Rivian Spinoff Also Ships $3,500 E-Bikes as US Car Prices Hit $51,000

Also, the Rivian spinoff, has started delivering its TM-B e-bikes priced between $3,500 and $4,500 — roughly a tenth of America's average new-vehicle transaction price, which now hovers above $51,000. After months of delays, the company's first consumer product is on the road, and its cofounder and president, Chris Yu, says the bike is just the beginning of a much bigger play.

"The bike is almost like a Trojan horse for what's coming," Yu told Business Insider in a sit-down interview. That "what's coming" includes a recent $150 million funding round that Also says will fund multiple autonomous vehicle types for moving people and goods.

Also's pitch lands at a moment when cheap new cars are vanishing from the US market and the average transaction price sits at record levels. That gap — call it the space between a $4,000 bike and a $51,000 SUV — is where several automakers are now racing to plant flags.

What does this change for US buyers?

Yu's core argument borrows from aviation. Planes come in a wide array of types built for very different missions — yet on American roads, DoorDash runs, school drop-offs, and hourslong road trips all get done with the same vehicle. That's "like we're using a 747" to go shopping, he said.

Also's answer isn't to kill the SUV. Picture the ideal garage ten years out, in Yu's telling: a family SUV for long hauls, an e-bike for the school run, and a yet-to-be-announced Also product that could handle a family's grocery run autonomously. For practitioners watching micromobility, that framing matters — Also is positioning bikes as one layer of a multi-vehicle household stack, not a replacement for the family car.

The broader small-vehicle wave is already visible. Toyota is bringing a tiny kei truck to the US with a max speed of 25 mph. Fiat launched its golf cart-like Topolino this summer. And Business Insider has spoken to several Slate Auto early adopters who plan to use their $24,900 trucks as around-town cars. Also's bet is that many of those same trips can happen on two wheels instead.

Why the TM-B took so long to arrive

Getting the first bikes to customers wasn't smooth. Also missed its original spring delivery target, and customers only began receiving the TM-B this fall.

Yu blamed the squeeze on surging demand for memory, chips, and high-performance circuit boards — the same components feeding AI servers and robotics. He said the delays forced the company to communicate more regularly with its reservation holders, and he didn't dodge the criticism that came with the slipped timeline.

"Our customers called us out, and rightfully," Yu told Business Insider. "People care. I remind employees all the time, it's an incredible privilege for us to have a bunch of people care; there are so many companies that don't have a Reddit audience."

The tech under the price tag

Also began as a skunkworks project inside Rivian before spinning out as a stand-alone company. The TM-B reflects that lineage: it's a software-heavy machine with a touchscreen, a removable battery, and a pedal-by-wire drivetrain. This year the company also partnered with DoorDash to develop and deploy autonomous delivery vehicles.

The strategy is clear. Sell an approachable consumer bike now, build the software platform and manufacturing base, then layer autonomous products for people and goods on top — funded in part by that $150 million round.

The stakes are straightforward for anyone tracking the space: if Also can hit its delivery rhythm and ship the autonomous grocery-runner Yu describes, it will have turned a $3,500 e-bike into the entry point of a household mobility system. If component shortages bite again, that Trojan horse stays parked.