ABOUT US

Who We Are

1854 Motors builds electric vehicles powered by sodium-ion batteries. We were founded on a simple belief: technology shouldn't require exploitation to exist.

Our founder Brandale D. Randolph started this journey with 1854 Cycling in 2016, creating living-wage jobs for the formerly incarcerated. The company was named after the year of an 1854 anti-slavery rally in Framingham, Massachusetts.

After reading "Cobalt Red," Brandale discovered forty thousand children mining cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo right now. That same cobalt powers the electric vehicles celebrated as the future. He realized you can't solve exploitation by simply switching fuel sources. You have to rebuild from the foundation.

So he applied the philosophy of 1854 Cycling and now to 1854 Motors and the technology that's supposed to replace fossil fuels.

What We Build

The Pierce is our pickup truck designed for cold-weather performance and ethical construction. It uses sodium-ion battery technology: abundant, proven globally, manufactured without child labor. No cobalt. No lithium extraction destroying water tables.

Sodium-ion costs 35-40% less to manufacture. It maintains 88% capacity at -20°C while lithium-ion drops to 55-70%. It charges faster. It lasts longer. It's simply better technology.

We hold 65+ patent applications and have partnered with companies with decades of battery and vehicle manufacturing experience . We don't believe you choose ethics or profit. We believe choosing authentic ethics creates competitive advantage.

How We Operate

Every decision routes back to one question: Does this create abundance or perpetuate extraction?

We guarantee living wages. We source ethically. We manufacture responsibly. We design for longevity, not planned obsolescence. We build for people who want brands that represent who they are.

Forty thousand children are in cobalt mines right now. They're there because lithium-ion was cheaper. We're building the alternative. Our sodium-ion technology removes that choice. It's cheaper. It's ethical. It's proven.

We're not asking you to choose ethics over profit. We're saying that choosing our technology means you choose both.