Rad Power Bikes given new life after acquisition

March 16, 2026

Life Electric Vehicles CEO Rob Provost has high expectations for Rad Power Bikes after officially acquiring the beleaguered brand for $13.3 million March 5. And he’s looking farther ahead. He told BRAIN in an interview that plans are underway to acquire another struggling e-bike brand. It would be Life EV’s third acquisition since 2023 following Harley-Davidson’s Serial 1 brand.

Provost co-founded ProdecoTech, a big-box retail e-bike manufacturer, and said the next brand acquisition will complement Life EV’s portfolio. He said the brand “has done phenomenal in the past but then the cost became too expensive.”

Sounds similar to Rad Power Bikes. It’s been a dizzying downfall for the brand that in October 2021 announced a $154 million financing round that brought its total investment amount to $329 million since its inception in 2007. Since then it has had several personal liability lawsuits, layoffs, and management changes.

Late last year, Rad Power filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in advance of completing the sale and less than a month after it said it could not afford a recall on some of its older lithium-ion batteries that the Consumer Product Safety Commission deemed unsafe. Bicycle Retail