It is official: The wild ride of Rad Power Bikes has come to an end, and the final price tag is a sobering reminder that the “post-pandemic bike boom” is truly, deeply over.
Life Electric Vehicles Holdings Inc. (Life EV) has won the auction to acquire the assets of the bankrupt e-bike giant for $13.2 million.
To put that number in perspective: Rad Power raised over $300 million in investment capital back in 2021. Selling the entire company for $13 million is roughly a 96% discount. In the cycling world, we call that “pro deal pricing.”
Who is “Life EV”?
If the name Life Electric Vehicles sounds familiar, it might be because they are quickly becoming the “island of misfit toys” for the e-bike industry. Based in Deerfield Beach, Florida, Life EV is the same company that acquired Serial 1 (the e-bike brand spun off by Harley-Davidson) back in 2023.
They seem to be building a portfolio of brands that have great name recognition but absolutely terrifying balance sheets.
Life EV outbid Retrospec (the backup bidder) to secure the deal, which is expected to close by mid-February.
The Exploding Elephant in the Room
The sale comes just a month after Rad filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing an inability to afford a massive recall on batteries that the CPSC warned could “unexpectedly ignite and explode”.
Rad Power famously told the government, “We can’t afford to replace them,” which is generally not a sentence you want to hear from the company that built the vehicle currently charging in your garage.
It remains to be seen how Life EV plans to handle the radioactive fallout of those legacy battery issues, or if they just bought the logo and the mailing list. But for now, the orange brand is moving to Florida to retire.