In what should no longer come as a surprise to anyone, Phoenix-based Lectric Ebikes has done it again. With today’s launch of the Lectric XPress, the maker of North America’s #1 best-selling electric bike just entered yet another e-bike category with a new model designed to crush the competition.

The Lectric XPress follows the best-selling Lectric XP 3.0 at the same price point, just $999, yet offers a full-size commuter tire alternative to the company’s hot-selling folding fat tire e-bike.

Riding on 27.5 x 2.1-inch urban tires, the bike sports several sought-after commuter features including a custom suspension fork, torque sensor, thru-axle front wheel, integrated front and rear lighting, color LCD screen, hydraulic disc brakes, 7-speed transmission, and an easily removable battery.

Interestingly, the bike has multiple options, and I’m not just talking about the choice between a step-over and a step-through variant. Riders can also choose their motor power and battery capacity.

The entry-level model features a 500W continuous-rated motor and a 500 Wh battery (48V 10.4 Ah) good for 45 miles (70 km). The upgraded model has a 750W continuous-rated motor and a 672 Wh battery (48V 14 Ah) good for 60 miles (100 km). Both e-bike models are certified to UL2849, which covers the entire e-bike system including the motor, battery, charger, and the bike’s electronics.

While the upgraded motor and battery model is priced higher at $1,299, it’s one heck of a deal during the pre-launch period now since Lectric includes a free spare battery in that package, meaning riders will get two 672 Wh batteries for over 120 miles (200 km) of range.

The 500W motor offers 55 Nm of torque, which is modest but not overly powerful. It’s likely more than sufficient for beachside cruising or commuting through flat cities. The 750W motor offers 85 Nm of torque, providing more “oomph” and increased hill-climbing ability. It’s also worth noting that the peak watt ratings for the two motors are substantially higher at 1,092W and 1,310W, respectively.

Both models top out at Class 3 speeds of 28 mph (45 km/h), use a trigger-style thumb throttle, and feature a torque sensor. That torque sensor pairs with Lectric’s proprietary PWR pedal-assist system to use a wattage-based setup providing a pedal assist output that most riders find much more comfortable than the typical, lurching and jerkier pedal assist found on most budget-minded electric bike models on the market.

The move into the urban commuter e-bike market follows Lectric’s past expansions into cargo e-bikes, adventure e-bikes, electric trikes, premium commuter e-bikes, and lightweight folding e-bikes, all at much lower prices than nearly any other company in the North American market.

It’s part of what has become the company’s modus operandi, summed up by Lectric’s co-founder and CEO Levi Conlow:

“The reason for our success is simple — if you build an e-bike with all the value and high quality that people want and offer it for a price that’s not a penny more than it needs to be, it will resonate with people and build lasting relationships.”

Electrek’s Take

Well, that’s it. There’s a new king of the budget-friendly commuter e-bikes in town. Sure, plenty of people already used the Lectric XP 3.0 as a commuter e-bike, but now the company has launched a dedicated commuter e-bike that likely better fills that role.

The Lectric XPress offers basically everything most value-oriented commuter riders want, and does it for an incredibly reasonable price. At just $999, getting a suspension fork, hydraulic disc brakes, and torque sensor is an incredible deal. It’s so good that I’m willing to look past the decision to put a thumb throttle on the bike instead of the only correct choice: a half-twist throttle. The only other downside is that color options are a bit limited. The step-over only comes in black and the step-thru only comes in white. I’d have loved some more color options, but Lectric is already flirting with SKU proliferation as it is, so I understand the desire to limit color options for the sake of simplifying fulfillment.

To me, this basically replaces what the RadMission e-bike was designed to do several years ago: be a simple and effective metro-style commuter bike. Except that for the same price, Lectric is throwing a lot more features at us than Rad did. The downside is it weighs a good bit more than the RadMission, tipping the scales at 57 lb (26 kg), but most riders never pick their e-bikes up so the added weight may not put off too many people.

I would have liked to see racks and fenders included as standard equipment, but the RadMission didn’t include them either back in the day, and it even left the kickstand as an add-on. So by comparison, I guess we should be happy we get a kickstand this time.

One thing we definitely get is a lot more variation. The ability to upgrade to a more powerful motor is also an interesting add-on feature, letting flatland riders save a few hundred bucks while still giving hilly terrain riders the option for better climbing power and stronger acceleration. And a choice of battery capacity also lets riders decide whether it’s worth spending more to increase range, or saving money for the modest range of a 500 Wh battery pack.

All told, this looks incredibly promising. It’s not going to rival commuter e-bikes priced several times as much, but it’s not meant to. Lectric’s whole thing is giving riders e-bike models that do a lot for a little, and the Lectric XPress fits that play perfectly.

Malaysia and Singapore pave the way

More to be done

While the regional uptick in green investments represented a positive trend shift, with some bright spots in green data center investment, much more is needed to meet critical climate goals, according to the authors of the report. 

About $1.5 trillion in cumulative investment in the energy and nature sectors will be needed to reach nationally determined contribution targets by 2030, said the report. However, only 1.5% has been invested to date, with many countries at risk of missing their pledges, according to the report. 

“We believe that an acceleration of effort by countries, corporates and investors is imperative as Southeast Asia remains woefully off-track,” said GenZero’s Tan.

Renewable energy accounts for less than 10% of the region’s energy supply, with fossil fuel subsidies being around five times higher than renewable investments, she added. Green investment towards power in the region fell by 14% year-over-year for the second year in a row.

“There is a reality gap between what many believe is happening and true progress on the ground,” said Dale Hardcastle, director of the Global Sustainability Innovation Center at Bain & Company. 

But despite Southeast Asia’s “structural challenges,” immense potential exists to accelerate the energy transition and build the green economy through initiatives such as blended finance, he added. 

Additionally, the report called on governments to facilitate more policy incentives and regional cooperation as well as to focus on already proven and deployable green technologies. Such efforts could unlock $300 billion of annual business by 2030, it added.

In the region, Indonesia saw the most private investment in green projects, followed closely by the Philippines. Meanwhile, Laos saw the second largest uptick of investments at 126%, thanks to foreign investment in renewable energy projects.  

Other major investment drivers in Southeast Asia included investments in waste management like water treatment and plastic recycling.