The best electric bikes can make commuting easier and more effortless than riding an old road bike to work. However, contrary to popular belief, they do still require you to pedal, and they will therefore give you a workout as you travel. Here, we collected the folding bikes, the best affordable ebikes and the best bikes overall; all reviewed and ranked by T3's cycling experts.
The best electric bikes are arguably the best bikes overall for newcomers to cycling, those returning to it after an absence, and more veteran cyclists who are starting to lose their zip. Leave the best road bikes to the Lycra-clad clan. Although contrary to popular belief, you do get a workout on an electric bike; the battery doesn't do all the work for you by any means; it just assists your pedalling rather than replacing it.
If you have flirted with the idea of e-cycling and want to give it a go, now is the time. Especially in the UK, recent changes to the Cycle to Work scheme make these bikes much more affordable. Complete your bike kit and be safe and seen on the roads with the best bike lights and best cycling helmets: you can never be too safe, even in broad daylight.
The best electric bikes to buy tight now
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While Pure Flux One isn't literally 'the best' ebike available to humanity, it does offer exceptional value for money and punches above its weight in terms of looks and performance. Also, if their e-scooter business is anything to go by, Pure Electric should be able to keep it in stock and provide solid service and support for buyers. Not that much assistance should be required. The first Pure Electric e-bike has only one gear, disk brakes that are mechanical rather than hydraulic – less stopping power, sure, but also less maintenance required – and no chain. A grease-free, theoretically unbreakable carbon belt is used instead.
All you have to do is mount up, power on and off you go. The motor pushes you swiftly to 15.5mph – the legal limit for electrical assistance – and keeps you there with minimal hassle. One interesting feature is that rather than having gears, the Pure Flux One has three assistance levels capped at 9, 12 and 15.5mph (15, 20 or 25kph), so it's easy to vary your pace if you hit traffic or are just not feeling the need for speed. The maximum range is only 25 miles, but for urban manoeuvres, that is plenty, and recharging is fairly rapid.
Read our full Pure Electric Pure Flux One review
This Canyon e-bike is an excellent example of how electric bicycles have evolved in recent years. Mainly because it feels, handles, and largely looks like a normal bike, but – of course – it has electrical assistance to keep you moving effortlessly along and over hills.
At around 16 kg, this could almost be described as lightweight, and thanks to the upright riding position and 11-speed Shimano gearing, the Roadlite:On feels extremely nimble. You have the choice of riding it like a pure e-bike, of course – it will push you to the standard issue, 15.5 mph, with almost zero effort. However, make more use of the higher gears available, along with a lower assistance level, and you can really zip along. It's also worth noting that on the lowest assistance level, the maximum range is an impressive 120 km. Even on the highest setting, you should get 50 km.
Read our full Canyon Roadlite:On review
As electric bikes become mainstream, brands are increasingly focussed on delivering competitively priced e-bikes, rather than ones that are technically very accomplished – see: the entries above and below this one. This Mi Smart folding e-bike is a great example – it's not the most fun on two wheels by any means, but it really packs in the features.
First and foremost, this bike folds up to a size little bigger and with little more hassle than the Brompton Electric, which is twice its price. It drives along smoothly enough at the legally mandated 15.5mph top speed, and it also has three gears, a little display on the handlebars to tell you key info, and built in lights.
Sure, the gears range from slow to very slow, the lights are mounted very low on the frame, and the ride experience can't be compared to the more expensive options here. For this price, I don't think any of that really matters. The Mi Smart is convenient, well made and excellent VFM. This folding e-bike is a Halfords exclusive in the UK and available from various retailers elsewhere in the world.
Read our full Xiaomi Mi Smart folding electric bike review
Higher up this list, we have an e-bike that's disguised as a 'proper' bike and a great value-for-money package from Xiaomi. However, if you want the best pure e-bike experience and don't care what it costs, the GoCycle G4i fits the bill. Everything from the overtly 'futuristic' styling to its wealth of high-tech features marks it out as the best in the biz. That’s why it’s a T3 Award winner.
The alloy and carbon frame folds almost as small as the Xiaomi (above) and Brompton (below) but unfurls to give you a riding position that's practically identical to a full-size bike. Turn the pedals, and electrical assistance is applied in a brilliantly intelligent way, so it really feels like it's you doing the work – just the effort involved is removed. There's a powerful all-day front light to keep you visible, and the whole shebang feels sporty, nippy and great fun.
If you want to put in the actual effort, you can easily get past the 15.5mph limit, and the bike never feels like it's pushing back against you when you do so. There's also a shock absorber, traction control and even the option of automatic gearing, so the ride is smooooth as hell.
Read our full GoCycle G4i review
With the VanMoof S3, this Dutch hipster brand has taken the S2, which was excellent and made it better. Oh, and it's knocked over £1,000/$1,000/€1,000 off its price. How could we not make it best electric bike? The S3 is a very sturdily built thing that rides extremely well. You can get up to 20mph on the flat with minimal effort, and it irons out hills a treat. Hydraulic disk brakes bring it to a dead stop.
Aside from crashes, the biggest worry about riding a bike in our crime-ridden cities is the ever-present threat of theft. To fight back against that, VanMoof S3 includes an integral magnetic lock – very hard to remove – an integral alarm and a GPS tracker that can be used to locate it if anyone is foolhardy enough to steal the bike. Even more remarkable, VanMoof will then send someone to find your bike, and politely ask the nice man to give it back.
The four, auto-shifting gears of the S3 are a big improvement over the S2. That only had two, and they shifted in a way that was often hugely irritating. The only issue I have with this bike is that nobody needs a four-gear hub to shift up and down on its own, and it's one more thing to potentially go wrong.
Thankfully, VanMoof bikes are extremely well made, and so I am just going to hope that doesn't become an issue long-term. For urban commuting, 21st century style, it's impossible to beat the VanMoof S3. Unless your commute demands a folding bike, in which case read on…
Read our full VanMoof S3 review
So it's been knocked off the top spot for now, but the E-Brompton is seriously impressive. If your daily commute includes public transport followed by cycling, it offers total ease of 'parking', can be more easily stowed in a luggage rack than the GX, and still allows you to arrive in a pristine and unsweaty state, thanks to the electric assistance.
The F1-trained engineers at William Advanced Engineering assisted with the electrical parts and the result is a 250W motor that provides pedal assistance via the front hub – which is still a very unusual approach. It draws power from a 300Wh battery pack that sits in a bag and goes on the front where the Brompton luggage rack would normally sit. You can also opt for a larger bag that holds both the battery and your spare suit or laptop or whatever.
The Brompton is fun to ride in urban settings, although admittedly not as much so as the GX. Its powerful enough to breeze up hills with minimal effort, but feels nimble on the flat. As with any Brompton, you probably won't win a half-mile sprint on it, but thanks to the pedal assistance, you most certainly will get off to a flying start.
The reason it stands above other electric bikes is that Brompton has worked out how to apply power assistance to your pedalling so it feels natural. It also doesn't feel so much like it's trying to fight you once you reach the maximum, 15.5mph assisted speed.
A neat smartphone app shows current charge levels and lets you tailor assistance settings, while cadence and torque sensors mean power delivery is smooth and only kicks in when truly required. Brompton also plans to offer diagnostics and warnings that a service or battery replacement may be necessary via the app.
Brompton offers fewer options than it does with its standard steeds, but while it comes in any colour you like, so long as that's black or white, there is also a choice of two or six gears, that 20-litre bonus luggage option, and you can shell out extra for a fast charging system that delivers an 80 per cent battery top up in just 90 minutes.
The Electric Brompton folds up exactly the same as the non-powered Brompton. It's so simple, and unlike certain folding bikes we could mention, what you're left with is a genuinely small thing, rather than something that's about the size of a bike with the front wheel taken off. However, the extra weight of the electric drivetrain means you can't just lug it about with the ease of a standard Brompton.
It's not bad at all as you wheel it about on the flat – it has small, suitcase-style additional wheels that come into play once folded up. However, if your commute involves, for instance, having to cross over a bridge to get to a railway platform, you will not enjoy that experience.
That aside, the only problems with the electric Brompton are the same as with a standard one – it's pricey, and you do look a bit of a tit riding one. But you'll get over it.
By their nature, ebikes are a lot heavier than their non-motorised brethren and this is something to consider if you have a flight of stairs to climb, be it at home or on public transport. Well here comes a truly well-specced folding model that weighs 'only' 15kg – okay that is still a little nit hefty – replete with exterior-mounted 36v Tesla-spec battery, 500w BAFANG rear hub motor, disc brakes fore and aft, mudguards, rear luggage rack, side-stand and LED lighting system with integrated indicators. Given the plethora of extras, we’re frankly gobsmacked its London-based designers managed to keep the weight so low.
The Furo X is also equipped with an aerospace-grade carbon fibre frame, 20-inch wheels for faster travel and a 9-speed Shimano derailleur for a wide variety of inclines. But it’s that 500w powerhouse motor that you’ll come to love the most. As is the case with all ebikes in the UK, the motor’s assistance is restricted to 15.5mph but because the bike’s lighter than most of its competitors, it doesn’t feel like you’re riding through treacle when the motor disengages or the battery runs flat.
The handlebar-mounted computer display, meanwhile, provides five pedal-assist power levels which can be changed on the hoof by tapping up and down on the rubber keys. In a nutshell, the higher the power assist, the longer the motor will run until it cuts out at the prerequisite 15.5mph. It has to be said that the motor itself kicks in pretty spritely as soon as the sensor detects optimum pressure on the pedals, so be mindful when starting off or doing a U-turn and perhaps have your fingers covering the brakes lest you lose control.
Given it's fitted with 20-inch wheels, the Furo X doesn’t fold into as tidy a package as the Brompton (few do) but the process is really simple and when folded it’s easily compact enough to take on a train without causing a fuss. The triangular seat post is especially worth a mention because it makes it really easy to raise and lower the saddle without having to straighten it.
Well that’s the main tech out of the way, so what’s it like to ride? In two words, bloody fantastic. It handles superbly well at any speed and will zip up hill and down dale for up to 35 miles on a single charge. Its handlebar assembly can also be adjusted to suit a wide variety of rider heights.
If you hanker after a folding ebike with bigger wheels than the Brompton but can’t stretch the budget to GoCycle’s top-dog G4i then absolutely put this superbly designed entry on the shopping list. You won’t be disappointed.
Although British flagship motorcycle company Triumph is most synonymous with the classic Bonneville, it actually started out as a bicycle manufacturer, producing pedal-powered two-wheelers from 1889 to 1932. Fast forward a bunch of decades and the company’s classic logo is back on a bicycle, albeit one fitted with a battery and electric motor.
The new Triumph Trekker is quite ordinary looking (but in an attractive way) and the logo’s very understated too, taking up a tiny amount of space on the down tube. If it was down to this writer, the logo would have been be emblazoned across the entire down tube in 150pt lettering.
The Trekker is available in three sizes (small, medium and large) and weighs in at a substantial 24kgs (nearly 53lbs) for the medium. That’s fairly normal for a commuting e-bike with 27.5-inch wheels, but perhaps not so normal for one that retails at £2,950. Put another way, if you’re thinking of lugging it up a flight of stairs at the station, you’d better be built like a brick outhouse.
One area where this bike truly excels is in the quality of the build, which is exemplary throughout. The beautifully finished alloy frame has a contemporary road bike-style geometry that encourages a racy posture for speedier riding. The bike also comes equipped with Rockshox Paragon Silver front shocks which provide 65mm of travel for gnarly city roads – when the tarmac smooths out, simply lockout the damper for a firmer, faster ride.
The Trekker is almost entirely kitted out with Shimano components, from the big removable 504Wh battery (which forms part of the down tube) to the Deore disc brakes and 10-speed Deore derailleur system. The battery itself is said to be good for a range of up to 150km (93 miles) and that’s truly excellent.
The bottom bracket-housed Shimano Steps E6100 250w motor produces around 60Nm of torque which on a lightweight bike would equate to riding off on an actual Bonneville. However, on this bike the motor seems reluctant to help as much as you’d like it to, unless you put some extra effort into your pedalling. Put another way, the comparatively lightweight Furo X folder reviewed above has a marginally less powerful motor (50Nm) but its acceleration and overall input is immense.
And that begs the question – do you opt to spend £2,950 on a 24kg e-bike that requires some extra legwork (no bad thing), or do you spend £200 less on a svelte carbon Cervelo R3 Ultegra 8000 standard road bike that weights just 7.48kgs (16.5lbs) and isn’t that much harder to pedal?
No question, Triumph’s first e-bike is exceptionally well made and it feels reassuringly solid on the road. It’s also well equipped with lights fore and aft, an integrated Abus rear wheel lock and a rack for your business gear.
While not the spriteliest bike on the road, it will at least take you from A to B in style and most likely with a big smile on the face. You’re riding a Triumph, after all.
Don't view this monster as merely a set of wheels to get you from A to B, because it is capable of carrying you, your family and the kitchen sink to even the furthest of destinations. The chunky FatBike-esque tyres, bulletproof frame and excellent components team up to create a bike that's built to last, but this giant is also gentle. Seven speeds and five different power levels means it's easy too cruise along at speeds of around 15mph.
It is a heavy lump and those lugging in and out of parking spaces will likely get a bit bored of the overall heft, but this is a bike designed to conquer all trails. It just so happens to double-up as an excellent, load-lugging commuter, too.
How to choose the best electric bike for you
In-depth: Should you buy an electric bike?
Whether you're new to cycling, or an old hand wh fancies something new, there are all sorts of reasons to go electric. Cycling is a great pastime. It's free (after the initial bicycle purchase), it's good for your health and in many cases, it can be faster than cars and public transport.
Cycling with an electric bike is all these things, but with less sweat – what's not to love?
Different electric bike brands take different approaches to electric bike manufacture. Some choose to place an electric motor in the rear wheel hub, with a torque sensor in the cranks that tells the on-board batteries to send power to the wheels.
Others – notably Bosch and Yamaha – opt for a more high-powered approach, with the entire motor and sensor unit situated around the bike's cranks, meaning more visually appealing and aerodynamically advanced frame styles can be fashioned.
An increasing number of new, premium e-bikes place the motor in the front wheel hub, which seems to give a much more natural riding experience, if you're used to non-powered bikes.
Speaking of which, if you're used to non-electric cycles, be aware that e-bikes are heavy and capped at 25kph or 15.5mph. In many cases, that means the bike starts to feel like its actively fighting against you, if you try to push the speed higher than that by pedalling. That's especially true with heavier bikes, for obvious reasons, and can take a while to get used to.
However, if you're being realistic, 15mph is a very decent average speed when commuting in town or taking on hills. This is despite what all cyclists will tell you is their average speed – you're not fooling anyone, guys!
Again, some of the newer, more expensive e-bikes are starting to solve the 'fighting back' problem by applying power in a smoother curve, using algorithms that respond more accurately to the speed at which you pedal, and also by weighing less than a cow.
Even with cheaper or heavier bikes, once you accept that you are really meant to pedal gently and let the motor do the work, non-speed freaks will get into it. Hint: If you want to make it noticeable easier on the legs, you can improve rolling resistance – and therefore average speed – by keeping the tyres pumped up hard. Fully inflated tyres are also less likely to puncture because they ping away most road debris.
E-bikes are great for commuting and for places that aren't pancake flat. They'll pull you away from the lights quickly, iron out hills and stop you getting sweaty, so you can bin the Lycra and ride in jeans, a suit, or a winter coat.
However, don't think that riding an electric bike means you won't get any workout at all. Particularly if you want to push on past the legally mandated 15.5mph (20mph in the USA), they're much better for you than taking the bus.
FAQ
What is the best electric bike?
This depends on what you are after, of course, but we have some very highly recommended bikes in each category.
The best electric bike overall is the Canyon Roadlite: On – this feels like a normal bike that happens to have electric assistance. It is tremendous fun to ride, and the 2022 model looks better than ever.
The best urban electric bike is the Xiaomi Mi Smart folding electric bike. This is a great value bike: it folds, it has built-in lights, albeit in a slightly odd place, it's lightweight for an e-bike, and it's very reasonably priced.
The best cheap e-bike is the Pure Electric Pure Flux One – what a name! – is easily the best in this category as it both looks great and rides well.
The best folding electric bike for Brompton lovers is Brompton Electric. This feels uncannily like a normal Brompton, looks identical and folds in exactly the same brilliant way.
