Electric bikes have been out on the market for several years, and their market share has increased considerably. You may be wondering, are Ecotric electric bikes any good?
Ecotric is a company that makes competitively well-manufactured bikes at considerably less cost than many other companies. Nobody is sure how they manage to keep costs down and use good, well-manufactured materials.
When considering online purchases, many people ask where are Ecotric electric bikes made? Their headquarters are in Hayward, CA, where they do R&D, manufacturing, and storage at one location.
You can choose between off-road and city e-bikes with a range of competitive prices. Let’s not waste more time and get into the Ecotric electric bike review.
What Are Ecotric Bikes?
An overview of Ecotric electric bikes shows that they come in many shapes and sizes. Regardless of the varying appearances, their bikes break down into a few broad categories.
Off-Road E-Bikes
The essential qualifiers for off-road electric bikes are the fat tires. Suspensions, if present, play a role as well. When there is no suspension system, the fat tires absorb shocks adequately.
Ecotric has a range of options that stay in the Class 2 category. Class 2 means the bike has a top speed of 20mph with a throttle. Ecotric advertises that their most expensive bike goes 26mph which qualifies as Class-3. Class-3 means the speed can be up to 28mph with varying throttle laws from state to state.
However, the manual states the electric power offers a max speed of 20mph, so on paper, Ecotric doesn’t have a Class 3 bike despite advertising a speed fast enough to qualify.
The product names of Ecotric off-road bikes are:
- Power Sport 20” Fat Tire/Electric Cheetah
- SportCool 26” Fat Tire
- Ecotric Hammer
- Ecotric Rocket
- Ecotric Leopard
- Ecotric Dolphin
- Ecotric Tornado
- Ecotric Bison
City E-Bikes
A city Ecotric bike has a less aggressive design than off-road bikes with thinner road tires. Options like cargo hauling and step-thru designs are on several city bikes.
After looking at different Ecotric e bike reviews, you will notice a difference in power between city bikes and off-road bikes. The city bikes don’t require as much power to tackle city roads. Batteries and motors are not cheap, so smaller capacity lowers the prices noticeably.
The other factor that leads to cheaper prices is toughness. Not to say that the city bikes break easily, but Ecotric doesn’t have to spend extra time and resources designing enough toughness to handle offroad riding on an Ecotric fat tire ebike.
The city bikes are:
- Ecotric Starfish
- Ecotric Vortex
- Ecotric Peacedove
- Ecotric Lark
- Ecotric Seagull
Ecotric Bike Classifications
Ecotric has an oddly designed website, rife with grammatical errors. This writer supposes that one of the ways they cut costs is by not hiring the best people to write and do web design.
They have five e-bike categories that start with the above two I listed. The additional three categories are Cargo E-bikes, Ecotric Folding Bikes, and Step-Thru E-Bikes. However, each of these categories contains the bikes already listed above.
I find browsing electric bikes easier when I think in terms of off-road or road bikes. I understand what Ecotric is thinking, but when you first land on their site, they appear to have huge product lines with dozens of bikes. In reality, they make fourteen bikes, which is still a lot.
The website has a confusing layout. Only look at off-road and city first to see all the bikes in one place. The other design aspect that doesn’t fit is that the same model in a different color has a separate listing, instead of choosing color inside one listing and collecting all the reviews in one place.
What I’m saying is their website has too many links to bikes and pages of links, but there are only fourteen bikes. I also noticed that their website prices are in-line with large vendors like Amazon.
Lastly, some of their bikes have their branding name printed clearly, and others don’t. Some of their bikes come with the option of old decals where you may not see the name easily. The new decal option will probably reveal the name. Ecotric has a bit of a bike name problem that they haven’t sorted out. Some bikes have clear names while others don’t.
Which Ecotric Bikes Sell the Best?
The best-sellers are:
- Power Sport 20” Fat Tire/Electric Cheetah
- SportCool 26” Fat Tire
- Ecotric Hammer
- Ecotric Starfish
- Ecotric Vortex
- Ecotric Peacedove
Most of the cheap Ecotric bikes that hover around $1,000, or less, sell the best. There are some exceptions, like the Hammer. Offroad bikes sell better than their city bikes, except for the Peacedove, the cheapest cargo and step-thru style city bike.
Ecotric is a good entry-level e-bike company. People who are on a budget or aren’t sure if they will get into Ecotric bicycle riding can appreciate the lowered risk.
More in the next section about support, but for people who receive well-built bikes, the build quality is good for the price. Many people only want the frame, battery, and electrics to work well because they plan to take some of the money they saved and replace certain parts.
For example, most people change the brakes, pedals, tires, and seats to brands they prefer. For these people, Ecotric makes a good and affordable product. Once all the after-market parts are on, the bike is considerably cheaper than many other brands post-customization.
How is Ecotric Support?
There is no better way to describe Ecotric support, so I’ll jump into the fray: All the evidence points towards terrible customer support.
If you are one of the unlucky people who receive defective parts, brace for an agonizing process. One customer who received a defective bike found out that customer support was in “far Asia.”
Basically, nobody who has had to deal with support has a good story to tell. They request video evidence for defective parts that make no sense, such as the battery. What’s a customer supposed to do? Film a several-hour video of the battery charging and then not powering the bike? How do you make a video of the battery not charging?
The only solution is to film the unboxing, assembly, and a trial run to show Ecotric support that the bike came out of the box defective if something fails.
Then there are the instructions that nobody can figure out because of unlabeled parts. One commenter said the manual looks like a 4-year-old did the writing.
For people with defective parts, who have to deal with customer support, their thoughts on the instructions guarantee a 1-star rating.
After reading the kinds of problems people have alongside the things customers like, Ecotric needs to fix quality assurance, so that every bike that comes off the line is the same.
The people who receive good bikes love them and rarely experience problems. Then some people receive a bike where manufacturing doesn’t seem complete or has defective parts.
I also noticed that more customers have problems with the city bikes than the offroad bikes. I find the imbalance strange because offroad bikes take more abuse.
Which Ecotric Models Are Best?
While “best” is always a matter of opinion and personal needs, a picture forms based on sales and Ecotric ebike reviews. People always ask the broad question, are Ecotric bikes any good?
One aspect worth noting about Ecotric is the speed. Most e-bikes that share Ecotric’s prices do not have as much power and speed. You typically have to pay more to get a fast electric bike.
Across the board, Ecotric electric bike weights are between 50-60 lbs. With such consistency, I want to focus on what to expect on the road or trail.
Comparison Chart
Power Sport 20” Fat Tire/Electric Cheetah
The 20” Ecotric Fat Tire electric bike line of offroad foldable models consists of three choices which are Cheetah variations. Most customers like the folding option, but many say the folded bike still takes up too much space.
The three models have different prices and slightly different features such as the monitors. The primary differences are the batteries.
The cheapest model features a 36V 12.5Ah lithium battery. An average-sized person can travel 19-21 miles without pedal assist.
The next Cheetah has a 48V 13Ah removable lithium battery. Expect to go 22-28 miles on pure battery power.
The most expensive model has a 48V 15Ah Li-Lion battery with an energy-saving motor. You can get about 29 miles before the battery loses power without pedaling.
All three models are Ecotric electric bikes 500W with a brushless gear motor.
SportCool 26” Fat Tire
The SportCool is the first bike Ecotric designed to work as is without having to research battery sizes. On the website, there are three choices, but they are all the same bike but in different colors. You may come across this bike with the name Ecotric fat26s900.
The bike isn’t foldable, so no hinge could fail when tackling offroad conditions. The battery is 36V 12.5Ah lithium-ion. Most people can expect to travel 19-20 miles on battery power alone.
The motor has a standard 500W brushless design that one would expect at the lower end of price ranges.
Ecotric Hammer
The Hammer takes a confident leap forward in price but qualifies as a more capable off road bike for the money. The bike has a 48V 13Ah lithium battery. On pure battery, the bike only goes 18.5 miles. However, the reason is that the motor takes a sizable step up and has a 750W brushless geared hub design with a front fork suspension.
Ecotric Bison
Based on the small number of reviews, the Bison doesn’t seem to have sold very well. The primary reason is that Ecotric doesn’t make a more expensive bike than the Bison. The few reviews available reveal serious cyclists enjoy the design.
This electric bike sports a 48V 17.6Ah removable lithium battery and energy-saving motor. Most riders can expect to get 37 miles out of the battery without pedaling. The Bison qualifies as a whopping Ecotric electric bike 1000W with a brushless gear motor.
Ecotric advertises a top speed of 26.1mph.
Ecotric Starfish
Starfish is the entry-level city e-bike. Note the power the off road bikes have compared to most city bikes, and you will understand the difference in prices. The Starfish is also an Ecotric folding electric bike that you can store in noticeably smaller spaces than the Cheetah due to having smaller tires.
The bike has a 36V 12.5Ah lithium battery with a 350W brushless motor.
Ecotric Vortex
The Vortex looks like a proper road bike. One look at the sporty 7-speed design, and you take the bike seriously as a commuter for getting around in city traffic.
This street traveler has a 36V 350W brushless geared motor with a 36V 12.5Ah removable lithium battery.
Ecotric Peacedove
The Peacedove is one of Ecotric’s best-selling city bikes due to its attractive, laid-back design and low price.
Also a stylish 7-speed, this bike runs off a 350W brushless geared motor. For power, the bike relies on a 36V 10Ah removable lithium battery. You also get a front basket and rear rack to store groceries on the way home.
Ecotric Extended Warranty
For a host of extra costs ranging from just over a hundred dollars to several hundred dollars, Ecotric has a comprehensive warranty plan.
All the bikes have an A and B extended warranty option. The plans are pretty similar across the board. The essential structure is to give 30 months of coverage versus the 18-month standard warranty across the board. The warranty covers the frame, Ecotric battery, display, controller, and motor.
The B plan offers 42-month Ecotric electric bike battery coverage. Forking over the extra money might be a good option on these warranties because Ecotric electric bike repair isn’t widely available at cycling shops.
The Verdict
Ecotric has done a good job matching the performance and build quality of many of their competitors but at a discounted price.
The exact ways they manufacture their bikes and cut costs are unclear, but customer reviews reveal that customer service is somewhere in Asia, sometimes speaking limited English. The service isn’t very proactive, and customers get frustrated.
Customers don’t regret the purchase when the build quality has no issues. Sometimes people don’t receive a well-manufactured bike, and 1-star rated customer service interactions follow quickly thereafter.
I would not take the online purchase risk, but there are physical stores where you can inspect the bike you want and only open your wallet if you’re satisfied with the quality.
