Decarbonising freight is critical to decarbonising the transport sector and meeting Australia's climate targets. ClimateWorks report on Delivering freight decarbonisation: Strategies for reducing Australia’s transport emissions.
"Three types of solutions to reduce freight emissions have been set out in this report. First, solutions that make trips shorter or reduce the level of transport activity. Second, solutions that shift freight to lower-emissions modes such as rail or e-cargo-bikes; these also offer major benefits in terms of reducing congestion on Australia’s roads as the freight task grows. Third, decarbonisation solutions can be achieved through improved energy intensity of vehicles and reduced carbon intensity of fuels. Enlisting a suite of solutions in an integrated way, can help Australia reach its emissions targets and also improve other outcomes, such as productivity and impacts on health and liveability" #Freight#TransportEmissions#Ebikes#CargoBikes#Logistics#ClimateSolutions#ClimateCrisis
A few years ago, I predicted car and motorcycle manufacturers would get into the e-bike market given the high demand, decent margin, and ability to differentiate with established design and manufacturing capabilities.
Harley-Davidson’s fugly and overpriced Serial1 did not prove me right.
However, Mini announced its E-Bike 1. It’s beautiful and priced appropriately within the high end range.
You know, if those trips were going to be taken on bikes without motors, they already would. #eBikes are the bikes that don't gather dust in the back of the garage, that actually replace car trips. Some people don't need them, but the people still in cars clearly aren't those ones.
It's not going to get someone into shape to feel defeated on the way home from the grocery store, trudging up the last hill with a laden acoustic bike. Many people are not going to go ride it just for exercise. An easy car replacement, even if you barely pedal, is going to get you more active than sitting in a car. I've heard plenty of these stories from people who were able to gradually get in shape thanks to the assisted moderate effort of regular e-bike use. It just removes barriers.
Once I'm on the e-bike it's easier for me to convince myself to turn off the assist and get my heart-rate up than it would be for me to convince myself to commit to a whole round trip on the acoustic (?) bike.
Charging the #eBikes battery by pedaling down the hill after taking kid to school. (sorry about volume) you can hear where my brake switch bounces (I'm trying not to engage the mechanical brake but have to squeeze the lever just slightly for #regenBraking.) You can also hear where I had to stop pedaling because the hill got steeper than 300W (why isn't it 700, GRIN, because I'm the only person on earth with this problem? IDK, give me the source code.)
@cdamian as range extension, particularly for a loaded touring bike, you would get up to 20% iff there is some place where you're just burning through brake pads. Some lighter and smaller motors might make sense, whether hub drive like a modified EZ motor, or some kind of gearbox with a fixed gearing to the wheel. I'm going up and down hills in a city with cargo & kids, so until now, have been regularly making tiny expensive brake pads into dust with about 500-1000W for 1-2 minutes per hill.
"they're too powerful", said someone who tried a radrover (750W hub motor 48V 70lb fatbike, with a twist throttle + cadence sensor) ... Are you 140lb? It's 1hp, a horse. I wouldn't say they're for everyone, but that is probably the least forgiving setup vs e.g. a torque sensing 350W mid drive, but it's still in the realm of a (big) cordless power drill, not really the sort of thing to clutch pearls about IMO. #eBikes
@eastbaynian it will only do 8mph up some hills though, with larger riders, where 350W might be a lot to handle for a 120lb rider, but sub 1000W is barely enough to stay moving with cargo on 10% slopes. The twitchiness of controls is a problem
@enobacon I agree - I ride a non electric bike now but started biking by commuting on a powerful ebike. I am large and a large motor was needed to keep me and the 75lb bike going but it would esily do 25 while it is really only safe to go 15 on bike lanes shared with pedestrians. I moved to the street if I wanted to go fast. Personally I think discussions about the power of ebikes is a distraction from the lack of agreement or enforcement on how fast people using bike infrestructure should go.
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
how do you waterproof an xt60 connector without making it too much pain to take apart? I'm thinking 1.5-2 wraps of cut rubber innertube with tape and zip ties on each end, like a 2in bandage over the connector. #eBikes
@jpanhans I've got the two tiny shrink wraps around the soldered point, but there's still a gap. See recent pic, there's an unglued overlap on the underside of the front part, that would hopefully allow it to drain (not planning to submerge it.)
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.
ran out of #eBikes battery on the tandem coming home from Tigard, tried both of us pedaling on what few downhills with ~200W regen but that only amounted to maybe a few minutes total. The baserunner did give us maybe 100W on Multnomah + bits of climb after that, but it was, overall, a sweaty ordeal. I have not been keeping this one parked on the charger, since we've been experimenting with the regen setup, need to plan ahead better if it's not always fully charged. 😅 💦 #pdxBikes#BikeTooter
The key to biking in the heat, and what e-bikes are extra great for, is to always keep the air speed up, at least if it's a dry heat, splash some water on your face etc. But when you're stuck grinding up a hill at 4mph 😞
So my range from some random last charge level ~90% is some random number of 1.5mi trips up and down the hill to school with 0-2 stokers plus a 2-then-1-stoker trip to spring garden park, plus riding to Tigard and cook park and back... numbers swirling in the air etc... 36-ish hilly miles on the 14.5Ah pack.
Riddle me this, Batman: I have rear wheel hub motor from the original Swytch bike indigogo campaign. 36v,22a controller. It was on a 700c wheel and I could regularly get up to 26-28mph on max PAS on a flat. I had the motor re-laced into a 20" wheel and can barely get above 16-17mph. After looking closely at the motor, it seems likes it's a Shengyi DGW22, which is nearly identical to the sx2 from GRIN, standard wind. 1/2
@Karstan@driusan whatpressureyourunning, rolling resistance etc? You could dial all of those parameters into the motor simulator to match, but I would expect wind resistance between 20-28mph to be significant vs at 18-20mph, tuck and lycra or not. All other things being unchanged (hard to match the tire performance when the rim size is different though), you should get 20/28ths of the prior speed. Sounds like 10% higher losses though?
@enobacon Yeah, too high for tire variation and riding position to account for. I'm essentially trying to dial in exactly what this motor's specs are so I can decide what to do with it going forward.
I went to get groceries but sorry kids it's raining, #climateAction#eBikes are cancelled. I take it all back, long live cars, nobody should have to suffer like this.
"As #ebikes age, they are quickly turning to electronic waste destined for the scrap yard along with old laptops, tube monitors, and old cell phones. That is something the industry needs to be prepared for. I hope there is regulation that will require companies to support these products for a reasonable period of time."
"A step #ebike manufacturers need to take is to make their bike sustainable for the long term. An (insert sigh here) analog bike could last indefinitely with regular maintenance."
@seachanger
For some reason goverments just can't take the obvious step of requiring the manufacturers and vendors to provide the reverse logistics for every product they sell.
If they can build a logistics supply chain that brings raw materials together as a product and puts it in the buyers hands, they could take it back from the buyer at end of life, and end up with raw materials again.
I guess I'm somewhat of an expert on #eBikes at this point, but I'm kinda surprised they don't already have some resources they could ask about this. 😏
the CHP e-bike safety training at least seems straightforward about actual hazards of #eBikes (such as unexpected motor activation while stopped) and not dripping with moral panic and ignorance.
@cyclingelectric My kids will never get that many bikes back in it. The front bike no problem, but if they want the middle bike the front bike needs to come out and won't get put back. Woe be to the person who wants the back bike. It also doesn't have space for a trailer, tandem or cargo bike. I have to give it a fail to be useful for the job.
HEADLINE: "Concerns grow over safety of e-bikes amid reports of accidents"
We are now entering an era of some amazing pearl clutching over #ebikes.
Of course E-bike accidents are on the rise. More riders=more accidents. Worsened by the fact that drivers are not only used to (but also outright refuse) sharing the road with anyone else, let alone e-bikes.
Any deviation or challenge to car-dominance triggers a super weird victim blaming reflex with headlines like "Teen boy killed in E-bike crash" to describe a teen ebike rider getting hit by a multi-ton cargo van.
ClEArly the BiKe'S FauLT. Fantastic journalism. Call it a day!
@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.
did some shopping on our Rad Bikes today. were immediately approached by an elderly couple asking "how do you like your Rad Bikes??", so we shared how much we love them.*
the reason they were familiar with the brand was that a lot of their friends apparently had bought a Rad Bike over the past year, and every single one of them just loves it.
<eeeexcellent>
I am not earning a commission, although maybe I should be. 😅
@robyn glad for them. I was caught in the RadWagon4 problem, where they told me I shouldn’t bike my bike for nine months. Customer service was pretty bad and waiting nine months was… a fail. You get what you pay for. Still riding my Rad, but… not thrilled.
This GMAC tandem is my first big hub motor and wow, this thing goes! I still need to test it on a steep hill fully loaded but it just delivers power where the bbs02 on my edgerunner would have me so busy managing shifting. I have 250 and 350W 36V geared hub motor #eBikes, but did not expect the amount of thrust (this is the "slow" winding in a 20in wheel so it has all of the torques.)
@enobacon Nice! Yeah I ran a few models in that tool and saw the profile is VERY different than mine, particularly at higher voltages. I'm planning on selling my truck this month and using some of the cash to make some ebike upgrades. I'd originally considered buying a new ebike, but I couldn't find any that offered regen.
