Jeep’s powerful electric bike goes on sale today, but good luck paying for it

Jeep is the latest car company trying to cash in on booming electric bicycle sales by bringing a Jeep e-bike to market. The company has just announced that pre-orders are going live today for the Jeep electric bicycle.

But wait until you see the price.

Jeep is asking for a whopping $5,899 for its fat tire, all-terrain electric bicycle.

To put that in perspective, other popular fat tire electric bikes such as the RadRover from Rad Power Bikes retail for around a quarter of that price.

Jeep e-bike goes on sale today

Of course the Jeep electric bicycle is a lot more e-bike than most others, to be fair.

Marketed under a partnership with North American company QuietKat, the Jeep e-bike puts out an astounding 160 Nm (118 lb-ft) of torque, thanks to its massively powerful Bafang Ultra mid-drive motor.

That motor is well known to put out over 1.5kW of power, though QuietKat and Jeep market the e-bike as providing 750W of power. They could be detuning the motor, or more likely using a lower figure to avoid running afoul of e-bike regulations in many US states that limit power to 750W.

I’ve hit up to 37 mph (59 km/h) on e-bikes sporting that motor, though Jeep and QuietKat may limit the speed of the motor electronically.

The bike also features high-end suspension. In fact, I happen to already be quite familiar with the bike’s suspension design because I know the company that builds it. It is designed by FREY Bike, a Jinhua, China-based e-bike company that invited me to tour their factory last year.

I’ve spent some serious saddle time on FREY’s e-bikes and have come away with a strong appreciation for their setup and the quality of their bikes. And so while I haven’t yet tested the Jeep e-bike, I’ve ridden the bikes it is based on (a modified FREY M600 reworked for fat tires and the larger M620 motor). And those bikes can deliver on their promises.

QuietKat and Jeep have made the Jeep e-bike available for pre-order starting today via a dedicated website for the bike.

Now that the company has begun taking sales, Jeep has joined the likes of other large car manufacturers that are offering electric bicycles and scooters. GM began selling its own electric bicycle last year, and Skoda has introduced a novel e-bike/scooter hybrid.

Spanish automaker SEAT has also gotten in on the two-wheeled EV game with its own seated and standing electric scooters.

Even ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft have their own micromobility solutions with electric bicycles and e-scooters.

So while this may be Jeep’s first electric bike, it’s just one of many currently being offered by car manufacturers hoping to scoop up their own slice of the personal mobility pie. The bigger question now is, “When will we finally see a true four-wheeled electric Jeep?”

What do you think of Jeep’s electric bicycle? Let us know in the comment section below!