We hop in the car to get groceries or drop kids at school. But while the car is convenient, these short trips add up in terms of emissions, pollution and petrol cost.
Close to half (44%) of all Australian commuter trips are by car – and under 10km. Of Perth’s 4.2 million daily car trips, 2.8 million are for distances of less than 2km.
This is common in wealthier countries. In the United States, a staggering 60% of all car trips cover less than 10km.
So what’s the best solution? You might think switching to an electric vehicle is the natural step. In fact, for short trips, an electric bike or moped might be better for you – and for the planet. That’s because these forms of transport – collectively known as electric micromobility – are cheaper to buy and run.
But it’s more than that – they are actually displacing four times as much demand for oil as all the world’s electric cars at present, due to their staggering uptake in China and other nations where mopeds are a common form of transport.
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An ebike is a great vehicle. $1000 is a sweet spot to get 30mph, good acceleration, build quality, and $700-$800 is the new $1000. Fat tires get more torque, even if a heavier wheel, and let you have more comfort, and trail/snow/sand crossing capability. $2000 can get 40mph, or pull a trailer, or have bigger cargo/child seat capabilities.
Electric vehicles in general benefit immensely from being light. A smaller/cheaper battery is lighter and gets more range if overall vehicle is light too. Pedaling is a much bigger boost on lighter bike. BYD’s seagull ($11k) is a very small/light car that could be built in the west/sold for $15k. It’s practical enough to be a great car value.
Where ebikes need improvement is for commercial and touring purposes, having public charging and for ebikes charging at 1000-1500w is a huge 100-200km range per hour. The other major improvement for both ebikes and EVs would be power assisted trailers with regen braking, and regulation that permits and standardizes them. These can be range extending if pulled empty, or power themselves to not reduce range when loaded, and provide electric power at destination. Solar on trailers also means when not in use having emergency power at parked location.
When an ebike costs less than 6 months of car insurance, or 12 months of public transit pass, easy to park/charge/store, and can get around the city as fast as a car, its simply the best vehicle option. Where EVs can shine more is when V2G offers enough profit potential to pay for the car and part of the insurance.
The article’s premise is not really backed up by the content. A more accurate title would be ‘Electric Bikes Gaining Popularity In China,’ which isn’t really a surprise. China’s investing heavily in renewables.
But what’s the west doing? The US is trying to ban/tariff imports of Chinese renewables tech. On top of that, our cities are intentionally planned for cars, and largely unsafe for bike riders.
Getting pretty sick of western outlets shitting on China constantly, but every time they do something great that we all benefit from, the news pretends it’s a global achievement even as western leaders do everything in their power to halt progress and appease the oil lobby.
Bikes would be even more popular if we had decent infrastructure to accommodate them in the US. It’s almost like gambling with your life to ride around here with narrow dilapidated sidewalks and bike lanes wedged in between lanes where giant F150s and SUVs roam.
Bicycles dont belong on sidewalks. You’re more visible on the road. Its safer.
Really depends on the road. Try biking on the road in Texas or Florida.
Ive cycled from Key West to Jacksonville. Its safer in the road. Wear a yellow or orange vest.
Same here in small town California. From constant flats to dodging giant trucks you put your life on the line every time you hop on your bike.
I am extremely lucky to live a block away from the South Bay bike trail. I can take that thing to the trolley and not see cars. Between the trolley and my E-bike, I basically only use my EV if I’m picking up a friend.
Unfortunately where I live small electric scooters qualify as a motorcycle but also can’t be registered making them de facto illegal for transportation. The laws haven’t quite caught up everywhere.
where is that?
Not sure about where the commenter you replied to is from but that is the case here in the UK.
It’s very frustrating that the UK government can’t catch up with the many other countries.
What about electric push bike?
It makes perfect sense, AND if micro-mobility includes human powered vehicles, and walking then we can reduce oil demand even more. We’re building a culture of micro-mobility, and that’s awesome.
Damn right! This is where induced demand comes in: better sidewalks and dedicated bike/scooter lanes will make this happen even faster.
The USA needs some electric tuk tuks
Btw, how is market share of small electrics in south asian states, India? That’s where it matters.
Why would it matter more there? I think it matters more for the world’s biggest historical polluters, namely US and China.
Because most of fine particles in those countries is, because everyone and their mother drives around in small mopeds with bad filters.
Car does not matter much in climate crisis, transport (mostly water and air) and cement burning play a bigger role. But they do make the air unhealthy where people live.
Sounds like bullshit. In the EU, 60% of all transport emissions are cars. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20190313STO31218/co2-emissions-from-cars-facts-and-figures-infographics
Where’d you get the idea that cars do not matter much?
Of global emissions, not only transport. And wasn’t this a headline years ago, that cities like Delhi have such bad air because everyone mopeds there? Yes, car bad, but moped worse.
Transport, construction, and animal factory farms
Ebike users are annoying. And the child in the thumbnail isn’t wearing a helmet or is wearing it wrong enough that it’s effectively no helmet.
Real regulations are needed before greasy dipshits have clogged up court systems from suing manufacturers or being sued themselves for injuries and damages they cause.
If you have a car anyway they are not cheaper. You need tires more often along with chains and casettes as they wear out fast. A car that you use for many things is cheaper for those trips too.
i wish it wasn’t but having an ebike that I use more than my truck that is my conclusion
Of course there areelarge fitness benifits and you are not spending that much more so still worth it. Just that unless you can get rid of a car they are not cheaper.
I have a car and an electric bike. The bike cost $1400 and we’ve had it for 3 months. In that 3 months my car has cost me $512 in insurance, ~$300 in fuel, $70 in maintenance (oil change and air filters), and $890 for new tie rods. Ignoring the repair cost, my car has cost me almost $900 in normal expenses, aka almost as much as the bike. And I’m due for a new clutch, which will probably cost me as much as the bike in parts and labor. By February my normal expenses for the car will eclipse the price of a brand new e-bike
My wife rides the bike to work 5 days a week, 8 miles round trip. The maintenance costs have been $6 for a bottle of chain lube and a combined 30 minutes to clean the chain a few times.
Most of those car cost are the same if you leave it sitting in the garrage.
You do realize how that’s worse right? In the same time that car is draining my wallet by doing literally nothing, the bike could be sitting there as well costing me, at most, the price of a new set of tires and tubes. Over a long enough period, the car will get even more expensive as seals, tires, and hoses dry rot, the battery drains, the gas goes bad, and the other fluids degrade. Worst case scenario on the bike you might need to replace a battery on an e-bike if left for long enough. For my bike that would run me about $150. That wouldn’t even scratch the surface of a worst case scenario for getting a dormant car up and running again.
If I could ditch my car for an e-bike I would in a heartbeat but my commute is too long
The point is if you are keeping the car anyway. If you can get rid of a car that saves a ton of money, but if you can’t get rid of it you are not saving.
You’re still saving a lot of money on gas. And as long as its still somewhat frequently driven it also wears out much slower reducing the maintenance costs.
The amount of wear you save is minimal since ebikes have a much smaller range. (the battery dies so for longer trips an acoustic bike is can do longer trips but the speed limits it for daily trips even more) at the savings a ebike gives for range you are doing maintenance pased on times - uv , water, and ozone mean you have to replace a lot of things anyway. Oil still only lasts a year, tires 7 Years…
remember again this is about a vehicle you keep. get rid of it and you save a lot. I used to have a car and a truck but the car wasn’t used enough anymore so I got rid of it saving a lot (i lived in a place with good transit then - I got the ebike when we moved to a place without). however the bike can’t completely replace the truck so I keep it thus not saving money.
Using your car somewhat regularly means that it usually lasts longer since parts don’t break down because they aren’t usesd. Using an E-Bike for all the short trips you would usually do with your car saves you a lot of money from gasoline, since short trips are less efficient with a car, so you still save money.
Fuel costs certainly offset that FAST
I think most people wouldn’t wear out a cassette nearly as quickly as you imagine (besides, overhauling a drive train (new chain, new cassette, new chainrings) can be done with decent parts for $50-70)
I have 3,000 miles on my chainring and about 2,000 miles on my chain and cog these components are still good and probably have another 2,000 miles available easily
Tires do wear out and I spend about $200 a year on those (I could spend 80 if I got cheaper tires)… but I spend between $600-800 every two years for tires on my EV
I’ve been pretty into riding my bike around my city and working on bikes for the last few years. Most bicycle repairs start at $20 and top out at $100 where as most repair jobs on cars start at $300-500
I just replaced my chainring after about 1600 miles and a year and the tire is about to be replaced. Most of my chain trouples are from a few emergency stops to avoid a car and so I ended up starting in high gear - it should have lasted longer. 80 gallons of fuel costs about 240 and at that little use time is why you do most other maintenance so we can ignore those costs - they are much higher but you would pay them anyway.
the key to the above is you keep the car and so are paying the costs just keeping it even when you don’t use it. if you drive more per mile costs add up but you quickly get out of ebike range.
[…] truck […]
of all vehicles you could choose from, why do you own a truck? Do you move large quantities of cargo that often you require such an otherwise cumbersome car?
A couple times per year I do. And it turns out you cannot rent a truck - truck shaped cars no problem, but to use it as I do isn’t allowed by the contract.
I drive it about once a month, mostly things that a car would do but having a car and a truck is even more expensive. I’ve regularly asked if I could use somthing else but there are some things I can’t figure out and so the truck ends up staying for now.
I drive a rented vehicle daily, for work reasons, and that damned Ranger is put through the grinder as any other vehicle. It was rented with that specific purpose in mind and there is no objection to its use.
Good! Let me get the money to get one and I will gladly join the numbers.
