage, with Google, Apple, Meta, Target, Walmart, Home Depot, and Kohl’s among the top 10 companies using storage to meet more of their energy needs in real-time.
Looking ahead, both offsite and onsite energy storage are expected to play a bigger role in corporate renewable energy strategies. Medical companies like Kaiser Permanente are already using batteries to power microgrids, making their facilities more resilient to outages.
Carolyn Campbell, Meta’s head of clean and renewable energy, East, highlighted the importance of expanding solar capacity to match the company’s global operations with 100% clean energy: “We’re thrilled to rank number one for corporate solar procurement in SEIA’s report this year, and we continue to find ways to grow the grid to benefit everyone.”
Target’s vice president of property management, Erin Tyler, said of Target’s 20-year-old solar program, “Through our commitment to solar, we’re well on our way to achieving our corporate goal of sourcing 100% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030.”
The “Solar Means Business” report also looks at the policies driving corporate America’s adoption of solar. Many companies are taking advantage of the Inflation Reduction Act’s long-term clean energy incentives. To further accelerate their renewable energy investments, businesses are calling for improvements in interconnection processes, new community solar legislation, and simpler tax credit monetization.
Read more: A 100-MW solar farm just broke ground in Wisconsin
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Volkswagen Group Africa has officially begun production of a modern electric farm tractor at its multifunctional facility in Gashora, Rwanda in a bid to advance modern, low-emission agricultural initiatives in Africa.
Part of a larger Rwandan initiative called the GenFarm Project, the new VW tractor is part of a “holistic ecosystem” of electrified farming machinery set to be used throughout rural Africa – where liquid fossil fuels are often just as difficult to come by as electricity. The goal is to provide machinery that’s both sustainable and reliable.
“We are growing our footprint in Africa and regard Rwanda as a key growth market. This project demonstrates our commitment to sustainable practices and highlights our ability to provide mobility solutions to the rural community in addition to the urban community currently serviced by our Volkswagen Mobility Solutions Rwanda business,” explains Martina Biene, Volkswagen Group Africa Chairperson and Managing Director. “The GenFarm Project fosters technological innovation and aligns with Volkswagen Group’s strategy to generate meaningful value for both society and the environment through sustainable mobility.”
The GenFarm project will eventually provide mobility services for transportation of goods and people. In June 2023, Volkswagen Group Africa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Rwanda to provide land for the establishment of the GenFarm Project.
The Volkswagen tractors’ electric motor produces 20 kW (about 27 hp), making it about the same size as the Solectrac product (which hasn’t worked out well in the US, it must be said). That motor gets its electrons from a 32 kWh swappable battery. Batteries are swapped/charged at the Empowerment Hub to minimize downtime. DC fast charging isn’t available, but the relatively small, swappable batteries (hopefully) mean that’s not much of a problem.
The GenFarm project hopes the new VW electric tractor will help clean up Rwanda’s agricultural sector, which currently accounts for some 25% of the national Gross Domestic Product.
Electrek’s Take
We’ve talked a lot about the lack of new farmers in America, but the problem is global – especially as western companies, and western ideas about consumerism, continue to spread. Products like this electric tractor from VW will make farming cleaner, quieter, and (hopefully) more attractive to young workers.
SOURCE | IMAGES: VW Group Africa.
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