Evelo Dash review: Belt-drive folding e-bike with class… 2
The Evelo Dash manages to stand out in an ever crowded segment of electric folding bikes. At Electrek, many of the folding electric bikes we’ve reviewed over the years blend together, but the Evelo Dash has such incredible features that it has unearthed an inherit problem I didn’t know existed.
Some people are surprised that despite their appearance of being mission specific, folding electric bikes are often made for a variety of uses. City life, camping, and last-mile options are the most common cases, but within them different specialties begin to arise.
The Gocycle, for example, is a totally custom design and weighs very little, shooting for a customer who wants high tech and easy transport. The Wallke H6, on the other hand, is selling a wild ride with inordinately heavy components for a down and dirty adventure.
The Evelo Dash is a clean, refined electric folder that puts the money where it counts and saves on the rest. The ride is a bit stiff, but it’s balanced by the smooth pedaling achieved by Evelo’s masterful combination of drivetrain components.
Evelo Dash Specs
- Motor: 350 mid-drive
- Battery: 36v 10.5Ah Samsung (frame integrated)
- Engagement: torque sensing pedal assist, throttle
- Drivetrain: Gates CDX carbon belt drive
- Gearing: Sturmey Archer Internal 5-speed
- Top Speed: 20mph
- Range Estimate: up to 40 miles, 20 throttle-only
- Weight: 48.5lbs
- Brakes: 160mm dual piston hydraulic discs
- Tires: 20″ x 4″ CST
- Frame: folding aluminum with latch
- Extras: full color display, full fenders, rear rack, integrated front and rear lights, brake light function, folding pedals, folding handlebars, locking battery (in frame)
Evelo Background
Evelo as a company stands out for having the best bikes to pedal on the market today. One look at their lineup of the Omega, Galaxy SLk, or Galaxy Lux will show that Evelo has put a lot of effort into how an electric bike can feel luxurious to pedal and retain the power and throttle demands that American buyers search for. That attention to the ride experience has been placed into the Dash model, albeit scaled down and streamlined for weight, cost, and complexity savings.
Why the Dash?
The heart of the matter is the Gates Carbon CDX belt drive that replaces the chain. This single component improves the bike owning experience in more than just smoothness. A belt drive requires no maintenance with lubrication or constant replacement, which makes the bike travel very easily. Now it can be tossed into a trunk, closet, boat, etc. without the worry of grease or rust damaging the bike or the storage compartment it resides in.
The smoothness of the belt drive is magnified by the torque based mid-drive motor that Evelo has custom programmed for this bike. I can’t stress enough how nice this combo is, and I find myself singing its praises in each Evelo review I write. There are many other electric bikes with great motors, such as Bosch, Yamaha, and Shimano. However, these motors are sold as 250w max and, more importantly, have expensive licensing with limited interface options and will absolutely not tolerate a throttle.
The Evelo Dash has all of that: 350w power output, cheap price for the components, a wealth of connectivity, and throttle power at any speed.
The Dash also sports 160mm dual piston hydraulic disc brakes, which are especially nice. These brakes have a nice bit of stopping power while keeping the size and weight at a reasonable level. They might be a bit overbuilt, but in terms of brakes, this is the side you’d want to err on.
The Evelo Dash isn’t perfect, and I wouldn’t recommend it for all folding uses. The folding aspect is very normal for folders, and it’s a bit heavy, coming in just shy of 50 pounds with the battery.
What’s the problem?
The single greatest drawback to the Dash is common for folding bikes: It rides stiff.
The Dash has some but not a lot of air volume in the 20″ x 4″ tires. Combined with the solid seat post and down-to-business handlebars, the ride feels very harsh compared to the soft experience of pedaling. I think that’s the issue. I probably wouldn’t have noticed the bike has no suspension options, but the pedals feel so amazing that I subconsciously expect that from the road as well.
I actually went out to ride a few other folding bikes to test my theory. Maybe it was confirmation bias, but it seemed to me that, indeed, folding bikes are still stiff. I simply gave them a pass these last years since I expected every folding bike to feel like speed-dating on folding chairs. The Dash had quietly dashed my low expectations with normal comfort on an otherwise incredible ride.
Electrek’s Take
The Evelo Dash is a sweet folding electric bike that makes me want to pedal just about everywhere. The practical features and amazing drivetrain make for a compelling bike to take on the road or keep handy for car-less days. The motor and battery combo aren’t the heavy powerhouse that others have, but since I want to pedal, I’m going to save more energy from the battery at a natural rate.
I would recommend accessorizing the Dash with a thicker saddle, suspension seatpost, and comfort grips. Most of these are available from Evelo’s website.
The Dash comes in at an MSRP of $3,199, although the company has periodic sales and open box specials when available. Get $100 off the order of an Evelo with this code: REF-4Q1DYKZ39397O5.
Evelo Dash Gallery
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Solar panel giant Qcells announced today that it’s temporarily furloughing 1,000 US workers – 25% of its workforce – and reducing pay and shifts at its factories in northeast Georgia due to supply chain delays caused by US Customs.
Qcells furloughs 1,000 workers
The supply chain delays are hindering the company’s ability to import components to build its solar panels. This has resulted in Qcells’ two factories in Cartersville and Dalton being unable to operate at full capacity for several months.
Qcells spokeswoman Marta Stoepker shared the following statement in an exclusive with Channel 2 Action News in Atlanta:
The company says the furloughed workers, who were notified this afternoon, will retain full benefits and won’t be laid off. However, Qcells will no longer be using staffing agency employees in Georgia “at this time.”
As Qcells introduced new supply chains to support its growing solar panel manufacturing facilities in Georgia, the company was recently forced to scale back production while our shipments into the US were delayed in the customs clearance process.
Although our supply chain operations are beginning to normalize, today we shared with our employees that HR actions must be taken to improve operational efficiency until production capacity returns to normal levels.
Stoepker said it expects to bring the furloughed workers back “in the coming weeks and months.” She continued:
Our commitment to building the entire solar supply chain in the United States remains. We will soon be back on track with the full force of our Georgia team delivering American-made energy to communities around the country.
Electrek’s Take
In January 2023, the Seoul-headquartered Qcells announced it would invest more than $2.5 billion to build a solar supply chain in Georgia – the largest-ever investment in clean energy manufacturing in the US to date. That included expanding the Dalton solar factory and building a fully integrated solar supply chain factory in Cartersville, Georgia, that will manufacture solar ingots, wafers, cells, and finished panels.
It’s not quite there yet, because that takes time. In the meantime, it’s being penalized by Customs. The US government under Trump says it’s keen on boosting domestic manufacturing. Why would it work against a company that’s onshoring an entire solar supply chain, including recycling?
Dalton and Cartersville employ nearly 4,000 people. Its total output will reach 8.4 GW of solar production capacity per year, which is equivalent to nearly 46,000 panels per day – enough to power approximately 1.3 million homes annually.
It’s ludicrous that it has been forced to furlough a quarter of its workforce due to the ineptness of the Trump administration’s US Customs policies. This is right up there with the ICE arrests at Hyundai’s plant in Georgia. Bravo.
Read more: Georgia gives US solar panel manufacturing a big boost with a new factory
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The breakthrough EV batteries Toyota says will double driving range and cut charging times are facing another setback. The company is once again delaying plans for a new battery plant in Japan.
Why is Toyota delaying its EV battery plant this time?
Earlier this year, Toyota bought a 280,000-square-meter plot of land in Fukuoka, Japan, where it planned to build a plant to produce the more advanced EV batteries.
A location agreement was expected to be signed by April, but Toyota pushed back construction by several months, blaming slower-than-expected demand for electric vehicles.
The agreement was expected to be finalized this Fall, but that will no longer be the case. According to Nikkei, Toyota is delaying the EV battery plant for the second time. Toyota will review and adjust plans over the next year.
Fukuoka governor, Seitaro Hattori, confirmed the news with reporters on Friday following a meeting with Toyota’s president, Koji Sato. Hattori also shut down claims that Toyota was planning to scrap the battery plant altogether.
Toyota again blamed slowing EV demand for the delay. The decision comes despite Keiji Kaita, president of Toyota’s Carbon Neutral Advanced Engineering Development Center, confirming at the Japan Mobility Show just last week that it’s “sticking on the schedule” to introduce its first solid-state battery-powered EV by 2028.
Last month, Toyota said it aimed to “achieve the world’s first practical use of all-solid-state batteries in BEVs” after securing a partnership with Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. to mass-produce them. It’s also working with Japanese oil giant Idemitsu.
The company recently revealed a solid-state battery pack prototype that it claims can deliver 747 miles (1,200 km) range and 10-minute fast charging, but will we ever see it actually in production?
Electrek’s Take
Toyota has been making empty promises about EV batteries for almost a decade now. It initially planned to introduce solid-state EV batteries in 2020, then pushed it to 2023, then 2026, and now it’s saying it will be around 2028.
Mass production is likely closer to the end of the decade, if Toyota doesn’t delay it again. While it’s blaming the slowing demand, global EV sales are still on the rise. According to Rho Motion, global EV sales topped 2 million for the first time in a single month in September 2025. Through the first nine months of the year, EV sales are up 26% compared to the same period in 2024.
Even with the US ending the $7,500 federal tax credit and other policies designed to promote electric vehicles, global adoption will continue building momentum over the next few years.
Is it a demand issue, or is Toyota just looking for another excuse? With rivals like Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai, BMW, and Honda advancing next-gen EV batteries, Toyota will only fall further behind if it continues delaying key projects.
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In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss how Tesla is now Elon’s after the shareholders’ meeting, Xpeng going all-in on AI, Rivian’s earnings, and more.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
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