"Electric vehicles as a whole displaced about 1.5m barrels of oil a day globally in 2022, according to Bloomberg. Two-thirds of that – almost 1m barrels a day – was just from electric bikes and mopeds, which are known as electric micromobility."
other than market #enshitification or bias toward absence of real hills and cargo, why are there no #eBikes with both crank+hub drive motors combined?
Hub motors give smooth power and regen braking but can't gear down for steep slopes. Getting started with the crank drive gets the hub up to an effective speed without putting so much force through the chain (and human-scaled cassette) while the hub bridges the shifting gaps. Regen braking greatly reduces brake pad maintenance & extends range.
@jef that was my original plan for the bakfiets, but I like keeping the rear light so I can lift it and wheelbarrow around obstacles. The longtail has a similar ability to lift the front wheel and pivot. Spreading the traction to both wheels might be worth the added front weight for some applications but I think you need a fairly large geared hub motor to get good regen braking.
searching for e-bike recommendations for my disabled ass, that won't break the bank and have an amount of cargo capacity even if it's like a few bags of groceries (more is better, i'm a disaster)? I need to nearly-never pedal and especially not up any hills or anything
"Finally, we find that even when #eBikes incentive programs are designed cost-effectively, the costs per ton of #CO2 reduced still far exceed those of alternatives or reasonable social costs of GHG emissions. We conclude that the argument for allocating public funds for e-bike incentive programs must be based on the co-benefits of e-bike travel and ownership, and not solely on GHG reduction" (like the 40k/yr people killed with cars, injuries, asthma & sedentary diseases)
Or we could account for the cost of driving as simply road wear and maintenance, plus the high cost of housing for cars (through subsidizing car parking, mandatory parking requirements, that non-drivers pay in their rent and groceries, anywhere that charges below market rent for parking spaces.) Or, who pays for all of the space between destinations, that makes it too far to walk?
“Bicycle deaths in New York City hit a 23-year high in 2023, according to new data from the NYC Department of Transportation. Of the 30 cyclists who died last year, 23 were riding electric bikes. “
So I looked up the article, and that is all it says; that’s the entire thing. Nothing about how they died, just that they died.
It seems that the #NYTimes is having a War on Bikes, especially #eBikes, and I wonder why.
I’m going to assume these bicyclists were hit by cars (not an unreasonable assumption), so why is the #NYTimes framing it that #eBikes are somehow dangerous, and not #cars?
One final thought (well, maybe 2), but does anyone ever notices that the word “crash” is almost never in the reporting, and 2) when these things are reported, they never mention that there are #DRIVERS in the #car; but sure, #bicyclists are keeling over dead.
It’s really weird how the #NYTimes can shift-blame everything in such a short blurb.
a tilting steering trike with suspension, that you've never heard of because it has a 250W motor and 16in front wheels. #eBikes carrying this much load need more power and gear range than a pencil sharpener, and regen braking. (but you can lock the tilting from the handlebar, so that's cool for low-speed stuff.)
@acdha let's make the outside lanes of every 4-lane urban street into bus/bike-and-turn-only while we're trying to figure out how fast the e-bikes are allowed to go
the removable locking tote on each side of the frame is super cool, but the removal locking is over-complicated, just put a latch lever inside the locked box.
In Bloomberg CityLab, I wrote about a new study that explores the power (and limits) of e-bike rebates.
TLDR: E-bike incentives can compel more people to ride (especially those with moderate/low incomes), unlocking benefits for public health, street efficiency, and urban quality of life. But they're an inefficient way to fight climate change.
I think that from a local administration point of view, investing in bikes with the only objective of reducing CO2 emissions would be very short-sighted. I would love to see if this could affect traffic ( and so public space use) more than everything. Moreover an investment as such would work best accompanied to infrastructure improvement towards active mobility, is this happening too?
@davidzipper this conclusion only accounts for the cost of carbon emissions and likely way underpriced, besides my experience that e-bike miles each displaced 3 car miles, and the safety-in-numbers impact where each person on a bike encourages others to ride.
Dismantling car supremacy has way more climate impact than your individual car's co2 emissions
"[at $51/2500 miles] an individual e-bike would need to replace over 200,000 miles of car travel..."
In the last five years, #eBikes caused only 3.8% as many injuries as bathrooms. Wear your bathroom #helmets, and shame your friends and family until they stop taking baths
@enobacon I have no skin in any e-bike safety debate, but my skin crawls when I see nonsense statistics.
Only about 7% of Americans use an e-bike at least once a month (according to YouGov), and they likely use them a lot less often than they use the bathroom. Also, bathroom injuries happen disproportionately to people with disabilities or the elderly, because it can be wet and slippery, have sharp corners and edges, and is often visited during the night when balance isn't at its best).
"As currently written, HB 4103:
...would restrict some of the most affordable #eBike styles to [16yo and up]
...[allows localities to] ban the use of certain e-bikes from accessing multi-use paths and trails
...Enforcement based on e-bike class will be highly subjective and confusing for users
...Misses the mark on providing a clear definition... [cargo / 4 wheels, bigger motors]"
@cy the legislative emergency is a formality that allows it to start on passage instead of next fiscal/legislative year or something. It's still just a task force / study group, nobody is being granted an emergency e-bike dispenser or anything.
@Edelruth My family have one of each, which we use for groceries and family trips with two little kids. I generally prefer the basket-up-front model: it's nice to be able to see the kids, and to be able to chuck a bunch of stuff in the basket without having to pack it into paniers.
Now that's what I call a Cargo Bike - this CaGo from Denmark is now available here - if #ebikes are the future for #urban travel, then this must make a strong showing for the #delivery part of that idea.
@ChrisMayLA6 In my youngest preschool they had a kind of ebike buss. They went for 5 km trips into the library in the centre of town for example in that.
Similar to this.
@Krux_22@ChrisMayLA6 In Manchester we have actual cargo bikes for hire on street corners. The bikes, painted bright yellow, are unlocked for hire with an app and the bin portion includes kiddie seats. I often pass them with two or three children seated whilst Mum pedals them to the local shops.
Verkehrsministerium: Fahrradblinker sollen für alle erlaubt sein
Egal, ob mit Motor oder ohne: Das Verkehrsministerium will künftig flächendeckend Blinker an Fahrrädern zulassen. Bislang geht das nur für spezielle Modelle. Eine Pflicht soll es aber nicht geben.
@tagesschau solange es nicht Pflicht wird, halte ich das für eine gute Idee, weil bei normalen Fahrrädern erhöht das unnötig das Gewicht und das muss nicht sein. Aber es gibt sicher Leute, die schneller fahren (20 km/h und mehr) und deshalb eher nicht die Hand vom Lenker nehmen sollten.
@lioracle@TheWarOnCars that's easy it's because pickup trucks and SUVs are tools for hauling important stuff like groceries or wood or driving in snow or rain. Whereas bikes are just expensive toys for exercise. Pictures unrelated
The good news, such that it exists, is that there are some emerging local/state programs to subsidize ebike purchases -- and when their effects are studied, they're great! Folks drive less, burn less fuel; towns have less traffic; the results are woven from win-win
@enobacon They should ask couriers who deliver food, how best to carry a cake. There is no guarantee that a cake will arrive intact, if carried in a car. It's all about the container and the care taken.
@Tooden also many people could very soon live much closer to a cake shop and grocery and piano teachers and whatever, besides having more frequent transit options and that associated reach.
The NJ legislature just passed a bill requiring low-speed electric bicycles to be registered with the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission and to be insured.
Somewhere, either a fossil fuel lobbyist or an insurance industry lobbyist got his wings.
@WearsHats@rgulick
In NY, for a long time, your ebike was unlawful if it had a throttle. At that time I was a big fan of being able to register an ebike as a class 2 moped. I still think it makes sense; I think it potentially opens a market segment for lawful ebikes that are fast enough to replace gasoline scooters.
Hooked up a new controller from Amazon to my dual motor 500 watt bike. I’m a rookie so I just hooked it up to the rear motor. My commute is about 45 mins x 2 per day. It worked great for 2-3 weeks for a total of about 400 miles....
