Best folding electric bikes: A compact option for city riders

The best folding electric bikes add some extra electronic assistance to the best folding bikes, making your ride easier and helping you to cover longer distances with less effort. Their compact folded dimensions mean that they're easier to store if you're space-constrained at home or work.

The fold means that they can be taken on public transport, even when the best non-folding electric bikes would be barred. They're also a great option for leisure travel, helping you to get around more easily once you reach your destination.

At Cyclingnews, we're bike riders above all else, and we've ridden and reviewed a whole range of bikes, including folding electric bikes, so we know what to look for in a folder with some extra e assistance.

Below are our picks of the best folding electric bikes and, at the bottom of the page, our buyer's guide to what to look for in a folding electric bike.

Best folding electric bikes: our picks

To many, Brompton is the market-leading folding bike brand. Its tried and tested folding bike platform has remained largely unchanged since its inception and still remains, in our opinion, one of the best available today. 

Converting the Brompton folding bike package to pedal assistance is a 250-watt front hub motor, powered by a detachable battery pouch that lives in a handlebar bag. This system is supplied by Swytch - makers of one of the best electric bike conversion kits that we've reviewed. 

There are plenty of things that put the Brompton Electric among the best folding electric bikes, such as its excellent array of luggage options, powerful brakes, crisp shifting and impressive Brompton ride quality, but we felt that it's still not perfect.

The mode controls are positioned on the battery, which we found to be an awkward reach when riding, and the brake levers need to be positioned slightly awkwardly so they aren't in the way when folded, and they don't cut the motor when pulled so we were sometimes caught out in traffic, as explained in more detail in our Brompton Electric review. We also reviewed the Brompton T-Line fitted with a Cytronex e-conversion kit recently. 

Alongside the original Brompton Electric C Line, there's now an Electric P Line bike, which has fewer gears and uses lighter materials to cut the bike's claimed weight from 17.4kg to 15.6kg.

We reckon that if you want a lightweight folding e-bike, this is a great option. The Hummingbird features carbon fibre components, which might seem superfluous on an e-bike, but it does help reduce overall mass.

Why is a lightweight folding electric bike important? When you need to carry it upstairs or lift it into stowage compartments on a train, like us you'll come to appreciate the reduction in weight. 

The trussed rear end looks like a stylish application of industrial design and helps keep overall mass down. So, how much does it weigh? Only 10.3kg.

Drawing energy from a 158Wh battery, the Hummingbird folding e-bike uses a 250W rear hub motor, which is paired with a large 48T front chainring. It only spins a single 12T cog at the rear, so we think that you might be slightly over-geared if your commute includes steep gradients.

A thoroughly futuristic design, the Gocycle G4 looks, unlike any other folding electric bike. Named for its position as the fourth generation of Gocycle's design, the G4's designer is a former McLaren employee, and that shows in the choice of materials and shapes. There's a carbon fork, magnesium alloy rear frame and, instead of Chromoly, it has an injected-moulded composite centre - if you upgrade to the G4i you'll see carbon fibre in this portion of the frame instead.

Rolling on larger-than-most 20-inch wheels, the Gocycle rides better and smooths out the jarring influence of road surface imperfections, but it does mean the overall folded size is larger. 

Its front hub drive unit was upgraded in 2021, with a more potent 500W motor option for specific markets. We reckon that this should give you all the urge to conquer any sequence of steep streets in an urban environment, even with the drivetrain only having three speeds, courtesy of Shimano's Nexus hub and Microshift grip shifting. The drivetrain is neatly housed within GoCycle's CleanDrive - effectively keeping it hermetically sealed from dirt and water ingress.

Disc brakes ensure secure stopping, even if your active commute is in the rain. We should also mention the Gocycle G4’s LED status display, which is integrated into the handlebar. If there is one model that shows where folding e-bikes could be in 2030, we think that this is it. 

The Vektron S10 might not be a superlight folding e-bike, but it does have a broad reach of appeal. Tern has attempted to combine many ‘big bike’ features into the folding frame concept with this Vektron S10. The result is a heavy package, at 22.1kg, but you get a large capacity battery pack, boosting range.

The Vektron S10's ten-speed drivetrain ensures that you can work with its battery assistance most efficiently. Commuters can see a theoretical range of up to 106km, and with Shimano hydraulic disc brakes, we think that you should feel entirely safe using the Vektron S10’s pedal assistance in wet conditions.

Frequency of use can make life tough for a folding e-bike, so to combat this, a corrosion coating has been applied to the Vektron S10’s chain to help delay its wear rate. By configuring the Vektron S10 with a mid-drive motor, Tern’s designers have optimised weight distribution, which we think should give this folding e-bike fantastically balanced agility.

Although most folding electric bikes are targeted at a distinctly urban audience rolling on quality commuting infrastructure, what about a mixed terrain option?

If you are going to cross some gravel, or have to negotiate crumbling roads and unpredictable shortcuts in your active commute, tiny wheels and skinny tyres aren’t ideal. The solution is something with a much larger tyre casing and grippier tread pattern.

This is where the Lectric XP comes into its own. It might be a very heavy folding e-bike, at 28kg, but you get a potent 850W peak power motor and large 20x3in tyres.

With those big tyres, we'd never have an issue taking the ‘alternative’ route anywhere. Road surface imperfections are of no consequence to the Lectric XP’s ride quality.

If you are a keen camper or want a folding e-bike to use at that vacation venue, where the clubhouse and other amenities are just too far for a convenient walk, the Lectric XP’s robustness will appeal. With a standard battery, Lectric says that you can expect up to 45 miles range, but there's a long-range battery option that increases that to a claimed 65 miles. It's a US class 1, 2 and 3 design, so you can ride throttle-only if you want.

The Raleigh folding e-bike blends classic commuter styling, with the stability of 20-inch wheels and an appropriate battery specification.

Bigger wheels bring more directional stability to the folding e-bike platform, although they do slightly reduce the bike’s overall compactness when folded. With its 20-inch wheels, we think that the Raleigh should do a fair job of calming some road surface buzz.

The frame is alloy but there is a steel fork up front, and despite the now-old-fashioned vertically mounted battery pack, Raleigh has done well with the bike’s overall design, as well as including an integrated rear cargo rack, which will be of use to active commuters.

Not outrageously heavy for a 20-inch wheeled folding electric bike, at 20kg, this is a very neatly integrated bike that should offer up to 50km of assistance. Its seven-speed drivetrain offers a good spread of ratios to conserve battery life and power you up steep urban inclines without bother.

How to choose the best folding electric bike for you

Any bike is invariably a big purchase and worthy of much deliberation. Given folding electric bikes are a niche genre that can be expensive, you've probably got some questions. In our eternal bid to help you buy the right product, we've attempted to answer as many of those questions as possible below.