The Also TMB is an electric bicycle that spun out of Rivian roughly a year before this video, with a brief most bike companies wouldn't attempt: build something that rides like a normal bicycle but performs like a vehicle. The core of it is a pedal-by-wire drivetrain, meaning there is no mechanical chain connecting your legs to the rear wheel. When you pedal, you're driving a generator. That generator sends an electrical signal to a traction motor that actually spins the rear wheel, while also sending some current back to the battery. The battery in the larger pack is around 800 Wh and uses the same cell type as the Rivian R1 truck, a detail that gives Also access to Rivian's cell supplier relationships and the performance that comes with them. Range tops out at 100 miles with low assist. Top assisted speed is 28 mph, which puts it in the Class 3 category.
Motor Trend's Ed Loh and Johnny Lieberman tested the Also TMB in Venice, California, at Rivian's Venice Hub. Their consistent reaction after riding it: it feels like a normal bicycle. That naturalness was intentional and difficult to engineer. Early prototypes had software-defined gear shifts so seamless that riders couldn't perceive a change had happened, which turns out to be the wrong outcome. People expect a bicycle gear shift to feel like a gear shift. Also deliberately slowed the transition and added haptic feedback to the pedals so the brain would register it. Getting technology to feel less impressive than it technically is, on purpose, is a specific kind of engineering problem. The Motor Trend testers found the auto mode the most intuitive: no gear management required, the system handles motor output based on cadence and terrain, and it mostly got out of the way.
Two configurations are available. The standard TMB starts at $3,500 with a roughly 540 Wh battery, five assist levels, and a peak acceleration of around 0.2 Gs. The performance edition is $4,500, gets the 800 Wh pack, ten assist levels, and 0.3 Gs off the line. Both weigh approximately 80 pounds, include 120 mm of suspension travel front and rear, and top out at 28 mph assisted. A modular top frame system, which snaps onto the lower skateboard platform in seconds, lets you swap between a solo seat, a utility rack version, and a bench seat setup. The battery is removable and lockable, doubles as a USB-C power bank, and charges from zero to full in under four hours. A quad version for last-mile delivery, developed in partnership with Amazon, is in progress alongside a consumer-focused variant.
Bottom line: The Also TMB is a genuinely interesting piece of engineering that happens to look like a bicycle. Whether $3,500 to $4,500 makes sense depends entirely on what you're comparing it to. Put it next to a Rad Power and the price is hard. Put it next to a Class 3 e-bike you plan to actually commute on daily, in a hilly city, and the case gets easier to make.