why Ride e-bikes?
General
observations about e-bike use.
- The ideal candidate to use an
e-bike is an individual who regularly
commutes less than 20 km from home to work, school or other
places.
- The economic and ecologic benefits of riding an
e-bike are maximized when an e-bike is used regularly and as a
substitute for
automobile transportation.
- Riding an e-bike, particularly the scooter style, is a good
alternative for someone who would like to ride a bicycle but can't
because of a physical limitation (e.g. bad knees).
- For distances up to 15 km, travel time on an
e-bike can be comparable to travel times on public transit.
because wait times (at the bus stop and at transfer points) are
eliminated and
direct routes can be used.
- Costs of operating an e-bike is comparable to that of using
public transit [see below].
- In
Durham region, with the right clothing (water-proof, wind
proof
and warm), e-bikes can probably be used 8-9 months of the year.
- Using an e-bike rather than a bicycle to commute to work
avoids
the need to shower or change clothes when you arrive at work or get
home.
- Riders remain comfortable even on the hottest days of the
year.
- It is easier to remain comfortable on an e-bike in
colder weather compared to riding a bicycle.
You don't have the complication
of trying to balance staying warm (because it is cold) and staying cool
(because you are pedalling).
- Cargo storage on the scooter style e-bikes make it easy to
do those short trips: picking up a loaf of bread, returning a
video, going for a haircut, picking up a six pack.
The benefits fall into two main categories:
- reduced operating cost (compared to a car.)
- reduced environmental impact
Operating
Costs
Cost to ride an e-bike:
- $1000-$2500 to purchase new
- less than 0.5 cents of electricity per km driven.
- insurance: $0
- license: $0
- maintenance: $150/year (estimate). Includes
and assumed need to replace the battery every three years plus other
incidentals.
- replacement transportation (public transit) for four winter
months $368 (4*$92 monthly
bus pass on Durham
Region Transit)
- If you keep your bike for three years then the
annual cost is between $850 and $1351 per year.
Compare to taking
Durham
Region Transit:
- $1104 (12x$92 monthly bus pass)
- Note: the tax rebate program reduces this cost (25%?).
Compare this to driving a car:
- The CAA estimates the operating cost of a car to
be between
$0.40 and $0.90 per kilometer as given in their Driving
Costs brochure. Total annual operating costs are
between $10,000 and $15,000.
Ecological
Benefits
- Low carbon dioxide emissions compared to cars,
buses and even pedalling!.
- Carbon dioxide emissions are created during electrical
generation used to charge the bike.
- Daily charging an e-bike will use between 0.5 and 1
kilowatt-hour.
- timeforachange.org
(on their web page "What
is a carbon footprint?") indicates that running a 60 watt
computer for 32 hours (1.92 kilowatt-hours) emits 1 kilogram of carbon
dioxide
- based on this information an e-bike can be estimated to
emit between 0.25 and0.5 kilograms of carbon dioxide per day;
- burning a litre of gasoline emits 2.3 kilograms
- riding public transportation 10 - 12 km emits 1 kilogram.
- note that timeforachange.org also reports that producing
a cheeseburger emits 3.1 kg of carbon dioxide; a case can be made that
riding a e-bike emits less carbon dioxide than pedalling a bicycle.
Refer to "Environmentally speaking, isn't this worse than a
regular bicycle?" on the FAQ page at
e-bikes.ca.
- Low noise
- Low wear and tear on the road system.
Next:
Where can I an
e-bike in Durham Region?
