How we picked
We started from what is actually buyable. Adult e-trikes are a category where half the search results are brands that sell direct only — Lectric, Addmotor and Rad Power all build trikes you cannot buy through any link on this site — and another slice are listings from names with no product page, no spec table and no warranty address. We only consider a trike here if two things are true: it was in stock and purchasable on the date above, and its maker publishes a real specification table we can read and quote.
That filter removed more candidates than it kept. Several trikes with tempting sub-$450 prices publish nothing but a peak wattage and a range claim, which means there is no way to tell a reader what the load limit is, how low the step-through is, or whether the thing has a differential. An unstated spec is a finding on a value site, not a gap in our research, and on a vehicle that a rider with mobility limits is going to trust with their balance, four blank fields is a reason to skip it rather than a reason to hedge.
What survived, we ranked in this order: published safety certification of the electrical system, stand-over and seat height, published load and whether the maker states its basis, battery watt-hours, drivetrain, charge time, and price. Price is last on purpose — it decides between trikes that pass, not whether one passes.
Stand-over height is the spec that decides this
A trike buyer is usually buying out of the frame, not the motor. The number that matters is the stand-over height: the distance from the ground to the lowest point you have to swing a leg over. The spread across these four is enormous. Mooncool publishes 15.7 inches for the FT1, which is a genuinely low-threshold step-through. Vivi publishes 23.6 inchesfor the FatGo1. Eskute does not publish a stand-over figure for either T300 at all, and instead publishes a minimum seat height — 28.4 inches on the T300, 31.9 inches on the T300 Pro — plus a rider-height range.
Those rider-height ranges are worth reading literally, because they are the one fit statement these makers commit to. Eskute says the T300 fits 4′9″ to 6′2″ and the T300 Pro fits 5′2″ to 6′5″. Vivi says the FatGo1 fits 5′2″ to 6′5″. Mooncool recommends 5′0″ to 6′3″ for the FT1. If you are under about 5′2″, the base Eskute T300 is the only trike here its own maker says will fit you, and that single line is why it is on this list despite being the least-certified pick. The same logic drives our e-bikes for adults roundup, which is the fit page for two-wheelers.
The differential, and why a cheap trike can feel broken
A trike has two rear wheels, and in a turn the outside wheel has to travel further than the inside one. A rear differential lets that happen. Without one, the rear axle drives both wheels at the same speed and the trike pushes against you through the corner, scrubs tires and can feel like it wants to stand up on two wheels. It is the single biggest difference between a trike that disappears under you and one you never quite trust.
All four picks here state a rear differential — Mooncool goes as far as naming the material (steel) in its components table, Vivi lists a “rear differential bicycle” in its own description, and Eskute describes the T300’s “advanced smart differential system.” We held that as a hard requirement rather than a tie-breaker. If you are comparing against a trike not on this list and the maker is silent about the differential, treat the silence as the answer.
The other trike-only piece of hardware is a parking brake: a lever that locks a wheel so the trike stays where you left it. On two wheels you lean the bike against something. A 100 lb trike on a sloped driveway with a bag of shopping in the front basket will leave without you. The FT1 and the FatGo1 both publish a parking brake. Eskute does not list one in either T300 spec table, which is worth factoring in if your street is a hill.
Load: the reason most people want three wheels
The published load figures here are much higher than anything in our heavy-rider roundup of two-wheelers: 450 lb on the Eskute T300 Pro, 400 lb on both the T300 and the Mooncool FT1, and 285 lb on the Vivi FatGo1. That is the trike advantage in one line — three contact patches and a welded rear basket carry weight a seatpost and a rear rack cannot.
Read the basis, though, not just the number. None of these four makers states whether its load figure includes the trike’s own weight, and the trikes weigh between 93 and 110 lb. If a 400 lb “max load” is a gross figure, the usable rider-plus-cargo allowance is closer to 300 lb. Our product cards print each limit exactly as the maker words it, with that ambiguity attached, because a load number without its basis is not comparable across brands. The Vivi figure needs one extra caveat: its spec table says 285 lb and the summary block higher up the same page says 290 lb. We use the table and note the conflict.
Rear rack and basket ratings are separate, and these are generous. Eskute rates both T300 rear racks at 120 lb. Vivi rates the FatGo1’s integrated iron rear basket at 100 lb. If you were planning to buy panniers anyway, you may not need to — though our racks and panniers roundup covers the bags that fit a welded basket.
Watt-hours, and the one maker who publishes a rated motor
The packs here run from 624 Wh on the Eskute T300 through 648 Wh on the Vivi FatGo1 and 696 Wh on the Mooncool FT1 to 998.4 Wh on the Eskute T300 Pro. Using the planning figure this site uses for a heavy bike ridden with plenty of throttle — roughly 20 Wh per mile — that is about 31, 32, 35 and 50 miles respectively, against maker claims of 65, 50-60, 60 and 80 miles. A trike is heavier than any two-wheeler on this site and pushes more frontal area, so if anything the real figure is worse, not better. Our range guide explains why the number on the box is not the number to plan around.
Credit where it is due on motor power: Mooncool publishes 500 W rated, 1092 W peak and 45 Nm of torquefor the FT1. That is the only rated figure on this page. Eskute states “peak 1200 W” for both T300s and no rated number; Vivi states 750 W peak and no rated number. Peak watts is a burst figure a controller will allow for a few seconds; rated watts is what the motor can hold, and it is the number that decides a climb. Three of these four trikes simply do not tell you. Our motor power guide covers the rated-versus-peak trick in detail, and it is worth five minutes before you compare any two trike listings.
One listing discrepancy belongs here too. The Amazon listing for the Vivi FatGo1 advertises “Peak 1000W” while Vivi’s own spec table says 750 W peak. We follow the maker’s table. Where a listing and a manufacturer disagree, the listing is the one written by the marketing team with the least to lose.
Certification: the real split in this group
The CPSC’s micromobility guidance is blunt about buying e-bikes and batteries certified to UL 2849 (the complete electrical system) and UL 2271 (the battery). On this list that draws a clean line. Vivi publishes “SGS | UL 2849/2271” for the FatGo1 and Mooncool publishes “2849&2271 by SGS” for the FT1 — both naming the testing body. Eskute publishes something narrower for both T300s: a TUV-certified battery, with no UL 2849 listing claimed for the complete e-bike. A battery certification is not nothing, but it is not the same claim, and the two pages do not make it.
That is the main reason the order on this page is not the price order. A trike is charged indoors, usually in a garage or a hallway, often by someone who is not going to unplug it at 2 a.m. If you buy the Eskute, read our battery care guide and follow it properly: charge in the open on a hard surface, use the supplied charger, and do not leave it on overnight.
Class, speed and where a trike is legal
All four are Class 2 — throttle plus pedal assist, with assist cutting out at 20 mph or below. Published top speeds are modest and that is a feature on three wheels: 15.5 mph on the FT1 and the FatGo1, 16+ mph on the T300 Pro, 18+ mph on the T300. A trike does not lean into a turn, so cornering speed is limited by physics rather than nerve, and nobody should want a 28 mph trike.
The legal position is mostly good news. Because these stay inside the three-class system, they are treated as bicycles in most states, which is what our classes and laws guide covers. The practical catch is width, not law: these trikes are 30 inches or wider, which is more than some bollard gaps, bike-lane chicanes and older bike-rack slots. Measure your garage door, your gate and the path you will ride before you buy, and check the folded dimensions too — the T300 folds to 31.5 inches long, the T300 Pro to 36.6 inches, and the FT1 to roughly 41 by 34 by 50 inches.
“Folding” does not mean portable
Three of these four advertise folding, and it is the most misleading word in the category. The Eskute T300 is 93 lb, the Mooncool FT1 about 106 lb and the Eskute T300 Pro 110.2 lb. Folded, they are shorter — not lighter. Nobody is lifting a folded 110 lb trike into an SUV alone. Folding on a trike is a storage feature for a garage or a shed, and it is genuinely useful for that; it is not a transport feature. If you need to move a trike by car, you need a hitch rack rated for the weight, and our car rack roundup explains why strap racks are out of the question at these weights.
Vivi is the outlier, and not in a way we can endorse: its spec table says the FatGo1 weighs 25 kg / 55 lb while listing a 106 lb package weight on the same page. A 55 lb fat-tire steel trike would be remarkable. We print the published figure because that is our rule, but we would plan around something much closer to the package weight and we would not buy this trike expecting to carry it.
Charge time, drivetrain and the rest of the trade-offs
Eskute publishes 4-6 hours for both T300s, Vivi 4-5 hours for the FatGo1, and Mooncool 7-9 hours for the FT1 on a 2 A charger. If you ride daily and plug in when you get home, none of those matter. If you ride twice a day, the FT1 is the one that will not be ready.
Drivetrain splits the group in half. The FT1 and the T300 Pro have 7-speed Shimano gearing; the FatGo1 and the T300 are single-speed. On a flat town with a working throttle, single-speed is fine and one less thing to adjust. On a hill with 100 lb of trike and a loaded basket, gears are what stop you from relying entirely on a motor whose rated output the maker will not state. That is the practical case for the FT1 over the FatGo1, and for the T300 Pro over the T300. Our e-bikes for hills roundup applies the same reasoning to two-wheelers.
What we would actually buy
For most people: the Vivi FatGo1. It is the cheapest trike here with both UL listings behind it, it has the parking brake and the differential, its step-through is low, and it is the only maker on this page honest enough to publish a throttle-only range next to the pedal-assist one. Accept the single-speed and the lowest load limit in the group.
If your street is a hill, or if a maker that states a rated wattage and a torque figure is worth paying for: the Mooncool FT1. The 15.7-inch stand-over and the Shimano 7-speed are the two things the money actually buys. Budget a full day for a charge.
If you are under 5′2″ or the budget is firm: the Eskute T300, with the UL caveat stated above taken seriously and the charging routine followed. And if you are a bigger rider doing real distance with real cargo: the Eskute T300 Pro, which has half again the battery and the highest published payload here, provided its 31.9-inch minimum seat height fits you.
One last thing worth two minutes of your time. On the day we built this page, every one of these four was listed for less on Amazon than on the brand’s own store — in the Eskute T300’s case by a wide margin. That is unusual, it will not stay true forever, and it cuts both ways: check the maker’s own site as well as the buy link here before you commit. We would rather you paid less somewhere else than overpaid through us.
Still deciding between two and three wheels? Our e-bikes for seniors roundup covers the low-step two-wheelers, which are lighter, narrower and cheaper, and are the better answer if your balance is fine.
