I'd love to be able to bike to work, or the grocery store or anything else, really, but the infrastructure here really doesn't permit that. There are a few shops within walking distance and I make a point to buy things there, even if they're a little more expensive and while I may be able to speed up those trips with an e-bike, it's probably far less environmental impact for me to just use my two legs.
Even if I COULD bike for these trips... I'd just get a dang bicycle. No need to make further waste and use rare earth minerals by getting an e-bike. Plus, far cheaper to buy and maintain.
The thing about eBikes is that their slightly higher speed sharply increases the number of people for whom they are an option as compared with pedal-it-yourself. That's why people are recommending them.
I'd be willing to bet that for most Americans the main barrier to commuting by bike is the threat of cars and lack of bicycle infrastructure as a whole.
I ride my bike to class often, and when I do it's great. Well-maintained trails and frequent bike racks make it very convenient. My college is good with bicycle infrastructure, and I happen to be lucky that there are good trails between my apartment and campus. A faster ride would be nice, but I don't see it making me bike more often. It wouldn't affect the things that prevent me from biking on the days that I don't: weather, time of day, or how I feel physically.
Despite how much I bike to class, I've never biked to the grocery store, restaurants, or any other place that's not on campus. This is because I'd have to ride on busy roads without bike lanes. Once you get closer to the center of the city, there are bike lanes, but they're just painted. Actual separated bike lanes basically don't exist in the US, which means that cyclists are still at risk of getting hit by cars even when bike lanes are present. A faster bike wouldn't fix this. Investment in infrastructure would.
I do understand the appeal of eBikes and I recognize them as a viable alternative to cars. But I only think people will make the switch if they live somewhere that's already got the necessary infrastructure to make their commute safe and efficient. This is not even close to the majority of Americans. If we want people to move away from cars and toward bikes, we need to think of infrastructure first and the bikes themselves second.
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I'd love an e-bike but 1. I couldn't afford one without selling my car and 2. I'd only get the use out of it on a few mile commute. Once it's the weekend I've 3 kids to run around to clubs and such
Sorry but the e-bike can't go on the highway. No dice.
Here's the thing: it substitutes for a lot of trips of a several miles or less. That's enough for a lot of people to replace much of their driving.
In the U.S. most places outside of urban centers are pretty inhospitable for bikes. Even if I did have the range to replace most of my trips (I don't), I wouldn't feel safe doing so. That aspect gets a brief nod in the article but it doesn't even begin to cover situations like winter weather, or any adverse weather in general. This is the same nonsense over and over, placing the impetus for change on the individual where systematic change is required instead.
I understand the reluctance from people in the US. Much of the cost of car ownership happens no matter how much you drive, so switching to an ebike for some trips may not save money for a very long time if you have to keep the car. Also, riding a bike (even a class 4 ebike) in many places can be really scary. I live in Denver, and there are parts of the city that I wouldn't go with an ebike, and Denver is one of the better cities in the US for biking infrastructure.
If you can get to a point where you can rely on rentals and ride share for your car needs, getting an ebike makes sense. Otherwise, it's going to be a hard sell for a lot of people.
In our family we have two e-bikes - one smaller one larger, also many normal bikes, no more car. They are especially useful to get up the steep hills to the side of our valley, and also to pull shopping or dog in a trailer - up to 50kilos ok. Both e-bikes fold so they can easily go on the train. Both e-bikes were bought directly from china online, as we are not rich.
The smaller one is slower but manageable by low-teen-kids too. The larger one will go about 80km, pedalling, with small hills.
We find e-bikes don't make us lazy, rather they encourage us to make more trips, and pedal faster - still get fit.
So the european law that enforces pedalling rather than cruising is good, however the low european limit on e-bike power is unfortunate, maybe designed by people in flat countries, you need more power for hills or heavy loads.
We'd like two more to enable family trips, but those are too rare to justify the cost, and also no e-bike can last a whole day - for that we'd need solar panels on a trailer - project for later ...
[p.s. note - overlap with !solarpunktravel@slrpnk.net ]I have an aluminum fat bike. I got studded winter tires for it on extra rims because the tire swap is a huge pain. Winter destroyed the steel bolts so I put aluminum or titanium depending on how much force they are subjected to. I put a mid drive motor which is the only choice really for wheel changing to be possible. Added lights and turn signals, and a cool wireless charging phone holder, all connected to the only battery for the whole bike. Threw on a cassette that goes up to 50t and now I consider it finished until any problems come up.
It has been fairly excellent. I use it to commute to work all year all weather. Back pain or arthritis knees and I can go fully on throttle, shifting somewhat like a car. Non snow seasons I can skip 70% of the roads and take a trail that is mostly bike friendly but the particular entrance I use is really wide stairs. Low pressure fat tires just gum over stairs going down, and mid drive on the 50t lets me go up entirely on throttle and not bash the pedals on the steps, and even stop and go in the middle the so far only two times I encountered a pedestrian there. When it gets icy the studs make it like the ice isn't even there. I can ride up hills I can't even walk up. Snow depends on the wetness and how packed it is but generally it's doable as long as the axle of the wheel is out of the snow. I also visit friends and family and haul stuff on the rack or in a trailer, as long as there is a secure place to put the bike. There was one time I stopped someone from stealing my bike because they were more scared of my huge pipe wrench than I was of their crappy Bosch angle grinder. Since then I don't shop by bike anymore. I will never financially recover if my bike gets stolen. And I will be sad.
Here in canada goose land things are looking okay so far for bike commuting, but some things are kinda janky. Some roads have "single file" signs which drivers never follow. In 30km/h zones cars will drive at the speed limit if I am behind them, but I can go 45 in front and they will zoom by and I could reach out and touch them as they passed if it wouldn't injure me. I do admit I find driving behind a cyclist annoying, mainly because it's always a speed where automatics keep shifting back and forth, and stick if I gear down and roar the engine they might think I'm trying to harass them. On my not exactly legal bike configuration drivers don't have an excuse though. Then there are new cyclists that started in lockdown that ride on the wrong side, e-scooters that do the same, dangerous crossing in really dumb places, people walking in the bike lane, cars in the bike lane turning right when there is already a dedicated turn lane, and more stupid shit.
In the states I have only driven car and only highway, but from the people I have heard from that have tried bike, it sounds like work commutes tend not to be very safe.
