General Motors starts taking orders for its first e-bike
Last November, General Motors said it would start making electric bicycles, and it announced a crowdsourcing campaign to come up with a brand name. Today, the automaker released the winning name — Ariv, pronounced like “arrive” — and said it would start taking orders in select countries in Europe.
GM says it will manufacture two models under the new Ariv brand name: the Meld, a compact e-bike, and the Merge, a folding e-bike. GM is still keeping most of the specs under wraps, but it did say the bikes’ motors will enable speeds up to 25 km/h (15.5 mph) with four levels of pedal-assisted power. Riders can charge their e-bike’s battery in approximately 3.5 hours and receive up to...