Folding bikes are great for commuting and offer many advantages to a conventional bicycle as this article on Why Ride a Folding Bike illustrates. And if you need a helping hand on steep hills, electric folding bicycles could be your answer to pain-free healthy cycle commuting.
Electric Powered Bicycles
The last ten years has seen a huge rise in the popularity of e-bikes or electric powered bicycles. While many people just use them for short shopping trips, more and more commuters are using them to get to work and folding e-bikes make longer distance bicycle commuting even easier as your e-bike can be neatly folded away for transportation on trains.
Any hills are made easy using pedal-assisted cycling, and even commuters who can manage the occasional hill, find folding electric bicycles ideal as there is no need to shower after a hot and sweaty ride to work.
Electric Bike Batteries
Most folding e-bikes use Lithium-ion or Lithium-polymer electric bike batteries. When choosing an electric bike battery, these latest generation batteries are lighter and recharge much faster than older lead acid batteries, commonly used in entry level cheap electric bicycles.
The reason for using Lithium for folding e-bikes is simple; it makes them far easier to carry and store as the bikes are much lighter at around 18 kg versus a typical 30 kg for a cheap electric bicycle with a lead acid battery.
Cost of Folding E-Bikes
Folding e-bikes start around the £550/$880 mark and, depending on battery capacity, type of motor used and other factors such as number of gears and frame construction, can cost over £1100/$1750.
As electric bicycles still represent a relatively small niche market outside of Asia, most brands offering electric folding bikes are niche in themselves. Brands to consider include Freego from 50Cycles, iZip, e-Moto for cruiser style folding bikes with long range capacity, Lion and Kalkhoff from Poweredbicycles and Vatavio from Ecobike, an e-bike with a Shimano gear system for greater control and drivability. Also worth a look for low price is the high quality range of folding e-bikes from Prodeco Technologies.
When comparing various models, look at wheel sizes (16” is the norm for commuting folders), battery capacity and therefore range of distance, ease of foldability and overall weight plus, critical for commuters, the length of battery recharge time.
Folding Electric Bicycle
So if you are thinking of commuting by bike, consider a folding electric bicycle to take the pain out of any hills and eliminate the need for a shower when you arrive at work.
Prices correct as at January 2011.
Also of interest may be
- Cheap Folding Electric Bikes with LiFePO4 Bicycle Batteries
- Cheap Electric Bicycles and Electric Powered Bicycle Batteries
- Fit an Electric Bike Kit for Easy Cycling
- Why Ride an Electric Bicycle – Pros and Cons of Pedal Assisted Cycling
- How to Choose a Folding Bike
Helen Smeaton - Helen Smeaton runs a cycling and hiking business and is also a freelance writer and web designer. Read her profile for more information
Join the Conversation