"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)
“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.
Go for a ride on your bike. I do regularly, for no particular reason... from my little cottage, into the forests, with my parter who for some reason unknown to me tolerates my shit. 50km this ride, ebike for the steep mountain :)
Find a spot and sit, watch the birds before they're all gone . Wedge Tailed eagles, yellow tailed cockatoos, Wrens and finches today.
And what, call them motorcycles? If passed, this will not end well.
I’m very keen on e-bikes, I see older and less capable people riding them all the time and it increases the number of people on the roads cycling rather than driving. Apparently they have no plans at the moment to up the maximum powered speed.
If you way underestimate the climate benefits of #eBikes, subsidizing them is still a good deal. (Does driving cost society more than $0.02/mile? Yes, by a factor of 100 at least, but that also seems like a super low cost for the carbon. They say reforestation would be more cost-effective, but lately the forests burn up a lot.)
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.
People have been using boxes on wheels to transport themselves and things for millennia. The issue is how fast #MotorVehicles can go, which in turn determines how far it is practical to #travel in one.
There will always be a need for weather protection and cargo capacity, but #society would look very different if motor vehicles were restricted to 20 mph, like Class II #ebikes.
Day 28 of my recumbent ebike build: first test ride! Quick ride down the street and back. Still found a couple things to tune up.
There’s a clicking sound from the front wheel area when it’s moving under load. Didn’t show up running the motor on a stand. I wonder if the motor cable isn’t secured as well as it should be?
The pedal assist needs to be dialed in some. It wasn’t detecting much power from me.
Even so, it went great! Everything else in that 0.1 mile ride worked!
I was able to diagnose that clicking sound. Here's a recording of it from my phone. Now it is showing up on the stand... what gives?
I'll need to open up the motor for that. Unfortunately, I don't have the right tool (it's a really small torx screw that I don't have a driver for), so I'll order some and fix this later.
Day 30 of my recumbent ebike build: Ordered tools to open up the motor and fix that clicking sound.
Fixed the pedal assist. I needed to set the cycle analyst to use 2-wire PAS encoding. Prior to that, PAS would only kick in when I was going below 5 mph. Weird!
Went on a couple rides today. Average efficiency is under 4 wh/mi (2.5 wh/km). That’s way better than I expected!
With that, I consider this build finished (for now)! Thanks for all the encouragement and feedback!
Scene: a wasteland of fascist car supremacy, stroads, millions dead per year, many more maimed, most of the rest coerced into working for their car and sitting in traffic awaiting extinction
Bike Advocate: "we should consider policy that prioritizes bikes, somewhat"
People: "not everyone can ride a bike."
😒
If your EVs aren't selling maybe that's because you're making giant fucking trucks and SUVs and hyper-expensive luxury sedans and the kind of people who want EVs mostly just want a compact car for getting to work and running errands.
@tess The affordable, efficient, small #EV most people want is an #eBike and/or #cargoBikes which use 1/100th the amount of #lithium and other #carbon-intensive resources, costs less to own two #eBikes than one year of car expenses, don't have to give up your old gas car yet, no worries for #parking or grid-scale crisis about charging infrastructure. All we need are #transportation Engineers who don't fruitlessly waste every inch of city streets on cars, and some transit priority lanes instead.
"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]"
If you support walkability and safe streets but only if zero drivers perceive themselves to be inconvenienced by the infrastructure, then you don't support walkability or safe streets.
alt text: crying feels guy meme: "I... have to drive around the block and pay to park here!?", the driver's tears flow into protected bike lanes across the bottom of the image with happy children and financially secure adults enjoying the wind in their hair and a livable city with plentiful #transit as they ride to errands and other short trips in the neighborhood on comfortable upright bikes, #eBikes and #cargoBikes. #BanCars#BikeTooter
Day 9: Static tests of the suspension with a rear-mounted battery: with me sitting in the seat, there’s about 0.5 inch (1.2 cm) of vertical travel available. This corresponds to about 30 lbs (133 N, or 13 kg-force) of force. That doesn’t feel like enough of a buffer.
So, instead, I’ll be mounting the battery on top of the rear rack. As a future upgrade, I’ll mount it under the frame, just in front of the rear wheel. (1/2)
Day 10: I made the extension cables for the throttle and brake. These use standard JST-SM plus, yay open standards! Each cable is multiple wires all in heat shrink tubing for cable management reasons.
After, I installed these on the bike, along with the battery <-> motor controller. I slid them into some spiral wrap, which looks quite nice! 😊
Day 11: I installed T-Nuts to the rear retaining bracket for the battery mount, and I started to build the front retaining bracket for the battery mount. Which are fancy words for "things which go just under the rear rack, to hold the battery mount to the rear rack".
I also started designing a housing for the cycle analyst (front display) & all its connectors. The front light will also be mounted to that housing. It's very boxy right now, which I'll fix before printing it.
Day 12 of my recumbent ebike build: Refined the display housing. Much less boxy, and should be fairly easy to assemble once printed. That said, it's not terribly printable: requires supports, has to be printed at an angle to fit on the build plate, and will take ages (2.5 days at my desired layer height). I'll do a test print at 0.3mm layer height before I commit to a 2.5 day print job. This test print will still take 17 hours to finish. 😭
Day 13 of my recumbent ebike build: Back to working on the battery mount. Sadly, I think I've learned all I can from this... let's call it the prototype. I managed to get the prototype secured to the bike rack. But in doing so, I had to cut into the mount enough such that the battery isn't able to be attached to the mount. 🤦🏻♀️
Oh well, I learned a lot, and making the second version should go much smoother.
Day 14 of my recumbent ebike build: prototype for the display housing finished printing. I removed the supports, and went about trying to assemble it. Immediately noticed that the display is too wide to fit! D’oh! I continued to test the part and make notes on it, including mounting it to the bike. Where it looks pretty great.
I’ll definitely be making another prototype part before I make the final part.