Micah Toll

In a reflection of growing sentiment in the US against reckless electric bike riders, one California town is preparing to enact a series of new restrictions and legal clarifications for e-bike riders.

Super73, a leading e-bike manufacturer based in Irvine, California famous for its moped-style electric bikes, has issued a recall for two of its popular models.

Cowboy, the Brussels, Belgium-based electric bicycle maker famous for its modern take on classic European-cycling designs, is nearshoring its production to speed up delivery times.

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 February 2025. It may still be cold and snowy in much of the country, but that doesn’t mean now isn’t a great chance to start the year off with a fun and efficient electric bicycle! So check out the awesome e-bikes below, any one of which could become your next electric bike.

If you’ve been hanging around in the world of electric bikes for any decent amount of time, you’ve probably come across Bafang. They don’t make electric bikes, but they’ve long made many of the components used by them. I visited the factory back in 2019, and recently returned for a second visit to see what had changed. Boy, was I unprepared for what awaited me…

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 an NYC program to give out free e-bikes to delivery riders, a new bicycle handlebar designed with help from Onlyfans, Vammo’s 1 million battery swaps, a new e-moto/e-snowmobile project, Lift electric hydrofoil boards, and more.

New York City’s Department of Transportation has a novel idea for helping get the most common uncertified e-bikes off the city’s streets: let their riders swap them for a safer UL-compliant electric bike for free.

It’s a tale as old as time. A man takes a ride on an electric motorcycle and thinks to himself, “This is great, but you know what it’s missing? The ability to morph into an electric snowmobile, too.”

Ok, perhaps it’s not the most common thought among us. But that hasn’t stopped it from apparently becoming a reality thanks to Canadian designer Steven Foster, who has now spent three years developing and testing that exact concept to bring the Avvenire Combat e-motorcycle to life.

We’ve spent years following interesting high-tech developments in the e-bike industry, often while the more traditional non-electric cycling industry has had to make do with comparatively lower-tech leaps. But now all cyclists can rejoice in an interesting new “smart handlebar” that happens to have gotten a friendly helping hand from an unlikely source.

When it comes to oddities of the electric vehicle variety, it doesn’t take much to pique my interest. If it’s got an electric motor and a funky shape, I’m down to clown. But being an electric bicycle guy through and through, anytime we can work some good ol’ pedaling action into the mix, I’m all the happier. And this week’s edition of the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week sure tickles my fancy!

The Candela P-12 is the first hydrofoil electric ferry in the world to begin commercial operations. The 30-seat electric ferry uses a set of computer-controlled hydrofoil wings to fly above the surface of the water, resulting in a smoother and more efficient ride. But what happens when the seas get rough?

Vammo, a battery-swapping service for electric motorcycles in Latin America, has just announced that the company has surpassed an impressive 1 million battery swaps in a little over a year.

Last month I was fortunate enough to take a trip to China and visit seven different micromobility companies, each of which invited me to tour their factory, test out their new products, or attend their major events. The trip is something of a sequel to the first Chinese factory tour trip I took last year (with the documentary of that trip racking up millions of views on YouTube).

In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing detailed articles and videos about each of the following visits. But in the meantime, consider this as a preview of what’s to come.

This isn’t exactly my first time dropping a container full of Chinese electric vehicles in the yard and cracking it open with childlike glee. But it is likely one of the most unique experiences I’ve had so far doing this, revealing inside a fleet of battery-powered Chinese electric mini-excavators and assorted accessories.

With the flick of a Sharpie marker, new tariffs on goods imported from Canada, Mexico, and China were imposed this morning and will take effect next week on February 4, 2025. According to President Trump, the tariffs are intended “to protect Americans”, though nearly all economists agree that they will result in higher prices for consumer goods and increased inflation, devaluing the US dollar.

The Trump Administration’s new 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico are larger than the 10% additional tariffs on Chinese goods, but the latter will have the biggest impact on the electric bicycle industry in the US.

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 a new solar charging kit from JackRabbit, a reversal on a plan to double the power limit for e-bikes in the UK, China is pushing to replace lithium-ion battery e-bikes with lead acid battery alternatives, the Dallas Cowboys all got new electric motorcycles, UBCO enters receivership, and more.

There’s no denying how popular high-power electric bikes have become. And a quick way to get more power without having to go with a ridiculously large motor is to simply double up, putting one motor in each of a bike’s wheels. That’s what Wallke did with the Wallke H7 AWD, and the result is a fast e-bike that is as powerful as it is chunky – which is to say, very.

If it sounded too good to be true, that’s because it was. A proposal made last year to double the allowable power limit of electric bicycles in the UK was canceled after pushback on the plan.

In what might seem like a headscratcher, China is now urging its citizens to trade in their lithium-ion battery-based electric bikes for newer models with sealed lead-acid batteries (SLAs).

Electric bicycle incentive programs have grown considerably over the last few years, and Washington State is one of the most recent to lay the groundwork for yet another program designed to reduce the cost of this alternative transportation for lower-income commuters. But the state is also going about it in a unique way, by using funding raised from its emissions taxes.

So many of the fun electric go-karts I’ve found while window-shopping on Alibaba have been of the child-sized variety. To be fair, I’m not opposed to folding my body in ways it shouldn’t in service of a good time, but it’d be nice to get the same experience while maintaining full blood flow to the extremities.

That’s where today’s find comes in, as a full-size electric go-kart that adults can enjoy, too! It’s both awesome and weird, but perhaps for once, this week’s honoree of the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week is more of the former and less of the latter!

JackRabbit, the maker of pint-sized electric microbikes, is back with a new product designed to quickly recharge their batteries from pure, uncut photons mainlined into an e-bike directly from the sun. In true independent charging form, the Solar Charging Kit from JackRabbit keeps riders rolling even when there’s not a convenient AC outlet in sight.

There’s riding in style, and then there’s over 80 Dallas Cowboys all cruising around on the same electric motorcycles. Thanks to a generous gift from team quarterback Dak Prescott, that’s exactly what the football team will be doing on over 80 new CAKE Makka electric mopeds.

The Tauranga, New Zealand-based electric motorcycle maker UBCO has entered receivership, marking dim prospects for the mobility company that had only recently announced a major partnership with Australia Post.