EVs are booming but electric bikes are really cutting emissions
EVs are booming but electric bikes are really cutting emissions
Ebikes and mopeds, known as electric micromobility, were responsible for two-thirds of the 1.5m barrels of oil displaced a day by EVs in 2022
Electric bikes have become really popular and common here in Denmark. I only have around 5km to work, so no need for an electric one, but if I had perhaps 20km to work, I’d buy an electric bicycle instantly.
E-bikes are probably around 100 times more economical than e-cars so it makes sense that they are much more impactful simply because so many more people can afford them.
The raw electricity usage is ~25 times lower for E-Bikes. And that is not counting in the 2 ton weight difference with all this steel, battery cells, electronics etc.
100 is a bit much, a good ebike can cost several thousands. IMHO the main driver for adoption is the availability of dedicated infrastructure. I can afford an EV but chose to use a bike because the infrastructure is excellent where I live and it allows me to avoid traffic and congestion.
My old shitty car cost 2,5 times as much as my really nice ebike. Both bought used. I used to pay around 200€ a month for fuel and there is also insurance. My ebike right now costs me about a handful of euros in fuel each month and I don't have to take extra time for exercise out of my day. So a hundred times more efficient isn't even that high.
Maybe its a bit much but as i said in the other reply, you need:
- a parking space
- insurance
- maintainance
- eventually very costly battery replacement
All of these are either not necessaey or muuuch cheaper for bikes. These are also recurring costs that together could pay for a whole new e bike every few months.
100 is a bit much, a good ebike can cost several thousands
Right, but it has much lower ongoing costs (less electricity or fuel, no/cheap insurance, no registration, minimal maintenance). 100 times cheaper is probably a bit hyperbolic, but not by that much.
I've honestly been considering giving up my car for an electric scooter for the summer - my wife will keep her car, so we can still go to places with the family, but I don't need a car for my work commute. At the same time, I'm too lazy to wake up early enough to walk.
Helps that I live in a medium sized European town. Escooters and bikes are very viable - and you can rent them for a low fee too, from multiple providers (I do wish they didn't each require their own app, but of course they do).
I took it as as a challenge and just started collecting scooter rental apps
Try out a rental and see how you feel about it. Keep in mind that even a bike with worse specs will probably be better due to not being used and abused by tons of people and proper bike fit also makes things infinitely better.
I've taken the local rental scooters a bunch of times, they're great utility, but quite worn. I used to cycle a bunch, but for short distances I actually prefer the scooter.
My dream vehicle: electric tadpole velomobile. Efficient, stable even in winter conditions, weather protection. Unfortunately unaffordable at the moment, prices starting at around 9000€. Plus living in a condo storing one safely while not in use is a difficult endeavor.
I live in Chicago.
I'm not gonna say there's no reason to have a car, but I see no reason for the average Chicagoan to own a car.
The CTA is actually pretty reliable overall The streets are comparatively bikeable The Divvy System (bike share) is well layer out.
Make America Multimodal Again. This. Shit. Works.
I got a bike for <10km flat trips (30 min).
An ebike for longer (10-20km), or hilly, or carrying stuffs trips, or very hot days.
A trailer for groceries.
And I don't like to exercise! But I clearly saw an improvement on my physical and mental health.
My wife as her car for longer trips or when we have to move all family.
Thing is we have a fairly good bike infrastructure (bike lanes everywhere and some bike roads), but not good enough for kids or people who are afraid to share road with cars.
We need more bike-friendly roads (low speed on separated lanes), and make people conscious that car is not mandatory most of time.
I live in one of the most dense cities in the world. I own an ebike, electric scooter board, and an ICE Toyota sienta(basically a shrunken Senna). All 3 vehicles serve a purpose.
Within 10 minutes? Walk.
Between 10-20 minutes walk, electric scooter board
From 20-30 walk, e bike
Over 30 min walk, car.
In-between these, I take the bus or subway, if the stop is close to the station.
Basically, every vehicle has a purpose. Adding an ebike might be good to have in addition to your ICE vehicle.
Which city? Because for most of the densest I'd say 30 mins would be way to bother with a car, and if you're actually living in the city you wouldn't even own a car but maybe taxi makes sense for some journeys.
I live in Taipei.
I see so many ebikes and escooters pop up is there a reason for this? Are people getting them because there's some incentive out there or is it because they're just a cheap way to commute?
To echo the OP's reply below, there are a lot of different reasons combining right now to make them popular.
One of the factors that has improved the most over the last 5 years is how much more access people have to safe and cheap optons. Buying a cheaper e-bike even just 5-6 years ago had you gambling on components and hoping your battery and charger were certified and sourced reputably. And, while you could order online, the experience wasn't always great.
Nowadays it seems like almost everything has certified chargers and batteries, and the overall build quality of cheap bikes and scooters (bikes especially) has improved as well.
Combine that with being able to order a bike or scooter online, ship it to your door in just a week or two, and get going with minimal assembly and adjustment. Boom, that's an attractive option, even before you hit incentives. E-bikes and scooters are so insanely cheap to own and operate compared to a car (even a super cheap car) so it just makes a ton of sense that people would choose them.
Hard to comment on incentives without knowing what part of the world you're in, but yeah they're much cheaper than cars, less effort to use than standard bikes, and in cities can be the fastest way to get around a lot of the time.
Let's not forget the scooters are very compact, you can easily bring one into the office, shop, bus. A bicycle needs to be locked outside, often exposed to the wearher and could be stolen. I'd say it's more of a factor than bicycle costing more effort to move around.
Bicycles also have more moving parts, needs more maintenance i assume than electric scooter that has a direct drive motor with no chain or gears.
Cool. Meanwhile cruise ships and shipping boats continue to contribute to the vast majority of emissions.
As long as they continue to exists it will make zero difference what kind of car or bike you drive.
Superfreighters are among the most efficient form of transport. It can be more eco friendly to import even fresh water than using difficult to access water. Same goes for exotic fruit, like tomatoes etc.
Yet they contribute more to emissions than cars ever could. A single trip across the world outputs more emissions than all the cars in the world in a single year. Except there are dozens of those ships making trips daily.
In other words you taking your bike over your car makes virtually zero difference in the grand scheme. If everyone stopped driving cars over night the effect it would have would only be a tiny percentage of what shipping freighters contribute.
Yes for Sulfur derivates and nitrous oxigens but no for CO2. The biggest contributord to CO2 emissions are electricity production and traffic.
Planes. Look at co2 equivalent, not co2. Altitude matters.
Eskate is such a fun way to get around, pretty dangerous though.
Ebikes are Europe bikes