What is the Top Speed of an Electric Trike? How Fast Will Your Electric Tricycle Take You?

What is the top speed of an electric tricycle? Hey everyone, I'm Dustin. I have nearly 20 years of experience in the bike and e-bike industry. Today, we're gonna answer the question, what is the top speed of an electric tricycle? All right, right here, I've got three electric trikes from Sixthreezero. Easy Transit folding 750-watt e-trike, our reverse fat tire 750 e-trike, and our Simple Glide fat tire recumbent e-trike, All right. 

Let's say you're considering, or many of you are considering, buying an electric tricycle, or maybe you have one, and you're wondering how fast they can go? Well, the top speed of e-trikes is going to vary model to model. The reality with a three-wheel e-bike versus a two-wheel is that there's a difference in how you balance and how you steer, and how you take turns. And on an electric tricycle, you're never going to want to take a corner as fast as you would on a two-wheel e-bike. So, many electric trikes have a lower top speed set by the manufacturer for safety and stability reasons because they don't want people going as fast on a three-wheel e-bike as on a two-wheel e-bike because of how the back wheels stay down on the ground and how it's more susceptible to tipping if ridden incorrectly or ridden too fast.

So the typical range of speed on an electric tricycle is going to be 15 miles an hour to 20 miles an hour. That's gonna be the range of top speed. Now, they do have the ability, a lot of them, with the pedal assist, you can go faster than 20 miles an hour. Legally, they can go up to 28 miles an hour, but in all of my experience, even on 750 watts, while you're pedaling in the highest level of assistance, it's very, very difficult to get it going faster than 20, 21, or 22 miles an hour, and that's just because you've got three wheels on the ground. You've got a lot of, you know, rubber on the pavement that's causing restriction and makes it difficult to go as fast or hit a top speed like you would on a two-wheel e-bike. So the manufacturers, or most manufacturers, limit the speed of trikes because they want to ensure riders are not going too fast, right? On a trike, if you end up going too fast on a turn, there is a possibility that you tip and you bring up, you tip up the rear wheels like so. Now, the possibility of that happening also depends on what kind of trike you are on. So we have three different ones right here as an example. This is our, I would say, conventional folding e-trike with 16-inch wheels. This is our reverse e-trike with two wheels in the front, and this is a fat tire recumbent e-trike, and all of them are 750 watts.

And I would say the folding easy Transit, or, I'll tell you what, reality is, and then I'll tell you why. So the folding EZ Transit top speed is 16 miles an hour. The reverse E trike is 20 miles an hour, and the Simple Glide fat tire is 20 miles an hour. The reason the first E trike, the folding EZ Transit is 16 miles an hour because this is a conventional upright trike and it has a more compact frame and the rider sits up taller so this is the kind of setup where if you corner too fast there is the possibility if you you raise a wheel on the back here and you know in a worst case scenario you tip over. Now, I haven't heard of many people having that happen to them on this particular model it does happen to people out there on trikes so you need to learn to control the speed how you how you utilize the speed into turns and out of turns that is very important when you're talking about steering on a conventional sort of upright trike like this.So, in an abundance of caution and safety, the speed is limited to 16 miles an hour. Out there in the marketplace, e-trikes of a similar makeup, most of them are going to be limited to about 16. Some go up to 20 miles an hour, and that's really up to the manufacturer to decide that they're okay making the top speed 20 miles an hour on a trike like this. Now, moving into the reverse e-trike, this is the type of e-trike that feels just like a two-wheel bike, and it has this tilting steering in the front, which makes it so that when you corner, it feels like a two-wheel bike.

So the top speed on this is 20 miles an hour because the way it turns and leans, you lean and turn on this like you would on a two-wheel bike. So, on turns, you want to lean into the turn and you wanna go, not fast, but you want to keep momentum in the turn to keep this one balanced and stable on the ground. On a regular, conventional trike like this, you want to slow down into the turn to ensure that you keep those two rear wheels on the ground. So, different types of steering, and that allows, or this is why Sixthreezero has decided to make the top speed of this particular e-trike faster. Now, getting into our third and final one, The Simple Glide, we've done 20 miles an hour on this one as well, because this has a recumbent frame. It has a more elongated frame, which adds to the stability, plus these four-inch wide tires, which keep it very, very grounded, stable, and easy to corner. Stability and balance are not an issue. It's easy to turn. And again, by stretching out the frame, it adds a lot of stability. So we felt like 20 miles an hour on this, you could still be safe. Now, you don't wanna corner again, at fast speeds, but in general, if you're out cruising at 20 miles an hour, you feel stable and at ease on this trike. So the top speed of e-trikes can vary by model. I think it's important to figure out why you're using it, what you need it for, and what feels safe to you, right? Legally, the max is gonna be 20 miles an hour if you're just using the throttle, and 28 miles an hour in pedal assist, but you're gonna find that most manufacturers have set their limitations.

So, if you have any other questions on the topic, please reach out to us by email at theteam@sixthreezero.com or call us, 310-982-2877. We also offer a 30-day test ride of your e-trike policy. If you don't love it in the first 30 days, send it back. No questions asked, no money out of your pocket. We're also going to warrant everything for one year. If anything goes wrong in the first year, we'll take care of it, parts and labor. In addition to that, if you want to come out for a test ride, we're in San Clemente, California, 1046 Calle Rocoto, Unit K. Come on out and test ride all of our e-trikes before you purchase so you can make the right choice. And lastly, join our community. We have a Facebook group called Sixthreezero Pedalers. There are thousands of members in the group. Join the group before you purchase to ensure you're making the right choice, so you can talk to existing riders. Then, when you have yours, post in the group, make friends, and finally download the app to track your rides and compete on the leaderboard. So thanks for sticking around, and don't forget, it's your journey or experience. Enjoy the ride.