Electric bikes and mopeds are cutting oil demand
Electric cars matter a lot for electrifying the economy. But don’t sneeze at the power of the humble electric bike.
Muhammad Rizwan Azhar, writing for the Conversation:
By contrast, electric mopeds and bikes use a lot less energy to transport one or two people. They’re also a lot cheaper to buy and run than electric cars.
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If you commute on an e-bike 20km a day, five days a week, your charging cost would be about $20 – annually.
Electric cars matter a lot for electrifying the economy, don’t get me wrong. But don’t sneeze at the power of the humble electric bike.
I bought my e-bike for $4,500 four years ago, when e-bikes were impossible to get a hold of and commanding a high price. Now you can get serviceable e-bikes for very cheap and my exact e-bike for less than I paid.
Owning an e-bike rules. My charging costs have been near zero. I pay $100 a year in maintenance. It gets me around the city just as fast as a car. I can take it on a train. It’s hard to overestimate how good it feels never to have to worry about parking, either.
My e-bike even has a little cargo area at the back which I can put a kids seat when we have kids.
