I just skimmed the article and agree that it’s misleading without context or data. I didn’t look hard to see if it actually gave any.
That said my personal experience is that I get far more exercise with my ebike because I’m in the saddle more often. I rode my normal bike maybe once or twice per summer. I’m not into it as a sport or hobby, and there are too many hills and stop signs/lights that you actually have to stop at, which means struggling to get going when you have to jet out between cars. I don’t have billions of hours training my thighs into galactus legs so I can take off uphill in 6th gear. And let’s just be honest: I’m never going to.
My ebike solve those problems. As a result I’ve packed in a couple hundred miles in just the first year I’ve had it. So for me it very much is a case of fewer calories per mile but more miles overall exercised.