Micah Toll

I’m very much among those who believe “the correct number of e-bikes to have is N+1”. But I’m also a realist (and one who knows that happy wife equals happy life), and so I recognize that we often have to make due with the bike we have. And it was in that vein that I thought it’d be fun to take a city-focused electric bicycle on an off-road trip to see how it would handle. I wanted to show, or perhaps just prove to myself, that my everyday beater city e-bike could perform where you might think a dedicated electric mountain bike or fat tire e-bike would be a necessity.

And if I’m being completely honest with myself, I wound up in a bit over my head. But all is well that ends well, and here I am the next day, slightly sore, but still able to type it out.

Many states across the US have spent the last several years promoting electric bikes as a climate solution. California, one of the leaders in e-bike adoption in the US, has funded rebate programs, invested in bike infrastructure, and championed e-bikes as a way to reduce car trips and cut emissions. At the same time, however, another trend has emerged: a sharp increase in youth ridership – and with it, a growing number of complaints about unsafe riding.

Now, some lawmakers in states with high e-bike usage are proposing something that would have sounded unthinkable just a few years ago: license plates for e-bikes.

Spend enough time in the e-bike world, and you’ll start to notice something strange: a huge amount of how we regulate micromobility comes down to one simple question – does it have pedals? That might have made sense a decade ago, but today it’s starting to look increasingly outdated.

And to be clear, this isn’t about whether having pedals is a requisite for being considered an electric bicycle. It surely is. Rather, I think the bigger question here is this: Should it even matter?

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a stark warning to riders of the Ridstar Q20 and Q20 Pro electric bikes, urging owners to stop using them immediately due to a serious fire risk. But in a troubling twist, the manufacturer has refused to cooperate with a recall.

Honda’s upcoming WN7 electric motorcycle may have just picked up a prestigious Gold iF Design Award, but the real story here is more than the accolades it’s what the bike represents for the future of mainstream electric motorcycles from legacy manufacturers.

There’s a growing push in the US to rethink what a “car” really needs to be, as more Americans than ever embrace alternatives from e-bikes to golf carts, among other car alternatives. Wink Motors is the latest company betting that smaller, slower, and cheaper might actually be the smarter answer for a lot of drivers.

But Wink has a different approach, focusing on those who want to retain the benefits of a traditional car without all the extra cost or hassle.

SUPER73 is back with a major shake-up to its lineup. The Southern California-based electric bike brand has just unveiled its all-new A-Series, a collection of redesigned models that signal a shift toward more practical, commuter-friendly machines while still leaning into the company’s signature moto-inspired styling.

Iceland isn’t exactly known for doing things the easy way. Between volcanic terrain, unpredictable weather, and long stretches of rugged wilderness, it’s the kind of place that tends to shape products around necessity rather than excess.

And that philosophy is exactly what shows in Lauf Cycles’ newest launch: the company’s first-ever electric mountain bike, the eElja.

Electric hydrofoiling boat maker Candela just pulled off something that’s getting harder to do in today’s climate tech landscape: raise a significant new round of funding – and do it while the rest of the sector is cooling off.

Velotric is taking a notable step into the growing lightweight e-bike segment with the launch of its new Tempo, a city-focused electric bike designed to feel much closer to a traditional bicycle than most of today’s heavier commuter models.

Electric propulsion has already transformed the way we ride bikes on land, and now the same idea behind e-bikes is quietly reshaping how we get around on the water. Electric kayaks are bringing a similar concept to the water, making marine excursions more accessible than ever.

Aventon has just unveiled its latest electric mountain bike, the new Current, bringing a full-suspension eMTB platform to the company’s lineup that blends trail-ready performance with the connected tech features Aventon has been steadily building into its bikes. Continuing with Aventon’s modus operandi for the last few years, the Current offers an increasingly refined level of off-road riding, yet at a price that undercuts the bigger established bike shop brands.

A new electric motorcycle startup claims it has solved one of the oldest challenges in two-wheeled transportation: staying upright. Technology company OMOWAY has officially unveiled its new OMO X electric motorcycle and announced that the bike has now entered mass production, describing it as the world’s first mass-produced self-balancing electric motorcycle.

I’ve done it again. I took a risk and spent a stack of cash to buy what could either be the most affordable, awesome electric ATV in the world, or a dangerous pile of steel and magnets that has no business ferrying around innocent lives through off-road terrain.

Ready to find out which it is? Me too, so let’s hit it!

I’ve spent countless hours here at Electrek doing detailed hands-on testing of hundreds of electric bikes. Through thousands of miles of riding, I’ve been fortunate to learn these e-bikes inside and out, top to bottom and front to back. That long-term experience with real-world e-bike testing has helped me find the best electric bicycles on the market for just about any budget.

Below are some of the top e-bikes I’ve hand-tested for every price range, current as of March 2026. Spring is just threatening to show itself, and that means it’s time to get ready for riding weather! Check out the awesome e-bikes below, any one of which could become your next electric bike.

This week on Electrek’s Wheel-E podcast, we discuss the most popular news stories from the world of electric bikes and other nontraditional electric vehicles. This time, that includes new electric bicycles from brands like Ride1Up and Heybike, plus comeback stories from Juiced Bikes and Rad Power Bikes, a look at how the answer to high gas prices might have been parked in the corner of your garage this whole time, and more.

Across the United States, a quiet shift is taking place in how some local governments think about small, slow vehicles. More cities and states are updating their rules to make it easier for residents to legally drive golf carts on public streets, often through simplified permitting systems or special local ordinances.

A Southern California school district is considering a controversial new rule that could significantly limit how students get to school. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District, which serves Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, is weighing a proposal that would ban most students from riding electric bicycles to school.

Whenever gas prices spike, the same advice tends to dominate the conversation: “Just buy an electric car.”

And to be fair, that advice isn’t wrong. Electric cars can dramatically reduce the cost of fueling your transportation, and for drivers who already need a car every day, switching from gasoline to electricity can be a smart financial move. A large-scale shift to EVs is also our best bet for energy independence, so global strife has less impact on our wallets. But that argument, despite its merits, ignores the fact that most people can’t simply buy a new car to replace their existing gasoline-powered vehicle.

Ride1Up is expanding one of its most successful e-bikes into an entire platform. The company has announced three new versions of its Vorsa electric bike, transforming what started as a single model into a family of bikes built around the same core ride system but tailored to different types of riders. The new lineup includes the lighter and more agile Vorsa Lite, the original Vorsa configuration, and the new fat-tire Vorsa FT.

“Juiced is back, baby” says the revamped Juiced Bikes website. It also shows us our first glimpse of what are set to become the new e-bike models that will help the re-animated electric bike maker launch its much-awaited comeback tour.

Rad Power Bikes’ new ownership says the brand is about to be reborn after being bought out of bankruptcy – and part of that rebirth includes building e-bikes in the United States.

But if that sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve heard similar promises before. And while the idea of American-made e-bikes is appealing, the reality of the industry makes it far more complicated than it sounds.

Kawasaki may have taken its sweet time to slowly bring us the most basic level of commuter electric motorcycles, but a new patent shows that the company has quietly been working on more advanced designs that could signify a major leap in development for the company.

Rad Power Bikes, once the dominant force in North America’s direct-to-consumer e-bike boom, has officially found a new home. Life Electric Vehicles Holdings (Life EV) announced this week that it has completed a court-approved acquisition of Rad Power Bikes’ brand, intellectual property, inventory, and certain operating assets.