The Finest Folding Electrical Bikes of 2024

Folding e-bikes have been a mainstay for city-inhabiting commuters for some time now. For these residing in minimal sq. footage, folding bikes make conserving a motorcycle at residence simpler. Additionally they simplify the bike commute, becoming extra simply on public transportation or in an workplace. And whenever you’re heading out on the street, they are often stowed inside an RV or automobile’s trunk.

With the proliferation of folding electrical bikes available on the market, discovering the proper one is extra of a problem than it was once. With that in thoughts, we gathered 5 of one of the best fashions available on the market to check and evaluate facet by facet. Whether or not you’re on the lookout for a premium experience just like the Tern Vektron S10, a budget-friendly mannequin just like the Ride1Up Portola, or a flexible all-rounder just like the Rad Energy RadExpand 5 Plus, we’ve bought you coated.

The Finest Folding Electrical Bikes of 2025

Folding Electrical Bikes Comparability Chart

How We Examined Folding Electrical Bikes

That is GearJunkie, and we love gear. Large shock, proper? Our love of drugs extends to bicycles of every kind, and we’ve been testing and reviewing electrical bikes for over a decade now. From electrical cargo bikes to commuters, looking e-bikes and eMTBs, we’ve examined nearly each sort of electrical bike available on the market. We acknowledge that not everybody has the posh of testing quite a few bikes earlier than they purchase, so we’re right here to assist with a comparative evaluate of 5 of one of the best folding electrical bikes available on the market.

Our Professional Tester

Our lead tester, Will Porter, has been using bikes for 3 a long time, tackling every kind of disciplines, from street to gravel to mountain, with a wholesome dose of commuting sprinkled in through the years. He has hung out in NYC, the place he realized the true that means of sq. footage (or lack thereof), so he is aware of what a folding bike must make sense in small areas. 

Will is a frequent GearJunkie contributor. He has been testing and reviewing merchandise of every kind for a few years, and his evaluate expertise has given him an ideal capacity to scrutinize and evaluate the merchandise he exams. Along with folding electrical bikes, Will has contributed experience to purchaser’s guides on subjects starting from one of the best sun shades for operating to GPS watches, together with in-depth critiques and occasion protection.

Our Testing Course of

To start out, we gathered up this choice of 5 of one of the best folding electrical bikes available on the market. Every mannequin was shipped on to Will, who acquired and assembled every mannequin simply as another client would. After assembling every bike, wanting by the consumer manuals, familiarizing himself with every mannequin’s controls, and making consolation changes, he set off for the true check of any bike — real-world using.

Will rode this fleet of folding e-bikes for a lot of miles throughout 4 months, taking them on the streets, again alleys, grime roads, and dusty trails of Boise, Idaho, and Los Angeles. He made frequent journeys to the grocery retailer, rode on a busy river stroll, and ran numerous errands on these bikes. They navigated brewery parking tons and sketchy bike lanes and bought their fair proportion of using only for enjoyable.

Will rode these bikes within the rain, left them out within the solar, and stowed them away (folded, after all). Whereas using, he paid shut consideration to every bike’s energy output, pace, e-bike controls, dealing with traits, consolation, parts, and the efficiency of the entire package deal. Since these are folding bikes, he made positive to fold and unfold them quite a few instances, choose them up, carry them, and cargo them into the backs of autos to get a really feel for his or her weight and portability as a folding bike. We additionally thought of the worth in relation to efficiency to try to decide which bikes present one of the best bang on your buck.

Purchaser’s Information: How To Select a Folding Electrical Bike

Like another sort of motorbike, choosing the proper folding electrical bike could be a problem. There are many elements to think about when discovering one of the best mannequin to fit your wants and meet your price range. Beneath, we’ll cowl necessary product issues that will assist inform your buy resolution.

Unsure if a folding electrical bike is best for you? For those who’re on the lookout for one thing totally different, we’ve bought you coated with complete guides to one of the best electrical cargo bikes, environment friendly commuter bikes, and even electrical bikes for looking. Don’t neglect to guard your head with a high quality bike helmet, safe your bike with a robust bike lock, and preserve these tires inflated with a helpful bike pump.

E-Bike Class

Earlier than you utilize an e-bike, it’s necessary to know the e-bike classification system and make sure the bike you purchase meets the laws for legally using on the roads, bike paths, and trails of your native space. Whereas electrical bikes are allowed in most locations lately, sure states and areas have restrictions on prime pace and motor energy. In some locations, pace limits have gotten increasingly more widespread on bike paths as a result of large uptick of e-bikes in use. We extremely advocate doing some research into the native laws relating to electrical bikes the place you reside and experience to make sure you are in compliance.

• Class 1: These bikes have a motor that gives pedal help solely with a prime pace of as much as 20 mph.
• Class 2: These bikes have the identical pedal-assisted prime pace of 20 mph, however they’re additionally geared up with a throttle. The throttle pace can also be restricted to a most of 20 mph. The throttle can propel you with pure electrical energy (no pedaling) and could also be useful for some riders when ranging from a cease with a loaded bike.
• Class 3: Class 3 bikes can exceed 20 mph as much as a max of 28 mph utilizing pedal help. Class 3 bikes might or might not have a throttle. If throttle-equipped, that maxes out at 20 mph.

4 of the fashions on this information are Class 2 and three bikes with a throttle, and they’re tremendous enjoyable and straightforward to experience, however the addition of a throttle could make some bikes really feel extra like using a moped than an precise bike. If you would like one thing that feels extra like a daily bike, go for a category 1 bike, just like the Tren Vektron S10, that eschews a throttle and solely has pedal help. This can end in a extra pure feeling experience.

E-Bike Motors

Electrical bikes sometimes include both a rear hub (hub-drive) or a mid-drive motor. The overwhelming majority of folding electrical bikes have rear hub motors, however each techniques work effectively and have their benefits and downsides.

Rear hub motors are aptly named as a consequence of the truth that they’re contained inside the hub of the rear wheel. These present energy straight into the rear wheel with help based mostly on both cadence sensors or torque sensors. Most hub-drive bikes additionally come geared up with a throttle to propel you ahead beneath full electrical energy. Typically talking, hub-drive motors are cheaper and have historically been thought of decrease efficiency than mid-drive techniques. Fortuitously, developments in torque sensors for hub drives are narrowing the efficiency hole.

Mid-drive motors are positioned in the midst of the bike across the cranks. These motors use torque sensors and ship the facility into the drivetrain, so the texture has sometimes been thought of to be extra pure. Whereas some hub-drive motors can really feel jumpy, mid-drives are often fairly clean, with the facility ramping up in response to the rider’s pedaling enter. Nevertheless, most mid-drive motor techniques don’t permit for the usage of a throttle. Mid-drive motors are usually dearer and, due to this fact, are sometimes discovered on dearer bikes.

Battery and Vary

Vary is the gap you may journey on a battery cost. When deciding what sort of e-bike you need, vary is among the most necessary elements. How far will you be using? If you wish to take your e-bike out for 30-mile adventures on the weekends, you’ll need to ensure you have a motorcycle with a substantial vary — particularly in case you prefer to make the most of the throttle or a excessive degree of pedal help. For those who’re simply taking fast journeys to the shop or to your child’s college, you may most likely get away with a shorter vary or cost your bike much less continuously.

A battery’s dimension is a vital a part of the equation. That is usually listed in watt-hours (Wh), with larger numbers indicating a bigger storage capability. The dimensions of the battery isn’t the one issue at play. Energy consumption is straight associated. Greater pedal help ranges and extra throttle utilization burn by energy extra rapidly. Likewise, using up hills, rider weight, pedaling enter, and even temperature can all play a job in how far your bike can go on a single cost.

Most manufacturers present a variety estimate, which is usually the utmost potential distance that may be traveled beneath particular check circumstances. These are often pretty unrealistic, however some are extra correct than others. A motorbike’s show additionally supplies info on remaining battery life whereas using, which is kind of helpful in figuring out how far you’ll have the ability to experience. Simply keep in mind, an e-bike is way more cumbersome than a daily bike, so that you don’t need to get caught using it residence with no battery. 

Controls and Show

Electrical bikes sometimes have a management unit that permits the consumer to shift between pedal help ranges, flip lights on/off, and make adjustments to the bike’s settings. These models are usually positioned on the handlebar subsequent to the left grip, the place they are often reached with the thumb. Whereas they’re often fairly related, they fluctuate barely in button structure and ergonomics, however usually talking, they’re all pretty intuitive and straightforward to make use of.

Along with controls, the show is a important characteristic that exhibits related info like pedal help degree, remaining battery life, pace, distance, and many others. Usually, these screens are positioned in the midst of the handlebar the place they’re straightforward to see whereas using. In some instances, the controls and show are mixed right into a single unit, just like the Bosch Purion management/show on the Tern Vektron S10.

Portability and Weight

With the added weight of a giant battery, a motor, controls, and beefed-up frames and parts, electrical bikes are usually fairly heavy. This runs considerably counter to one of many major promoting factors of folding electrical bikes, which is portability and storability. For folding electrical bikes, specifically, it’s difficult to stability the added weight of e-bike parts and specialised folding body designs with the necessity for them to be simply moveable.

For most individuals contemplating a folding electrical bike, the flexibility to fold it right into a smaller dimension for storage or transport is excessive on their checklist of priorities. In that regard, the entire bikes on our checklist do effectively. Not solely do they fold in half on the body, however the handlebar additionally folds down to cut back their dimension to lower than half. Stuff it in a closet, the nook of your storage, the trunk of your automobile, beneath a desk, or onto a commuter practice. They take up manner much less area than full-size, non-folding bikes.

The diminished dimension is clearly crucial, however most folding e-bikes are nonetheless fairly heavy. The truth is, the Tern Vektron S10 is the lightest bike we examined by a big margin, and it nonetheless weighs 49 kilos. It’s a lot simpler to deal with than the Rad Energy or HeyBike, which weigh 72.5 and 75 kilos, respectively. Eradicating an electrical bike’s battery reduces the general weight by round 10 kilos or so, which may actually make lifting them a bit simpler. Nonetheless, as a result of form of a motorcycle in its folded place, lifting these items will be fairly awkward. When potential, we advocate enlisting the help of one other particular person.

Match

The entire folding e-bikes we examined have a one-size-fits-most design. They’re meant to accommodate a wider vary of rider heights by permitting for vital adjustability in seat top and sometimes in handlebar top, too. For essentially the most half, riders between 4’10” and 6’0″ ought to have the ability to discover a comfy match on most of those bikes. In case you are on both the shorter or taller finish of the peak spectrum, it’s price wanting into the mannequin you’re contemplating to make certain that it is going to give you the results you want.

Of the fashions we examined, the Tern Vektron S10 has the widest match vary, which they declare is between 4’10” and 6’5″. In distinction, the Rad Energy RadExpand 5 Plus has the narrowest match vary, between 4’10” and 5’10”.

Elements

Excessive-quality parts, like brakes and gears, guarantee that your bike is dependable, performs whenever you want it, and is straightforward to keep up. Sturdy parts are significantly necessary for riders utilizing the bike extra continuously or in difficult circumstances. We favor bikes with name-brand parts, like Shimano or SRAM (the entire bikes we examined had Shimano groupsets). Good parts can’t compensate for a weak battery or low carrying capability, however they will drastically enhance your experience high quality and lengthen the time between journeys to the bike store. 

The entire bikes we examined have practical parts, however the Tern Vektron S10 stands out for its significantly good construct. This bike does have a premium price ticket, however the Shimano Deore drivetrain and Magura hydraulic disc brakes are a big step up in comparison with the opposite fashions we examined.

Carrying Capability

It is a fairly self-explanatory characteristic, nevertheless it’s necessary to double-check earlier than you make any purchases. Think about what you plan to hold along with your bike. For those who plan on actually packing your bike with gear, groceries, or probably carrying a passenger, you’ll need to be certain that it has a excessive weight capability.

Most producers checklist the full weight capability of their bikes and a few will specify separate rider weight and cargo weight limits. The entire folding electrical bikes we examined include a rear cargo rack, however the weight limits of these racks fluctuate between 59 and 150 kilos. Most of those racks are designed to pair with add-on baskets, baggage, passenger seats, and extra, and sometimes, manufacturers promote these equipment to suit their respective bikes. This makes it straightforward to outfit your bike with the add-ons you need to fit your cargo-carrying wants. Some bikes even include equipment included, just like the Lectric XP 3.0, however this varies based mostly on sure promotional gross sales.

For most individuals, the 59-pound rear rack weight restrict of the Rad Energy RadExpand 5 Plus or the Tern Vektron S10 will likely be satisfactory for errand runs and even loading a small baby right into a Thule Yepp seat on the again. For those who’re planning to haul some heavier cargo, nonetheless, the HeyBike Mars 2.0 and Ride1Up Portola’s rear racks can deal with a claimed 120 and 130 kilos, respectively. The Lectric XP 3.0 takes the cake with a 150-pound weight restrict.

Further Options

The entire folding electrical bikes we examined include a number of helpful options included, which we respect. Entrance and rear fenders defend us from tire spray from puddles or if the roads are moist from a passing rain bathe. The above-mentioned rear racks can assist weight and extra cargo. Entrance and tail lamps assist us be seen by motorists and may be helpful to assist us see our manner if using out in the dead of night. Some bikes, just like the Ra Energy RadExpand 5 Plus, even have flip alerts on the rear gentle to let individuals know your subsequent transfer.

It’s price mentioning that whereas these bikes do have lights, they sometimes aren’t the brightest. For those who’re using at evening, we’ve discovered that it’s nonetheless greatest to make use of a further, brighter bike gentle to light up the street, path, or path if it’s really darkish exterior.

Worth & Worth

The worth of the folding electrical fashions we examined ranges from $945 to $3,299, and all of them are worthy contenders in their very own proper. When figuring out how a lot to spend, contemplate your private price range, how a lot you plan to make use of it, and what you’ll be utilizing it for.

Finances

Finances folding e-bikes price round $1,000, starting from roughly $900 to $1,300. You could find bikes which might be cheaper than this, however we haven’t seen many bikes that price a lot much less that we’d advocate. Fortuitously, e-bike motor and battery expertise are bettering quickly and trickling down. And, with plenty of e-bike manufacturers competing on the decrease finish of the market, there are nice price range choices to select from and the costs are staying fairly cheap.

This worth vary is dominated by just a few main gamers who proceed to enhance their bikes whereas sustaining low costs that deliver spectacular worth to shoppers. Most bikes within the cheaper price tier present an honest vary, ample energy, and first rate carrying capability. One space they lack is in refinement, with energy supply feeling a bit extra abrupt or the show being a bit extra primary. One other space you’re sacrificing is in parts. The cheaper the bike, the cheaper the components, that means it’ll have wheels, derailleurs, and brakes that aren’t as sturdy or dependable. You’ll lower your expenses upfront, however you may count on much less exact shifting and customarily a little bit clunkier total efficiency.

Nonetheless, bikes just like the Ride1Up Portola ($995-1,195), the Lectric XP 3.0 ($999-$1,199), and the HeyBike Mars 2.0 ($999-1,099) are all really spectacular machines for the worth. Whereas they could not have one of the best torque sensors, most ergonomic shifters, or fanciest show screens, they’re completely practical and can meet the calls for of most customers simply positive. Of the price range choices, we actually respect the Ride1Up Portola’s smooth design and extra polished look.

Mid-Tier

Mid-range folding e-bikes will fall within the $1,300-$2,000 vary. It is a nice candy spot for somebody who doesn’t need to shell out the massive bucks for a premium experience however will nonetheless be utilizing their bike continuously. Bikes on this vary often have one or two standout efficiency attributes or options that assist them stand out from the price range fashions however drive the worth up.

An ideal instance is the Rad Energy RadExpand 5 Plus ($1,899). This bike has assured and responsive dealing with and a cushty experience with entrance suspension and 4-inch extensive tires which might be succesful each on and off-road. What units it other than the price range discipline is the upgraded torque sensor, which supplies a smoother and extra pure feeling of pedal help. Moreover, the Secure Defend battery tech is a pleasant security addition, and the controls and show are a step up, too. We selected the RadExpand as one of the best total folding electrical bike for its very well-rounded efficiency, and we predict it’s one of the best match for most individuals.

Premium

A premium folding e-bike will run you over $2,000. There aren’t many folding electrical bikes on this worth vary, however the ones you do discover at this worth level are geared up with larger high quality parts, are made by corporations that basically know what they’re doing, and are designed to fulfill even essentially the most choosy of biking fanatics.

The Tern Vektron S10 ($3,299), for instance, is by far the most costly mannequin we examined, however for good motive. It’s not solely the lightest weight — 10 to 25 kilos lighter than the opposite fashions — and best to carry, carry, and transport, nevertheless it’s the one mannequin that has a mid-drive motor. Mid-drive motors usually are not solely dearer, however they supply essentially the most refined pedal help for essentially the most pure experience really feel. Add to {that a} element spec that features a dependable Shimano Deore 10-speed drivetrain, nice Magura hydraulic disc brakes, and a cushty efficiency saddle, and it’s straightforward to see why it prices extra. Sure, this bike is comparatively costly, nevertheless it has a design, components, and efficiency to justify the expense.

Continuously Requested Questions