In the last 6 days the NY Times has run 4 articles about e-bikes -- all of them negative.
A few other stories the paper might consider:
🔹 E-bikes pollute far less than even electric cars
🔹 Compared to autos, e-bikes pose minimal risk to other people
🔹 Unlike cars, e-bikes provide exercise
@davidzipper An e-bike can be as fast as a car in city traffic, while using less gas and being far easier to park. And allowing for more vehicles in traffic. Cities would be nuts to not consider them.
People For Bikes, the main bicycle industry lobbying group, is trying really hard to keep ebike repair tools and manuals out of the hands of independent repair shops through carveouts for ebikes from right to repair laws on the grounds of battery safety.
This is very similar to the tactics used by car companies to keep car owners locked to dealerships for repairs.
Yes, batteries can be dangerous. But what's even more dangerous is that people will improperly dispose of broken bikes when they don't have access to the documentation and diagnostic tools manufacturers make, but only license to official shops.
Besides the battery thing is a big red herring. The stuff they're holding back isn't battery repair tools, it's documentation of everything else like controllers and throttles and sensors. They would rather brick your bike than let you have control over it. #RightToRepair#Ebikes#FelonyContemptofBusinessModel
@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
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.
When I sold my last car in 2011 and switched to bike (first a standard, last 5 yrs eBike) I walked past the auto-electrician, the tyre place, the rego office, spare parts dealer, the mechanic, the panel beater, the petrol station etc etc and counted all the money I was saving and it made me very happy.
Also noticed how many things I did not spontaneously shopped for because I had no way of getting them home (and really didn't need them anyway).
It works well for me, public transport is used for trips I can't make with the bike.
The freedom of pulling up next to the shop without having to search for a parking spot is priceless.
Some would find it extremely inconvenient for sure. Others, like myself, find it very liberating.
@tshirtman friends just spent $8000 on a car barely worth more than that, to get it back on the road. It was great to 'get their freedom back' they said. 🤔
Conditioning and the inability to think outside the box (pardon the pun) proved costly.
"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."
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
We keep willfully ignoring the actual solution for urban and suburban transport.
We still let the car industry lead with the preservation of their profits instead of looking at what's actually working.
The world’s 280 million electric bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars
We’re going to get a new dishwasher soon and looking at the specs on my #ebike, affordable trailers I could buy, and dishwashers at Ikea it is absolutely possible for me to tow this thing home myself.
We’ll probably get it delivered but man I really want to be that guy towing a dishwasher on a #bike. #BikeTooter
Kudos to the EU Parliament for their ruling on replaceable batteries. Great news for consumers and the environment... and their ruling will not only cover smart phones, #eBikes too will have to follow this new regulation.
There has been a deluge of articles in the last couple weeks about the danger of #eBikes and California's push to require licensing to ride them.
As a bike rider it's never surprising to see the media and drivers blame riders for their own deaths, no matter how egregious the driver error was. And some of the cited examples are quite egregious.
But this push for education and licensing made me wonder:
How effective is Driver's Ed at improving road safety?
Best-selling electric vehicle in US? The e-bike. WaPo on appeal of the car replacement that makes you happy. https://wapo.st/3RXYuAb (gift link)
Kawthar Duncan: “Before I know it, I’m riding 20 miles a day,” she laughs. “I never thought it was going to be me.”
Adrienne McCann: "Eventually, a lightbulb turned on when her e-bike-owning friend told her she wasn’t buying an expensive bike. It was a cheap car." #EBikes#EV#BikeLove#BicyclesChangeLives#ClimateAction#transportation#BikeTooter
@JulieEmery Seems to me they’re using Bafang motors. I’d prefere Bosch or Shimano for repairs and spares parts. I know that Bafang has some spares too, but I think they don’t have trainings for mechanics as Bosch and Shimano do. Also check you have a local bike shop that is able to fix and service the bike. Ebikes are ridden more and weight more so service is typically needed more than just once on a year.
Please boost!
You: Love overseeing contract/grant details/deliverables, would be great at managing school-based bicycle safety and e-bike grant programs, knowledgeable about bike education/encouragement.
Us: Collaborative, committed growing team in the @wsdot Active Transportation Division working to make walking, rolling, and riding safer and better for everyone everywhere in Washington state.
Swipe right! https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/washington/wsdot/jobs/4304664/education-and-encouragement-planner-tps5
@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.
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..."
