SpaceX’s latest residential dish — the Starlink V5 — is now available in “select areas.” It’s notably smaller and lighter than the V4 dish with improved power efficiency. It’ll be available in more places as SpaceX ramps up production to meet global demand. The company notes that Starlink V5 is not intended for in-motion use — for that you’ll have to wait for the revamped Starlink Mini teased alongside the V5 last month.

Here’s a comparison of how the V5 dish stacks up to the older V4, with full specifications available here.

Actual speeds are not guaranteed and depend upon which service plan you sign up for and factors like time of day, capacity, and local congestion. Regardless, people will not be happy to see that slightly lower peak download speed.

Hot showers, like electricity, are a luxury that’s easy to take for granted. That all changes after a few nights camping at a music festival, a week toiling at a backcountry job site, or overlanding all summer in the great unknown. An itchy scalp and the vague smell of warm clams suddenly make the idea of spending hundreds on a portable shower seem less absurd. 

I’ve been testing the Hottap Go from Australia-based Joolca while vanlifing to shower after surfing and to wash up after cooking. It features a 12L integrated water tank which is an improvement on other portable showers that require an external container and long, cumbersome hose that’s easy to trip over. The Hottap Go also recirculates the water until it reaches your chosen temperature. This slows things down a bit, compared to “instant” portable showers, but it doesn’t waste water since it won’t produce an initial shock of cold water that’s usually sprayed into the ground.

The $554 Hottap Go requires an external 12V power source, but in the US Joolca sells a 12V / 5A $165 power bank that attaches magnetically to the case. In Europe I had to roll my own with an €85 (about $100) power bank found on Amazon. The result is a true, fully self-contained hot water system that can be taken anywhere.

Joolca Hottap Go portable shower

Score: 8

Pros	Cons
All-in-one solution for hot showers anywhere Water tank large enough for two showers All accessories and attachments store inside the unit No water wasted unlike competitors Temperature remains steady	Very expensive Battery is optional and attaches to the outside of the case Have to wait a few minutes to heat up Water pressure is just okay

Where to Buy:

• $599 $554 at Joolca

To clear up any confusion right away: the Hottap Go requires electricity to power the integrated water pump and display but it heats the water with propane gas. It works with standard 1lb propane canisters out of the box, and larger tanks with a hose and regulator you must provide.

One thing I love about the Hottap Go is that the hoses, battery, showerhead, and gas canister can all be stored inside the water tank when not in use for easy portability and storage. I also like that the flow-adjustable showerhead comes with a magnetic holder. Taken together with its approach to preheating the water through recirculation, it’s clear that Joolca’s product designers have learned from the shortcomings of the current crop of portable propane showers.

To shower, you first attach the quick-release hoses for the gas and showerhead, plug the shower into a 12V power source (power bank, power station, or the cigarette plug inside your car), set your desired temperature and wait. The unit will begin heating and recirculating the water until a series of beeps indicates that the target temperature is reached. I brought tap water up to a hot 47C / 117F (per the display) in exactly four minutes, which was just enough time to gather everything I needed to shower outside my van with my modesty preserved. 

On one windy day at the beach, I noticed the Hottap Go had to keep reigniting, despite its leeward venting. It failed so often that I saw an E3 error message on the display. Repositioning the shower out of the wind kept the flame lit. The handle on top makes it easy to move, and the seal around the lid ensures that water won’t slosh onto the ground or your power bank. Otherwise, the Hottap Go always lit and stayed lit without issue during my testing.

Joolca says the Hottap Go is good for two “great showers” or a single “long, luxurious one.” I was able to take two functional yet satisfying showers from its full 12L (3.2 gal) water tank, making liberal use of the on/off switch on the showerhead to conserve water while lathering.

Water flow is just okay, even at maximum setting. It’s strong enough to penetrate long, thick hair when shampooing but it’s not going to jettison grime from my mountain bike, for example. The magnetic holder is strong and the showerhead feels good in the hand with a nicely positioned on/off switch. Adjusting the flow rate dial is a two-handed operation, but mostly I just left it on max.

If you’ll only use it once or twice a year, then spending over $554 for the Hottap Go portable shower doesn’t make much sense, especially when tankless portable showers like BougeRV’s cost half that. I much prefer the Hottap Go’s recirculating water tank, performance, and overall convenience, though I do wish the optional $165 magnetic power bank was included in that price. Still, for vanlifers like me or anyone who regularly spends days away from plumbing, $719 can be easily justified for what could be the best portable hot water shower available.

Photos by Thomas Ricker / The Verge

Imagine an e-bike motor that lets you select your preferred pedaling cadence and then automatically adjusts the gears to keep your legs spinning at that exact speed, no matter how steep the hill gets — all without a fragile derailleur or heavy multi-speed cassette to maintain. Prefer manual control? No problem, you can have as many gears as you like in whatever ratio makes you feel most connected to the terrain. That’s the e-bike motor announced last week at the big Eurobike trade show in Frankfurt, by not just one company, but two. 

Pictured above is the MG Concept. It’s a Motor Gearbox Unit, or MGU, from Avinox, the DJI spinoff that’s upending the electric mountain bike (eMBT) industry. Avinox burst onto the scene two years ago with the launch of its impressive M1 drive system that packed unprecedented power inside a mid-drive motor that’s smaller, lighter, and cheaper than anything provided by competitors like Bosch or Specialized — and Avinox just launched the upgraded M2-series two months ago. The MG Concept takes things a step further by combining an electric motor with an automatic gearing system inside a single, compact housing that lets bike makers do away with derailleurs and cassettes. 

Avinox wasn’t alone, either. The MG concept debuted alongside the very similar X-series MGUs also announced last week by newcomer Gobao. These next-generation motors could fundamentally alter how standard e-bikes are built, despite both getting their start in cutting-edge electric mountain bikes that can easily cost $10,000 or more.

Like Formula 1, eMTBs are a tech proving ground for manufacturers whose customers are willing to pay top dollar for a measurable performance advantage. Advances in eMTBs eventually trickle down to the rest of the bicycle market, as we’ve recently seen with the new Amflow TL “eSUV” built around a traditional Avinox M2 motor, derailleur, and cassette.

Existing MGUs, like those made by Pinion, already integrate the gearbox inside the motor housing, but they still rely on a finite number of fixed, discrete gear ratios. The innovation behind both Avinox’s MG Concept and Gobao’s X-series motors is an integrated eCVT (Electronic Continuously Variable Transmission) that adds a layer of computerized precision to eliminate the stepped nature of mechanical shifting.

Both of these new motor gearbox units with integrated eCVTs feature infinite gear ratios that adjust continuously and seamlessly, meaning there are no fixed steps between gears (unless you want them). You can define as many virtual gears as you like with your preferred gear ratios. The system constantly evaluates your speed, pedal pressure, and the terrain in real time. The motors also feature an auto mode that keeps your legs pedaling at a constant cadence, delivering a ride similar to the “stepless” shifting experience I enjoyed in 2023, when I first reviewed a bike fitted with Enviolo’s mechanical CVT.

E-bikes built around these new motor gearboxes should benefit from a more durable transmission that requires far less maintenance, gears that can quickly shift under heavy load or at a standstill, and improved handling by moving the transmission mass from the rear wheel to the bike’s center.

The Avinox MG was developed in partnership with Canyon, Commencal, Forbidden, and Mondraker, who all had prototype eMTBs on display at Eurobike — three with chains, and one with a belt drive. Gobao used a self-branded e-bike at the show to demonstrate pre-production prototypes of its motor. First ride reports found both MGUs to be very impressive, and better and quieter than existing Pinion MGUs.

And while targeting electric mountain bikes for now, if this new breed of MGUs prove reliable and affordable, expect the motors to migrate to commuter, cargo, and family e-bikes over the next few years.

Gobao says it’ll begin mass production of the X1 (120Nm of torque / 1200W max power) and X1P (150Nm / 1500W) in February 2027, according to Bikebiz, and is targeting eMTBs and categories spanning “urban, trekking, cargo, and SUVs.” Avinox is offering fewer specifics, committing to a launch sometime in 2027. Its production MG motor is expected to produce about the same max torque and power as Gobao, and be “easily adapted to eMTB, eTrekking, eSUV, eGravel and other bike models.”

I personally can not wait. I’m so done with snapping and bending derailleurs on rocks and urban bike racks and digging mud and grit out of cassette cogs. It’s time for a simplified drivetrain for people who need to climb hills or carry a heavy load, even if it’s only to bring the kids to school up a paved road instead of a double-black trail.

I like the idea of a solar-powered electric bike, but I don’t think anyone should buy the new Phosgo Go5 — not yet, anyway. This “world’s first AI solar e-bike” promises to “eliminate range anxiety,” and is sold by a new brand out of China hoping to make a big splash by selling direct-to-consumer through a global crowdfunding campaign. So many red flags here.

According to a media kit the company sent me from a generic gmail.com address, Phosgo is a joint venture between Jiaxing Dazhe Solar Energy and Shenzhen Honglianda Technology. Dazhe provides the flexible solar technology pioneered by someone identified only as “Dr. Li,” while Honglianda delivers an established supply chain and e-commerce expertise. 

Phosgo is selling two 8-speed, aluminum-frame models in the US and Europe built around Bafang mid-drive motors, the company tells me, although a motor from Ananda is clearly visible in some photos. The base Go5 has a “super early bird” price of $1,999 while the beefier Go5 Ultra starts at $2,799. The prices will supposedly double in the future but that’s a FOMO marketing tactic typical of these campaigns. It launches on Kickstarter Saturday, July 27th.

All the bikes are fitted with a total of four 50W circular solar panels inside the wheels, made of BC (back contact) cells. BC solar cells make sense here because they move all the electrical contacts to the inside of the panels giving them a uniformly sleek look without those visible grid lines. BC panels should also deal with partial shading caused by cars, buildings, trees, the bike frame, and the rider better than traditional panels. The solar components account for about 8 pounds of these roughly 50-pound bikes.

Here’s the issue: all 200W of those solar panels are facing the wrong way. To get the best charge you’d need to lay your bike on the ground, and even then only half would be exposed to the mid-day sun. Realistically, you’re only going to produce a few watts on average when riding or when parked on the kickstand.

Phosgo’s range claims are all over the place. But deep in the media kit I found a table showing the solar panels adding 17 miles between charges from a wall outlet. It doesn’t say how it measured that but I’m assuming it’s the maximum achieved under optimal, unshaded daylight. It’s safe to say you’ll get far less than that anywhere outside the Sahara, especially when parked side-by-side with other bikes in a city bikerack. One thing’s for sure: you will still have charging worries.

Lastly, Phosgo’s “advanced speech-to-speech AI” is just dumb. No e-bike needs an integrated AI assistant. The chance of it successfully recommending a decent hamburger shop is minuscule, and it certainly won’t be properly smashed.

Look, I hope I’m wrong. I hope the Phosgo Go5 series does everything it says. Everyone loves an underdog. But please don’t back this crowdfunding campaign unless you’ve got money to burn. Global fulfillment is hard enough when not dealing with giant batteries and sensitive electronics that also have to be serviced over their lifetimes. Best wait this one out if you’re truly interested.

Otherwise, maybe consider a general purpose solar generator and portable solar panel. They’ll charge your e-bike, drone, power tools, laptop and phone, and keep the fridge and PS5 running during the next blackout.