Robert Provost has massive plans for Rad Energy Bikes, the just lately bankrupt Seattle-based electrical bike maker that he thinks can reclaim its business dominance — and develop even bigger.
In an interview with GeekWire on Friday, Provost, the CEO of South Florida-based Life Electrical Autos Holdings, Inc., laid out an formidable roadmap to overtake Rad following his firm’s acquisition of the startup’s property, which closed this week.
“It’s not a continuation of Rad Energy, extra like a phoenix,” Provost stated. “The rebirth.”
Beneath a brand new company entity known as Rad Life Mobility, owned by Life EV Holdings, Provost stated gives have been prolonged to re-hire 95% of staff who had been laid off as half the chapter course of. A lot of them are primarily based within the Seattle space the place Rad grew over time.
Provost stated about 70 folks have accepted to date and he needs to listen to from anybody who might have been missed — even former staff who helped construct Rad throughout its heyday earlier than and throughout the pandemic.
“We acquired all of the digital property, all of the tangible property. It was as much as us on the workforce, we might really rent them or not,” he stated. “So we made the choice to go forward and rent them. They’ve completed a very nice job.”
Provost stated Life EV added one other 15 or 20 of its folks to Rad Life Mobility, together with a brand new president, Salt Lake Metropolis-based Jim Brown, a Life EV investor who has intensive automotive dealership retail expertise with Larry H. Miller Automotive Group in Utah.
“A few of the entrance workplace shall be in particular person in Utah, however we’re sustaining Seattle,” Provost stated.
Based mostly in Deerfield Seaside, Fla., Life Electrical Autos Holdings — publicly traded on the OTC market as LFEV — is a micro-mobility platform firm centered on buying and scaling established e-bike manufacturers. In November 2023, it acquired Serial 1, the in-house electrical bicycle firm initially began by motorbike maker Harley-Davidson.
Whereas Rad takes on a brand new company id, the Rad Energy Bikes branding will proceed on bikes, merchandise and retail areas. And regardless of the struggles it encountered, Provost thinks there may be nonetheless lots of worth within the model.
“We’re all excited,” Provost stated. “It was No. 1. It was the highest-valued electric-bike-only firm within the U.S. Our aim is get it again to that worth, if not past that.”
Talking throughout a Zoom name from his Florida workplace, Provost might hardly decelerate whereas itemizing all that he and Life EV hope to perform with Rad Life Mobility, together with:
- Bike meeting: Provost plans to shift Rad from a standard abroad manufacturing mannequin to a “just-in-time” U.S.-based meeting course of to decrease prices and handle stock. Whereas elements will nonetheless be sourced globally, remaining meeting will transfer to a 100,000-square-foot facility within the central U.S. Provost famous the corporate will make the most of a International Commerce Zone (FTZ) construction to mitigate the tariff burdens that plagued earlier administration. “We construct just a few weeks out. It’s extra of a just-in-time sort of manufacturing,” he stated.
- Distribution and logistics: Provost known as the reliance on third-party logistics and the related prices a major cause for Rad’s earlier monetary struggles. “We don’t want [3PL] as a result of we’re managing that facet of it,” he stated. “We clear all that up, Rad turns into instantly worthwhile.”
- Retail shops: Seven Rad shops will stay open within the U.S., together with the flagship retailer in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. Provost stated he was unhappy to see shops shut in Vancouver, B.C., and St. Petersburg, Fla., earlier this 12 months. Re-opening in Florida is a precedence and getting Vancouver again could be good, he stated, including that opening new Rad shops in at the least 24 different key U.S. markets is the aim. Provost additionally stated earlier margins “weren’t adequate” to sellers that carried Rad bikes and a brand new program “may have pricing that shall be very enticing to them.”
- Battery alternative program: Provost stated the brand new firm will deal with prospects with Rad bikes and batteries impacted by the Shopper Product Security Fee’s warning final fall, about potential fireplace hazards. “We’re going to place a program in to go forward and exchange these batteries for everybody, at like a 50% low cost,” he stated. “We are going to be sure that it’s a Secure Protect Battery — the newer product. It’s gonna take us a bit time to get that completed.”
- One other acquisition: “There’s one other firm we’re taking a look at that’s really an ideal complement to Rad Energy. We’re most definitely going to amass that firm, within the subsequent week or so,” Provost stated, including that he couldn’t share a reputation but however that he thinks it’s an organization all people is aware of.
Rad Energy Bikes launched in 2015 with a direct-to-consumer mannequin and sub-$2,000 e-bikes geared toward informal riders, and briefly time grew to become a high-flying startup in Seattle.
The corporate noticed demand surge practically 300% throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Rad raised greater than $300 million in 2021 and branded itself as North America’s largest e-bike vendor.
However the momentum light in 2022 as demand cooled and a collection of missteps and macroeconomic challenges led to greater than seven rounds of layoffs.
The startup, initially based by e-bike tinkerer Mike Radenbaugh and longtime buddy Ty Collins, filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety in December 2025 following shocking information in November that the corporate was combating for survival because it confronted “important monetary challenges.”
In its chapter submitting, Rad revealed a gentle drop in gross income — from $129.8 million in 2023 to $103.8 million in 2024, and $63.3 million towards the top of 2025. The corporate reported complete liabilities of practically $73 million, greater than double its property of $32 million.
Rad’s property had been acquired by Life EV for $13.2 million, which Provost known as a deal in relation to its onetime valuation of $1.65 billion. He stated that the Life EV possession group was able to bid larger — and it’s ready to spend much more to revitalize the model.
Backed by a gaggle of over 200 non-public shareholders and “very important entrepreneurs,” Provost described the investor group as having “extraordinarily deep pockets.”
The brand new Rad will nonetheless face a number of the business points that caught as much as the outdated Rad, mainly that competitors is far stiffer now than it was 10 years in the past and the market has turn out to be saturated with all kinds of e-bike manufacturers.
However Provost stated the corporate intends to introduce new merchandise, construct up adequate stock, make the corporate worthwhile and get everybody from buyers to staff excited once more. To not point out Rad riders.
“A very powerful half out of this dialog, for me, is to let the Rad neighborhood know we’re there for them,” Provost stated. “We’re going to help them 100%.”
Associated:
- Rad Energy Bikes model will dwell on as Life EV completes acquisition of Seattle e-bike maker’s property
- Rad Energy Bikes sells for $13.2M as asset public sale attracts bidders for bankrupt e-bike maker
- The rise and fall of Rad Energy Bikes: From breakout success to the brink of shutdown
- Rad Energy Bikes’ largest unpaid invoice is $8.3M to U.S. Customs, as tariffs squeeze the business
- Rad Energy Bikes closing shops in Vancouver, B.C., and Florida; 7 extra will stay open
