is a deputy editor and Verge co-founder with a passion for human-centric cities, e-bikes, and life as a digital nomad. He’s been a tech journalist for 20 years.
Rivian’s heavily financed micromobilty spinoff Also is promising something on October 22nd. Also’s calling it “transcendent mobility,” which is a fancy way of saying e-bike after a poorly masked video has leaked the rather uniquely designed bicycle.
While Also is a legal separate company from Rivian, it’s chaired by Rivian founder and CEO RJ Scaringe. Rivian also has a substantial minority ownership stake in the startup.
Electrek’s Micah Toll did the dirty work of parsing a recent teaser video frame-by-frame to extract a few blurry images that Also failed to fully mask. What’s revealed is a compact pedal-assisted commuter than can double as a utility vehicle with optional cargo rack, integrated lighting, and what appear to be 20-inch wheels. It looks like a cross between a compact Gocycle electric bike and a Cake electric scooter. I can only hope that its battery can be easily swapped out and that it folds down to make it more suitable for multimodal travel on trains and trams.
The Palo Alto-based company had previously said that it plans to launch its first flagship product in early 2026 with an initial focus on the US and Europe. That could mean that whatever’s announced on October 22nd will have a healthy preorder period which is exactly what we’d expect from an EV company, even when that EV is a bicycle.