BRANDALE D. RANDOLPH

In 2016, Brandale Randolph started building bicycles with a radical goal: create living-wage employment for the formerly incarcerated. His company, 1854 Cycling, proved you could build profitable businesses while prioritizing human dignity. The name referenced an 1854 anti-slavery rally in Framingham—a moment of moral clarity, not compromise.

But then he read "Cobalt Red" by Siddharth Kara. The investigation exposed something he couldn't unsee: the EV revolution was built on child labor in cobalt mines. Forty thousand children were mining cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo to power the vehicles celebrated as the future of transportation.

He realized the cycling work treated a symptom while a much larger system perpetuated exploitation. So in 2024, he made a different choice. He would apply the philosophy of 1854 Cycling to the technology supposed to replace fossil fuels.

That became 1854 Motors.

The platform uses sodium-ion battery technology—abundant, proven, manufactured without child labor. No cobalt extraction. No lithium mining destroying water tables. The technology is 35-40% cheaper than lithium-ion, performs better in cold climates (88% capacity retention at -20°C), and charges faster. It's simply better technology built by choosing not to exploit people and ecosystems.

His approach is consistent: from factory floor to design algorithm, every decision answers one question—does this create abundance or perpetuate extraction?

The company guarantees living wages. Still builds with purpose. Still believes mobility should move all of us forward. It began with bicycles breaking cycles of poverty. It continues with electric vehicles rejecting exploitation.

The through-line remains the same: moral clarity, not compromise.