The PNY Ponie P2, an electric cargo motorcycle built for serious utility work, has just completed a wide-ranging pilot program, and the results are in. After being put through the paces in everything from food delivery to mail service and even ambulance duty, the Ponie P2 seems more than ready for the demands of the modern urban fleet.

Now the bike is undergoing even further refinement ahead of a larger expected rollout.

The pilots were conducted across several use cases, with partners testing the Ponie P2 in real-world delivery and emergency scenarios. Food couriers praised the bike’s nimbleness and acceleration in dense traffic. Mail carriers appreciated the large rear cargo box and underseat storage. And perhaps most impressively, the Ponie P2 served as a nimble ambulance motorcycle for navigating congested cities where traditional vehicles often fall short, helping reach emergency situations faster while carrying a wide range of lifesaving gear normally requiring a full ambulance to carry.

Capable of highway speeds and with two large storage trunks totalling 400 L (14 cubic feet) of cargo space, the Ponie P2 offers something of a Goldilocks option between cumbersome electric vans and lightweight but cargo-limited electric bicycles. The Ponie P2 has the speed to take shortcuts on faster urban highways and carry significantly more cargo, but can still wiggle down narrow city alleyways and take advantage of lane filtering, cutting urban trip time in half or better compared to four-wheeled vehicles.

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The summer pilot programs helped the company verify the design and gain real-world insight into areas where the vehicles could be improved.

“We got honest and invaluable feedback,” said PNY CEO Netzah Sadeh. “We listened closely to both the great feedback and the areas needing improvement. We heard the calls for enhanced seat comfort for long shifts and the need for a fast-charging option to support two shifts a day. I want to assure our riders that we are on it; their insights are already shaping the next iteration of the Ponie P2 as we move forward.”

Electrek had the chance to check out the vehicles at EICMA last year in Milan as well as test ride them in Tel Aviv ahead of the pilot, and they’re the real deal (see the clip below). With speeds of up to 100 km/h (62 mph) and various configurations for cargo and passenger use, they’re a unique solution for urban transport that sits somewhere between an electric scooter and an electric van.

The Ponie P2’s modular design makes it adaptable for a wide range of professional uses, and its all-electric drivetrain keeps running costs low while helping cities cut emissions.

With strong results from the pilot and rider feedback already driving improvements, this could be one of the most practical workhorses in the growing electric utility bike space.

Now that the pilot program has wrapped up, PNY is already working on refining the Ponie P2 to meet rider demands.

If the next version is anything like what we’ve seen so far, don’t be surprised to see more of these electric cargo motorcycles buzzing through city streets soon.

Daimler Truck AG CEO Karin Rådström hopped on LinkedIn today and dropped some absolutely wild pro-hydrogen talking points, using words like “emotional” and “inspiring” while making some pretty heady claims about the viability and economics of hydrogen. The rant is doubly embarrassing for another reason: the company’s hydrogen trucks are more than 100 million miles behind Volvo’s electric semis.

Earlier this month, Daimler Truck AG issued a press release entitled, “Five and a Half Times Around the World: Daimler Truck Fuel Cell Trucks Successfully Complete More Than 225,000 km (~139,000 miles) in Real-World Customer Operations.” Don’t bother looking for it on Electrek, though. I didn’t run it. And I didn’t run it because, frankly, a fleet of over-the-road semi trucks managing to cover a little over half the number of miles that David Blenkle put on his single Ford Mustang Mach-E isn’t particularly impressive.

In the meantime, Daimler competitors like Volvo, Renault, and even tiny Motiv are racking up millions and millions of all-electric miles and MAN Truck CEO Alexander Vlaskamp is saying that it’s impossible for hydrogen to compete with batteries. Heck, even Daimler’s own eActros BEV semi trucks are putting up better numbers than those hydrogen deals.

So, why then is Rådström pouring on the hydrogen love over on LinkedIn?

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For some reason – posts about hydrogen always stir up emotions. I think hydrogen (not “instead of” but “in parallel to” electric) plays a role in the decarbonization of heavy duty transport in Europe for three reasons:

1. If we would go “electric only” we need to get the electric grid to a level where we can build enough charging stations for the 6 million trucks in Europe. It will take many years and be incredibly expensive. A hydrogen infrastructure in parallel will be less expensive and you don’t need a grid connection to build it, putting 2000 H2 stations in Europe is relatively easy.
2. Europe will rely on import of energy, and it could be transported into Europe from North Africa and Middle East as liquid hydrogen. Better to use that directly as fuel than to make electricity out of it.
3. Some use cases of our customers are better suited for fuel cells than electric trucks – the fuel cell truck will allow higher payload and longer ranges.

At European Hydrogen Week, I saw firsthand the energy and ambition behind Europe’s net-zero goals. It’s inspiring—but also a wake-up call. We’re not moving fast enough.

What we need:

• Large-scale hydrogen production and transport to Europe
• A robust refueling network that goes beyond AFIR
• And real political support to make it happen – we need smart, efficient regulation that clears the path instead of adding hurdles.

To show what’s possible, we brought our Mercedes-Benz GenH2 to Brussels. From the end of 2026, we’ll deploy a small series of 100 fuel cell trucks to customers.

Let’s build the infrastructure, the momentum, and the partnerships to make zero-emission transport a reality. 🚛 and let’s try to avoid some of the mistakes that we see now while scaling up electric. And let’s stop the debate about “either or”. We need both.

KARIN RÅDSTRÖM

Commenters were quick to point out that Daimler recently received €226M in grants from German federal and state governments to build 100 fuel cell trucks – but, while Daimler for sure doesn’t want to give back the money, it’s also pretty difficult to believe that Rådström’s pro-hydrogen posturing is sincere.

Especially since most of it seems like nonsense.

We’re not doing any of that

At the risk of sounding “emotional,” Rådström’s claims that building a hydrogen infrastructure in parallel will be less expensive than building an electrical infrastructure, and that “you don’t need a grid connection to build it,” are objectively false.

Further, if her claim that “putting 2,000 H2 stations in Europe is relatively easy” isn’t outright laughable, it’s worth noting that Europe had just 265 hydrogen filling stations in operation in 2024 (and only 40% of those, or about 100, were capable of serving HD trucks). At the same time, the IEA reported that there are nearly five million public charging ports already in service on the continent.

Next, the claim that, “Europe will rely on import of energy, and it could be transported into Europe from North Africa and Middle East as liquid hydrogen” (emphasis mine), is similarly dubious – especially when faced with the fact that, in 2023, wind and solar already supplied about 27–30% of EU electricity.

I will agree, however, with one of Rådström’s claims. She notes that, “some use cases of our customers are better suited for fuel cells than electric trucks – the fuel cell truck will allow higher payload and longer ranges.” That’s debatable, but widely accepted as true … for now. Daimler’s own research into lighter, more energy-dense, and lower-cost solid-state battery technology, however, may mean that it won’t be true for long, however.

Unless, of course, Mercedes’ solid-state batteries don’t work (and she would know more about that than I would, as a mere blogger).

Electrek’s Take

As you can imagine, Karin Rådström post generated quite a few comments at the Electrek watercooler. “Insane to claim that building hydrogen stations would be cheaper than building chargers,” said one fellow writer. “I’m fine with hydrogen for long haul heavy duty, but lying to get us there is idiotic.”

Another comment I liked said, “(Rådström) says that chargers need to be on the grid – you already have a grid, and it’s everywhere!”

At the end of the day, I have to echo the words of one of Mercedes’ storied engineering partners and OEM suppliers, Mahle, whose Chairman, Arnd Franz, who that building out a hydrogen infrastructure won’t be possible without “blue” H made from fossil fuels as recently as last April, and maybe that’s what this is all about: fossil fuel vehicles are where Daimler makes its biggest profits (for now), and muddying the waters and playing up this idea that we’re in some sort of “messy middle” transition makes it just easy enough for a reluctant fleet manager to say, “maybe next time” when it comes to EVs.

We, and the planet, will suffer for such cowardice – but maybe that’s too much malicious intent to ascribe to Ms. Rådström. Maybe this is just a simple “Hanlon’s razor” scenario and there’s nothing much else to read into it.

Let us know what you think of Rådström’s pro-hydrogen comments, and whether or not Daimler’s shareholders should be concerned about the quality of the research behind their CEO’s public posts, in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

SOURCE | IMAGES: Karin Rådström, via LinkedIn.

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