The importance of this factor varies based on what you want to use your electric bike for. Obviously, if you are going to use it for relaxing, effortless rides around the neighborhood, it probably doesn’t need to have a very high top speed (and just so we’re being clear, we’re referring to the top speed the bike reaches using its electric motor). But if you plan on doing more arduous things with it, a higher top speed may actually be very important to you.

And unfortunately, the speed of an electric bike fluctuates a lot, and its affected by many different things. You can rest assured that the advertised top speed of an e-bike will generally be pretty difficult to reach; if a manufacturer says the bike can go twenty miles an hour, they probably mean it can go that fast under ideal circumstances. When you factor in the weight of the rider, the unevenness of the terrain, and the steepness of any inclines, any e-bike will probably go a little slower than advertised.

That said, it is still worth noting that the alleged top speed of e-bikes has a very wide range; some go as slow as ten miles an hour, and others go as fast as thirty-five. It’s up to your own discretion to determine what speed is right for you.

This criteria refers to the distance an e-bike can travel before the battery gives out. Now, there are two types of distance to consider here, as a manufacturer might list both. First of all, there is how far the e-bike can go on electric power and nothing else; how far it can go if you never pedal at all and let the motor do all the work. Second, is how far the bike can ideally travel with a combination of pedal power and the motor’s power. Generally, the manufacturer will list the second distance, because it’s a larger and more appealing number.

This just means you need to make doubly sure how far the real distance of an e-bike’s motor is. If a manufacturer only lists one number, they might be listing the ideal distance with the perfect combination of pedal power and electric power, rather than the more realistic distance that you probably want to know. In these situations, it would probably help you to look at product reviews for an answer or send a question directly to the manufacturer. Other manufacturers may actually list both distances.

 This criteria really only matters for you if you are interested in an off road e-bike. Wider tires generally provide a bike with more stability on unfavorable terrain like sand, snow, and gravel. These e-bikes are usually called ‘fat tire’ bikes, a few of which are a part of the list above. Thankfully this is an easy criteria to evaluate; if you want an off road e-bike, look specifically for fat tire bikes, and if you just want one for smooth roads, don’t bother with them.

This is a simple one. Most electric bikes have two to three working modes, which just refers to how the bike can be operated. There’s a full electric mode, where the motor propels the bike forward and you do nothing, and the manual mode where your pedal power does all the work and the motor is off. Many e-bikes have a third mode that is the assist mode, where the motor supplements your muscle power to split the effort.

Generally, you won’t find too many bikes with different working modes than these three main ones, but if you do it might be worth looking into.

You probably saw this term come up a few times during the reviews of the e-bikes above. Naturally, many e-bikes need to have speed settings, so you can control how fast it goes when using its motor power. Different e-bikes will have a different number of settings for speed, and more is generally better.
Most e-bikes only have seven speed variable transmission, which means you only get seven speed settings. Other bikes might have less, and some bikes have as many as twenty one speed settings, giving you an extreme degree of control over how fast you and your bike go. For this criteria, just keep in mind that the more speed settings there are available, the more options you have in managing your bike’s speed.

All of these e-bikes run on batteries. They are usually rechargeable lithium ion batteries of various volts, but they all need to be charged at some point or another. Max charge time is just how long you have to charge the battery before it is at maximum capacity, and therefore capable of providing the maximum speed and distance when powering your electric bike.

A general average for battery charge times is four to six hours. You might want to keep looking if you come across a bike with a charge time significantly longer than that.

This criteria is kind of redundant, since it is related to speed and distance, but still worth mentioning. Generally speaking, a more powerful motor is better. There’s very few situations in
which this isn’t the case. More powerful motors will carry you up steep hills, provide greater speed, and power the e-bike for longer distances. They can also generally support more weight.
Most e-bikes have motors in the 250w to 500w range. E-bikes with 250w motors may claim they can reach speeds of twenty miles an hour or so, but with a weaker motor, speed hindrances become more prominent. A 250w motor isn’t going to power through a steep incline as easily as a 500w motor will. In short, even if two e-bikes both claim to have a max speed of twenty miles an hour, the e-bike with the more powerful motor will reach that speed with much less difficulty.

A minor point, but one that ties in with the strength of the motor. Generally, manufacturers are good enough at designing e-bikes that the motor is powerful enough to balance with the weight of the bike itself. But this could change if you run out of juice and then have to pedal or push the bike up a hill. For instance, one of the bikes on this list weighs almost seventy pounds. This is fine when its powerful motor still has juice and it can propel itself forward, but if you ran out in the middle of a ride and had to push a seventy pound bike up a hill, that could pose a serious problem. Make sure you know how much a bike weighs, because the heavier it is, the more pedal power you’ll need when you aren’t using the electric motor.

This is an important question to ask, because, like regular bicycles, electric bikes are designed with different purposes in mind. A mountain bike is not designed to do the same things that a city bike is, and the same is true of electric bikes. If you buy a bike that was specifically designed for cruising, then don’t expect it to perform very well off road. And if you buy an off road bike, expect it to not go quite as fast as a bike designed for cruising on smooth paved streets.

Also consider whether the bike is geared towards full electric operation or assisted riding. Some bikes are designed to be ridden primarily through motor power, while others are designed to really just assist you in the regular operation of a bicycle. You should be aware of which one any particular e-bike is; that aforementioned seventy pound e-bike is probably geared towards being used with its motor, and rarely without it.

This criteria isn’t really all that noteworthy, because most e-bikes are made of the exact same material; aluminum alloy and some carbon steel. These are by far the most common materials it e-bike construction, but that doesn’t mean they are always used. That said, most manufacturers will list what their bikes are made out of, so if you have a personal preference or want to make sure you aren’t getting a cheaply made bike, you can find those answers pretty readily.

The big question, one that everyone cares about unless they just have money to spare. E-bikes are pretty expensive, but their price range is wildly varied. Some of the most expensive e-bikes (some of which are on this list) cost almost three thousand dollars, while one of the cheapest is just barely more expensive than six hundred dollars.

It is worth noting that with e-bikes, you very much get what you pay for. The expensive bikes are so expensive because they can go faster and farther than all of the other bikes. But unless you really, really want to be able to go thirty miles an hour instead of fifteen, it’s probably not worth the almost triple price tag. Your average e-bike costs about seven hundred dollars, give or take.

That being said, you should also note that the price of some bikes can vary drastically based on things not related to performance. Some of the bikes on this list are significantly cheaper if you just buy them in a different color. Always check the different variants to see if you can get a better deal.