MID-DRIVE COMMUTER · Velotric
Velotric’s first mid-drive on this site: 500W and 100 Nm through a 9-speed Shimano Cues cassette, and the highest torque figure of any Velotric we cover.
Merchant price, checked 2026-08-27. Verify before buying.
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500W
VeloCore Mid-Drive
95 Miles
Claimed PAS
Class 1/2/3
No MPH stated
48V 801.6Wh
Battery
Colours the merchant lists
Specifications transcribed from Velotric’s product page on 2026-08-27. We have not ridden this bike.
Our verdict — MID-DRIVE COMMUTER
The Discover M is the interesting one. It is the only Velotric on this site with a mid-drive — their own VeloCore unit, rated 48V 500W with a 960W peak and 100 Nm, which is the highest torque figure of any Velotric here even though it is also the lowest-rated motor of the three Discovers. That is the point of a mid-drive: it turns the chainring, so the 9-speed Shimano Cues cassette with its 11–46T range multiplies its torque at the wheel in a way a hub motor cannot. Around it is the Discover 3’s equipment — the air fork with a lock-out, TEKTRO 180mm hydraulics, 27.5 × 2.4 KENDAs, a 440 lb bike load, turn signals, both UL numbers — plus the largest pack of any Velotric we cover at 801.6Wh. At $2,499 that is $3.12 per watt-hour. The one figure to read carefully is the weight. Velotric prints 60 lb and then footnotes it: the weight does not include fenders, kickstands or pedals. Every other weight on this site is a whole-bike figure, so treat 60 lb as a floor rather than a comparison.
Buy it if
Skip it if
Merchant price, checked 2026-08-27. Verify before buying.
What we like
What gives us pause
Why this bike is here
Velotric lists the Discover M in its own Best Sellers collection, checked on 2026-08-27. That is the merchant’s claim about what sells, not a measurement of ours — we have no sales data for any bike on this site, and neither does anyone outside Velotric.
Specifications
Merchant claims on the left of each row, our reading indented beneath. Where the merchant publishes nothing, the row says so.
Every figure below is the merchant's own published claim, transcribed from their product page on 2026-08-27. Indented notes are ours. We have not ridden this bike and we do not publish measurements we did not take.
48V 500W VeloCore mid-drive motor
The lowest rated output of the three Discovers, and the most capable of them. A mid-drive sits at the cranks and drives the chain, so its output passes through the gears; a 500W mid-drive and a 750W hub are not comparable numbers.
960W peak
100 Nm
The highest torque figure of any Velotric on this site — the hub-motor models publish 75 Nm and the T1 ST Plus 40 Nm. It is not the highest here overall: EUNORAU’s mid-drives publish 160 Nm and 220 Nm.
Class 1/2/3 (no MPH figure stated in the specification block)
Both cheaper Discovers state 20 MPH as standard, adjustable 12–28 MPH. This block gives the classes without the numbers, so we print the classes.
Torque and cadence sensor
48V 16.7Ah = 801.6Wh, IPX7, UL 2271 Recognized; Samsung/LG 21700 cells, UL 2580
801.6 Wh
The largest pack of any Velotric we cover, ahead of the Discover 3’s 730Wh. $2,499 ÷ 801.6Wh = $3.12 per watt-hour, dearer than both cheaper Discovers and cheaper than the Packer 1 at $3.18.
Up to 95 miles pedal assist, up to 70 miles on throttle (*Velotric’s footnote: a 187-lb rider using PAS 1 on flat roads)
801.6Wh over 95 miles is 8.4Wh per mile, the lightest implied draw of the three Discovers and the highest headline figure. It is reachable only under the conditions Velotric prints with it. A mid-drive ridden in the right gear is genuinely efficient, but 15 to 20Wh per mile is the realistic band, which gives roughly 40 to 53 miles.
Not published; the charger is specified as 48V 3A fast
3A into 801.6Wh implies somewhere around five and a half hours from empty. That is our arithmetic, not Velotric’s claim.
Triple-butted aluminium, two sizes (Regular and Large)
27.5 inch
KENDA 27.5" × 2.4"
Air suspension fork, 80 mm travel, with lock-out
TEKTRO hydraulic disc, 180 mm rotors front and rear, levers with motor power cut-off
46T narrow-wide chainring, 170 mm cranks, Shimano Cues 9-speed 11–46T, KMC eGlide chain
The only 9-speed on this site, and the widest cassette range of any Velotric here. The 46T sprocket is what lets 100 Nm at the cranks become real climbing at the wheel, and the eGlide chain is built for the loads a mid-drive puts through a transmission.
3.5" full-colour display with Bluetooth and NFC; USB-C phone charging; Apple Find My and Google Find Hub
440 lbs maximum bike load; rear rack rated 66 lbs, MIK HD compatible
60 lbs, with Velotric’s own footnote: "Weight does not include fenders, kickstands, or pedals."
Every other weight on this site is a whole-bike figure, so this one is not directly comparable and we will not let it sit in a table as though it were. Fenders, a kickstand and pedals together are typically a few pounds, which would put the fitted bike at or above the Discover 3’s 61 lb rather than below it. Read 60 lb as a floor.
With the suspension seatpost: Regular 5'2"–5'11", Large 5'9"–6'7". Without it: Regular 4'11"–5'9", Large 5'6"–6'4"
As on the Discover 3, the stated fit moves by three inches depending on the suspension seatpost, and Velotric does not publish whether that post is included.
IPX6 bike, IPX7 battery
UL 2849 certified, UL 2271 Recognized battery, UL 2580 cells, ISO 4210 compliant
See Velotric’s published warranty terms
Not published in the specification block
500 lumen front light; rear light with braking indicator and turn signals; removable trigger-control throttle; four riding modes plus an Auto mode. Velotric publishes no box-contents list in this block
See Velotric’s published shipping terms at checkout
See Velotric’s published return policy at checkout
Questions
Because the two numbers describe different things. A hub motor pushes the wheel directly, so whatever torque it makes arrives at the wheel unchanged no matter what gear you are in. A mid-drive turns the chainring, so your gears multiply it: in the Discover M’s bottom gear, 100 Nm at the cranks becomes a great deal more at the tire. That is why it climbs better than a 750W hub with 75 Nm despite the smaller rating. The costs are real too — the chain and cassette carry the motor’s output as well as your legs, so they wear faster and want more attention.
It is 60 lb without fenders, kickstand or pedals — Velotric footnotes the figure themselves, and we have printed the footnote wherever the number appears. Every other weight on this site is a whole-bike figure, so putting 60 lb next to the Discover 3’s 61 lb or the VTUVIA SF20H’s 60 lb would be an unfair comparison. Fenders, a kickstand and a pair of pedals typically add a few pounds, so the bike you actually wheel out of the shed weighs more than the number in the table. Treat 60 lb as a floor, not a like-for-like figure.
That is the highest range claim of the three Discovers and it implies the lightest draw: 801.6Wh over 95 miles is 8.4Wh per mile. Velotric’s footnote puts a 187-lb rider at PAS 1 on flat roads behind it. A mid-drive kept in the right gear genuinely is efficient — it is the one motor layout where careful riding pays a real dividend — but 15 to 20Wh per mile is the honest planning band, which gives roughly 40 to 53 miles. Velotric remains the only brand on this site that publishes the conditions at all.
Velotric states Class 1, 2 and 3 for this model but does not give an MPH figure in the specification block we read, which is unusual — both cheaper Discovers state 20 MPH as standard and adjustable between 12 and 28. Class 3 in the US three-class model tops out at 28 MPH, so that is the ceiling the designation implies, but implication is not a published claim and we are not going to print one as the other. If the number matters for where you plan to ride, ask Velotric to confirm it.
$500 buys the mid-drive, 71.6Wh more battery, the 9-speed 11–46T cassette and the eGlide chain. Everything else — the air fork, the brakes, the lights and indicators, the 440 lb load, the certifications, the display — is common to both. So the question is only whether you climb. On flat and rolling ground the Discover 3’s hub motor does the same job for less money, with less transmission wear and a weight figure you can actually compare against other bikes. On steep ground, loaded, the Discover M is the better machine and it is not close.
The rest of the Velotric range
BEST ALL-ROUNDER
A 750W fat-tire bike with a lock-out hydraulic fork, a 440 lb ceiling and both UL numbers stated — with a cadence sensor at $1,899.
750W
Motor Capacity
55 Miles
Claimed PAS
20 MPH
Top Speed
48V 691Wh
Battery
Merchant price, checked 2026-08-27. Verify before buying.
LIGHTEST HERE
At 39 lb it weighs a little over half what the next lightest bike here weighs, and it is the only one you could reasonably carry up a flight of stairs.
350W
Motor Capacity
70 Miles
Claimed PAS
28 MPH
Class 3 Max
36V 352.8Wh
Battery
Merchant price, checked 2026-08-27. Verify before buying.
BEST FOR CARGO
A 176 lb rear rack and four-piston brakes — the only bike on this site built to carry a second person and stop with them aboard.
750W
Motor Capacity
52 Miles
Claimed PAS
25 MPH
Unlocked Max
48V 14.4Ah
Battery
Merchant price, checked 2026-08-27. Verify before buying.
AIR-FORK COMMUTER
An air-sprung fork, 730Wh, a published 1100W peak and a published 61 lb weight — the Discover 2 with the missing rows filled in, for $300 more.
750W
Motor Capacity
80 Miles
Claimed PAS
20–28 MPH
Class 1/2/3
48V 730Wh
Battery
Merchant price, checked 2026-08-27. Verify before buying.
CITY COMMUTER
750W, 705.6Wh, TEKTRO hydraulics on 180mm rotors and both UL numbers at $1,699 — with indicators in the rear light, which nothing else on this site has.
750W
Motor Capacity
75 Miles
Claimed PAS
20–28 MPH
Class 1/2/3
48V 705.6Wh
Battery
Merchant price, checked 2026-08-27. Verify before buying.
Velotric Discover M
$2,499 · mid-drive commuter