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After a year of ups and downs, Cake has apparently filed an application for bankruptcy.
The news, sourced from Micah Toll’s coverage on Electrek.co, follows the brand’s failed attempt to lock in C-round investors that would have cemented their future and confirmed additional funds for CAKE’s Europe expansion.
What does Cake have to say about their filing for bankruptcy?
As of right now, CAKE has yet to release a statement explaining why they are filing for bankruptcy.
Toll has implied that employees under CAKE have had their salaries suspended as of last week, leading us to believe that they’ll eventually have to update us regarding their upcoming decisions.
What will happen to CAKE?
The short answer? We don’t know.
To add insult to injury, CAKE is currently recovering from a rather large recall involving battery cell failure in their Kalk model. Replacing the battery of a bike is not a cheap fix by any means, and the recall has also told us that the replacement batteries won’t even be available until April/May/June (Q2), later this year – something that CAKE is likely factoring in when budgeting future choices for the brand.
Is electric energy still the #1 recommendation compared to gas?
By now, we are all aware of the hype for electric energy. EV technology is fighting to surmount many hurdles in the battle to beat ICE, including (but not limited to) the bettering of range and maintenance costs, the risk of grid overload potential, and more.
EVs today still don’t boast the same performance stats as a generic gas-guzzling motorcycle, and other major brands like Suzuki and Royal Enfield have already admitted EVs to be a higher-risk product.
That being said, we have companies like BMW and Harley-Davidson (LiveWire) that are happy to absorb the risk, going full-tilt into the zero-emission field with a focus that is as breathtaking as it can be confusing (Don’t believe us? Check out LiveWire’s sales two quarters ago).
To sum up, it’s too early to confirm that EVs will keep their place as the most popular alternative energy source, especially given a recent turn toward hybrid options (Kawasaki’s Ninja 7 Hybrid being the first on what is admittedly a rather short list).
What do you think is in store for CAKE?