CES 2025 – Dark Horses of Vegas

• Another edition of the traditional post-CES report highlights interesting things and trends that the tech media ignored or missed.

Donut – Zero or Hero?

• The top spot goes to Donut (see here) which is currently part of Verge Motorcycles (see here) which manufactures great-looking electric motorcycles where the rear wheel is hollow and needs no spokes to support it.
• This is made possible because the motor that drives the bike is inside the wheel itself and works through electro-magnetic propulsion.
• Following on from the motorbikes that are currently available, the R&D department has designed a series of new motors for vehicles, motorcycles, scooters and drones.
• The new motors are half the weight of the 1^st generation and pack a punch as the company claims that each wheel can produce 850hp meaning that a two-wheel drive vehicle will have 1700hp.
• Furthermore, the company claims that the $/hp of its motors is far better than conventional motors although I am not sure how well it fares on power efficiency which will have an impact on range and appeal.
• With the motor on the inside of the wheel, OEMs have more options in terms of form factors that they can create, and a regular vehicle will immediately have more internal space for batteries or a bigger cabin.
• Verge Motorcycles is splitting into two independent companies later this year so that the motors can be sold to other vehicle and bike makers without having to worry about Donut’s independence.
• Donut also designs and sells the entire propulsion system including batteries, software and so on and customers will be able to buy the whole lot or just the engine as they desire.
• This is the right approach to the automotive industry and assuming the products live up to the promises that have been made, this company has an interesting future ahead of it.
• One to watch.

China Part II – Making loopholes

• Since 2020, the South Halls have been closed during CES, but they have reopened in 2024 and are mostly populated with Chinese companies all of whom are on a mission to lift the economy of China through exports as opposed to domestic consumption.
• The halls were not full to capacity as they had been in previous years, but they were at least 70% occupied meaning that a thousand or more Chinese companies have returned to sell their products in the USA.
• These days it mostly speakers, batteries, cameras, LED lighting, PC accessories and so on demonstrating how the commodity market has moved away from the smart home.
• Many companies are also advertising that they have factories in Vietnam or the Philippines and that they can ship directly from the factory meaning that the product never goes to China.
• This is an effort to quell fears of the risks of sourcing from China where supply chain due diligence has become extremely difficult as well as ensure that the products never go into Chinese territory.
• My suspicion is that a lot of this product is manufactured in China and then shipped out of Vietnam, but it does demonstrate how badly China needs to grow its exports.
• This is why there is so much emphasis on the electric vehicle industry because domestic consumption, which was once growing nicely, has stalled and may even be going backwards.
• Consequently, I think 2025 is going to be a story of trying to grow exports as President Xi still shows no sign of letting the private sector flourish which would act as a great stimulator of both economic recovery and domestic consumption.
• Another depressing year beckons for the Chinese technology sector which looks like it will continue to bounce along the bottom.

Pest control – Mosquitoes in the crosshairs.

• Mosquito killers are back with one very smart offering from Israel and another probably more practical solution from Ukraine.
• The first offering is ingenious with a laser detector that spots and points out resting mosquitos and an optional companion drone that flies up to them and zaps them.
• I have seen an attempt at this type of solution some years ago but the company in question could never get it to work and consequently, it disappeared.
• According to the company, these problems are a thing of the past.
• The second uses a combination of UV light, heat and carbon dioxide to attract the mosquitos which then get caught in a downdraft of air created by a fan, falling into a trap and being killed.
• This comes as a large commercial offering and a smaller retail offering but without the carbon dioxide feature.
• Both of these Mosquito killers have drawbacks.
• The smart Israeli offering can only identify stationary mosquitos while the Ukrainian system is designed to be left on for long periods of time and clear a room or a space of mosquitos.
• Hence, neither of these solutions yet measure up to the chemical repellents that are in widespread use today, but it looks like there has been real progress and if these solutions can be more flexible in terms of killing mosquitoes in the air then we may see a shift in the industry.
• If these solutions work well, then there is a large opportunity as mosquito-borne diseases kill millions of people each year and the insects annoy billions more.
• I would pay good money for something like this that works, and I suspect many others would as well.