The SONDORS electrical bicycle firm infamously went bankrupt in 2023, but it now seems to be trying an increase from the ashes. The corporate’s founder and former CEO Storm SONDORS is again on the helm and pre-selling a brand new electrical motorcycle with a considerably acquainted identify – the Meta AT.
However will riders be as soon as bitten, twice shy?
SONDORS initially burst onto the scene manner again in 2015 – the early days of the US e-bike scene – by providing a $500 fats tire electrical bike through a crowdfunding marketing campaign. Many referred to as it a rip-off after the corporate was late to ship, and the bikes that did finally arrive didn’t fairly dwell as much as a few of the loftiest claims, however the firm did finally ship. Within the almost decade afterward, SONDORS continued following that very same sport plan: promising the moon for an unbelievably low value, then delivering one thing that was nearly what they’d claimed and nearly on time. However they all the time delivered.
Not less than, till they didn’t.
After discovering success within the electrical bicycle market, SONDORS ratcheted issues up in 2021 with a groundbreaking design for a lightweight electrical bike generally known as the Metacycle. However that’s the place the wheels began to fall off the proverbial e-bike.
The mission considerably overran its timeline and finally delivered simply shy of two,000 bikes that didn’t fairly dwell as much as their initially promised specs. Over a number of months, the deliveries started slowing to a trickle and finally ceased. Extra on that in a second. For now although, the necessary factor to notice is that was one of many key items that led to the corporate’s undoing (although some would say an growth of SONDORS’ electrical bicycles into huge field shops pressured tighter revenue margins and didn’t assist issues both). Finally, SONDORS finally overran its money provide and did not make funds to suppliers, prompting the corporate’s chapter and getting into into receivership.
That brings us to at this time, with Storm Sondors now telling Electrek that he has managed to purchase the corporate again out of receivership and, with it, has launched the brand new Meta AT. Not like the street-ready Metacycle, the brand new Meta AT is an off-road electrical motorcycle supposed to compete with Sur Ron, Talaria, and different mild electrical filth bikes.
The 4 kW peak-rated motor claims a prime pace of as much as 50 mph (80 km/h) and a variety of as much as 60 miles (96 km) from the bike’s 2.5 kWh lithium battery. Lengthy journey entrance and rear suspension mixed with additional knobby tires place the Meta AT for path using and basic off-road shenanigans, that are acquainted territory for Sur Ron riders.
Whereas the bike will not be street-legal, SONDORS will supply a “Road Authorized Equipment” together with mirrors, lighting, and different parts. It’s unclear how far this can go towards true road-legal compliance. The corporate walks that tightrope by recommending that riders ought to “verify together with your native registration legal guidelines and authorities, as rules differ by location.”
And with its claimed MSRP of $4,200 marked down to simply $2,299 for these courageous prospects ready to pay in full months forward of manufacturing or supply, SONDORS seems to be sticking to its low-cost pre-order playbook of “pay now and belief us that you just’ll journey later.” Once more, that all the time labored up to now, no less than till it didn’t.
To some, the brand new bike and the supply it presents sounds doubtful, at finest. As SONDORS’ advertising and marketing emails went out, quite a lot of forwarded emails landed in my inbox from folks expressing a variety of feelings from confusion to shock to downright anger. With no less than 500 paying prospects having been left with out Metacycles (plus an unknown variety of SONDORS electrical bicycle prospects omitted to dry), a SONDORS revival was certain to lift a number of eyebrows… or furrow them.
And so to try to be taught extra about what occurred for the reason that huge breakdown, and what might occur subsequent with this supposed new Meta incarnate, I went straight to the supply. I reached out to Storm Sondors, and wouldn’t you already know it, he really answered.
As I peppered him with questions, to his credit score, he was fairly forthcoming. He genuinely appears to precise regret for what occurred on the finish of SONDORS authentic run and defined that he has been “working relentlessly to discover a decision for these remaining backers.” The sentiment is good, nevertheless it doesn’t make anybody entire once more and there doesn’t but look like any stable recourse within the works.
As for what went fallacious on the finish, Storm shared with me what he says is an inventory of funds totaling over US $11 million to the Chinese language manufacturing facility that produced the Metacycle. This helps corroborate a lot of the backstory that led to an expose I wrote in 2023 after I lastly discovered an inside supply on the manufacturing facility, additional illuminating a serious disagreement between SONDORS and the manufacturing facility it contracted to construct its Metacycles.
Because the manufacturing facility informed me again then, after a number of rounds of Metacycle manufacturing, Storm positioned a big deposit for an additional main manufacturing spherical, which the manufacturing facility used to purchase 1000’s of parts to construct the bikes and put together a brand new manufacturing line. However when monetary issues hit SONDORS, he did not pay the stability on current manufacturing runs, which left tons of of completed Metacycles gathering mud within the manufacturing facility’s warehouse in China.
Storm confirmed me a spreadsheet of funds he made to the manufacturing facility and defined that he requested the manufacturing facility to shift his deposit for future manufacturing in the direction of paying off the stability on current manufacturing, which might have allowed him to take receipt of tons of of accomplished Metacycles. The manufacturing facility says they resisted as the cash had already been spent on parts, extra employees, and tooling up a brand new manufacturing line, all to assist accommodate SONDORS’ main new manufacturing order. Shifting the cost would have been a breach of contract, the manufacturing facility claimed, and would have left them out tens of millions of {dollars} with no assure that future manufacturing they’ve already begun investing in would ever be paid for.
The 2 events have been at loggerheads ever since, and Storm shared that he has tried to rope in QS Motors, a serious Chinese language producer and the dad or mum firm of the manufacturing facility that produced the Metacycle, into “stepping in to resolve this matter urgently for the good thing about SONDORS Metacycle prospects.”
At this level, it doesn’t seem that both occasion has budged. Storm continues to say “I paid!” whereas holding up over US $2 million in deposit receipts, and the manufacturing facility continues to say “Sure, however not for these bikes, you didn’t.”
That leaves the outdated SONDORS in a stalemate, with no decision in sight. However that hasn’t stopped the newly reborn SONDORS from pushing ahead with its Meta AT launch. “The Meta AT is a distinct machine completely,” Storm defined. “Smaller, lighter, and constructed to be extra agile. It leans towards the off-road class with a value and efficiency stage that opens it as much as a a lot wider viewers. Sure, it’s deliberately nearer to the Sur Ron phase, however with SONDORS styling and journey expertise.”
With a decrease efficiency, simpler, and even much less authorized motorcycle than the unique Metacycle, the barrier for manufacturing will definitely be decrease this time, however will that be sufficient to win over skeptical riders?
Storm thinks so, and claims to have obtained over 7,400 Meta AT reservations “by way of non-public channels, with early entry supplied to these people.” The bikes are actually out there to the general public for pre-order by way of an Indiegogo marketing campaign, which at the moment reveals 36 backers. Storm says reservations are “changing in levels. As they do, you’ll see the numbers mirrored on the marketing campaign web page.”
I requested Storm if he was anxious about riders trusting SONDORS after the corporate’s abrupt closure in 2023. For him, there wasn’t any query. “I created this class. Earlier than SONDORS, there was no mass marketplace for electrical bikes – now there may be. I’ve shipped tons of of 1000’s of items. I’ve constructed the factories, the tooling, the provision chains. This isn’t a aspect hustle or a brand new thought. That is what I do. And the Meta AT is the most effective machine I’ve ever constructed. You’ll be able to query the trade. You’ll be able to query the hype. However don’t query whether or not I ship. I all the time have.”
And he’s proper. SONDORS did all the time ship. Till it didn’t.
