Ukrainian Soldiers Are Hopping On E-Bikes To Avoid Detection

The war still rages on in Ukraine, and modern tactics and machines are being employed by the soldiers there to get any and every advantage. In the past few months, Ukrainian forces have been fending off the Russian forces and keeping the force from invading. While there are still traditional transportation means being employed by the nation’s military, lightweight electric vehicles have been seeing use in the nation’s fleet of vehicles.

If you think about it, internal combustion engines are quite noisy when starting up, especially if you smack on a sweet-sounding exhaust on it. Kidding aside, the sound of a gasoline-powered motorcycle can be heard from far away, and detection could prove fatal to soldiers in the field.

That’s where these ELEEK and Delfast electric bikes come in. E-bikes are near silent when they startup, and they’re harder to detect due to their silent operation while running. Save for the wheel and tire noise, and a bit of whirring at high speed, these bikes are definitely harder to detect in comparison to traditional gas-powered motorcycles and are playing a crucial role in helping Ukrainian soldiers get around the battlefield.

The fleet of bikes was brought on thanks to Vadym Ignatov, Deputy Chairman of the Ukrainian Association of Electric Vehicle Market Participants. Earlier in May, he wrote about the handover of ELEEK Atom electric bikes to the Ukrainian armed forces, noting that the military had previously evaluated the vehicles and provided feedback regarding their performance on the battlefield.

Mezha Media, published his statement in an article and he was quoted stating, “We take into account all the wishes of our fighters, which were discovered during the combat use of the first units. And most importantly, added a very important feature that will allow you not to take additional power banks in the raid. The companies have added 220 V output, which will allow the use of any standard charger. After testing in real combat conditions, special forces fighters assessed the benefits of electric bikes and the need for them will increase.”

ELEEK’s not the only brand joining the fray, as Delfast has also fielded bikes to aid the Ukrainian armed forces. Danylo Tonkopiy, the brand’s founder and CEO states: “We transferred electric bikes to the forefront in the first weeks of the war, but we didn’t talk about it—we do some things quietly. Now we have received permission from the command and publish photos where and what for our bikes are used,” in the same Mezha Media report.

These bikes are the real deal, and they’re not just outfitted with low-visibility paint, but there are also Next Generation Light Anti-Armour Weapons (NLAW) that boost these bikes’ fighting capability. Electrek goes into detail about these weapons and their ability to give a foot soldier the power to destroy an enemy tank.