Do you really NEED a folding ebike?

This forum routinely sees posts a about a prospective buyer looking at folding ebike models. Sometimes without any explicit need for such functionality.

A man was paralyzed Christmas Eve 2024 when his folding bike handlebar collapsed and he fell. The case is pending litigation.

Whether the bike was defectively designed, as alleged, or the failure was due to user error, the fact remains that folding bikes introduce additional potential points of failure. Ones which can have devastating consequences. To be clear, such failures appear to be rare. But too often conventional wisdom says folding bikes are convenient with no downside. This is false.

https://electrek.co/2025/06/25/california-man-sues-amazon-after-catastrophic-electric-bike-crash/