Embracing E-Bikes
by Fred Horch, Principal Advisor at Sustainable Practice.
We could build over 700 class 1 or 2 e-bikes with the batteries from a single Hummer EV.
Pedal power is phenomenal, but it’s even more fun electrified. Small motors and batteries can easily be added to bicycles and other lightweight vehicles. This makes them much more powerful and convenient than purely pedal-powered vehicles, while remaining almost as sustainable. As we explore steps on the pathway to sustainable movement, it’s time to consider our electric future.
Before buying an electric vehicle (EV) that weighs a ton or more and costs more than the average annual earnings of a full-time worker, there’s another way to electrify your ride that could save you tens of thousands of dollars and provide many years of enjoyment. A whole new class of vehicles, “micro” EVs (e-bikes, e-mopeds, e-scooters, etc.) that weigh less than their riders and cost less than a week’s wages, are already having a major impact on cities across North America. Electric “micromobility” might not be quite as sustainable as pure pedal power, but it’s a close second.
In this action guide, let’s explore how to use e-bikes, e-mopeds, and e-scooters to achieve our sustainable movement goals of
- making efficient use of materials, time, and energy,
- harnessing sustainable solar energy to move, and
- maximizing personal and community well-being and safety.
Buy or Share Micromobility
We’ll dive into definitions below, but in general, “e-micromobility” means an electric motorized wheeled vehicle with a pedal assist or hand throttle that you can ride by standing or sitting. In general, these vehicles weigh less than a person and can carry a payload of hundreds of pounds. Prices range from about $500 to $5,000 or more if you’d like to buy a brand-new stand-up e-scooter, e-bike, e-trike, e-moped, or sit-down e-scooter. Next time you’re visiting a city with a shared micromobility system, why not take a trip on a rented e-bike or e-scooter to see how it goes?
Since the introduction of the country’s first bike share system in 2010, people in the U.S. have taken half a billion trips total on shared micromobility.
— Shared Micromobility in the U.S. 2020–2021
E-micromobility vehicles are vastly more efficient and capable pound-per-pound than larger personal vehicles. Just to give one metric as an example, an e-bike weighing 43 pounds has a max load rating of 300 pounds for a max-load-to-weight ratio of 6.98, whereas a Toyota Prius with a curb weight of 3,097 pounds has a weight rating of 4,145 (i.e., a max load rating of 1,048), for a max-load-to-weight ratio of just 0.34. A tow-behind cargo trailer turns an e-bike into a practical utility vehicle.
Sustainable Movement Milestones
North America is far from our goal of sustainable movement, but we know the three basic strategies for success:
- make efficient use of truly recyclable (or compostable) materials to build efficient fully electric vehicles,
- power our efficient electric vehicles with electricity generated entirely from solar energy and other renewable sources, and
- choose a fun, safe, non-polluting, and affordable method to complete each trip.
On average, we take four trips per day, with a “trip” defined as “a movement that includes a stay of longer than 10 minutes at a location away from home.” We use a car or larger personal vehicles for more than 80% of our trips (according to the 2017 National Household Travel Survey, even though more than half of our daily trips were less than three miles (according to a research study for the Bureau of Transportation Statistics). For about one in ten trips, we walk; about one in 20, we ride public transit; and about 1 in 100, we ride a bike.
Meaningful milestones toward the goal of sustainable movement include increasing our average
- vehicle occupancy above the average of 1.5 by carpooling,
- number of people per vehicle start per week by combining car trips, and
- distance traveled per joule by using more energy-efficient technology like bicycles.
Focusing on the half of our daily trips that are less than three miles, many of us could very practically achieve the milestone of completing these trips using 100% sustainable solar energy in the form of food (by walking or pedaling under our own power) or electricity (by getting the aid of electric motors powered by batteries charged by electricity generated by solar panels).
Powerful and efficient micro EVs make it possible to complete most of our trips using less time, energy, material, and money. With an electric motor assist, per minute of travel time, we can go six to ten times as far as we can walking and about twice as far as pedaling unassisted. We can also carry or pull heavier loads without breaking a sweat. Compared to public transit, riding our own vehicle is more convenient since we can go exactly where and when we need.
Compared to large multi-passenger personal vehicles designed for high-speed travel on highways (and especially compared to electric personal vehicles), e-bikes and their ilk make much more efficient use of material and money. Each GMC Hummer EV has a 246,000 Wh battery pack, which is almost 712 times bigger than the 346 Wh battery pack that powers a Soltera Class 1 or 2 e-bikes.
In other words, we could build more than seven hundred e-bikes with the batteries from a single large EV truck. Seven hundred people could use these seven hundred e-bikes to complete more than 1,400 daily trips. That would lower energy costs for everyone (by reducing the demand for transportation fuel and electricity) and improve traffic (by taking hundreds of cars off the road every day).
A Note On Classes of E-Bikes
Depending on their speed and controls, e-bikes come in three classes:
Class 1 are pedal assisted with a maximum speed of 20 miles per hour. The motor won’t work unless you are pedaling. The throttle won’t work separately.
Class 2 are throttle assisted with a maximum speed of 20 mph. You can pedal or just twist the throttle to run the motor. If you can twist the throttle and go faster than 20 mph without pedaling, then the vehicle will be classified as a moped (a “motorized with pedals” vehicle) or a scooter.
Class 3 are pedal assisted with a maximum speed of 28 mph.
All three e-bike classes are limited to motors no more powerful than 750 W (about one horsepower). To learn more about these classes, see “Differences Between EBike Classes 1 2 3 Explained.” Laws regarding helmets, drivers’ licenses, and registration vary by state.
The average price of what transportation planners call a “personal vehicle” (and the rest of us call a “new car”) is now $48,008. Kelley Blue Book puts the average transaction price for an electric vehicle (EV) at $55,488. An e-bike is about two orders of magnitude (100 times) more affordable, starting at around $400. For the price of one full-size EV, we could buy 138 e-bikes. Not only are they cheaper to buy, but unlike automobiles or motorcycles, most e-bikes don’t require paying registration fees. E-micromobility helps us stretch every dollar while still getting to work, to school, to the store, and to visit friends and family.
What’s Still Ahead on the Pathway…
While walking, cycling, or riding a micro EV can handle most of our trips, sometimes we need more power and protection from the elements. Next week we’ll examine EVs that require a driver’s license and are allowed on highways in the United States. After that, we’ll consider how to move farther, faster, or more fantastically than possible in a ground-bound EV — travel by planes, trains, boats, and more. Buckle up!
Once we’ve explored the full pathway to sustainable movement, we’ll start on the related pathway to sustainable energy. As we move away from burning fossil fuel to move, what energy sources are we moving toward? I hope you’ll stay with us on the journey to sustainability and take action to have a positive impact on the world.
Questions? Comments?
I’d love to know what you’ve discovered on the pathway to sustainable movement. Are you knowledgeable about e-bikes? What should other people understand about them? What has worked well — and what hasn’t been that great — for you? What could help you, your family, or your organization take practical action steps to become meaningfully and measurably and superbly sustainable?
References and Further Reading
- Electric bike conversion kits 2023 — Give any bike a boost, cyclingnews
- Being Sustainable, One Step This Week
- Average US Salary by State, SoFi
- Micromobility: A Travel Mode Innovation, US Department of Transportation
- Ecotric Vortex Electric Bike, Jolta
- Spectral:ON CF 8, Canyon
- Foldable Electric Scooters, Jolta
- E-Bikes, Jolta
- Electric Trikes, Jolta
- E-Mopeds, Jolta
- Chopper Electric Scooters, Jolta
- Shared Micromobility in the U.S. 2020–2021, National Association of City Transportation Officials
- Soltera Ebike, Aventon
- 2023 Toyota Prius Specs, iSeeCars
- The 4 Best Bike Cargo Trailers of 2023, GearLab
- Daily Passenger Travel, Bureau of Transportation Statistics
- National Household Travel Survey, Federal Highway Administration
- FOTW #1230, March 21, 2022: More than Half of all Daily Trips Were Less than Three Miles in 2021, Vehicle Technologies Office, U.S. Department of Energy
- Combining Car Trips: Improve How You Move, One Step This Week
- A Brief on Bicycling, One Step This Week
- Hummer EV Pickup and Hummer EV SUV, GMC
- GMC’s Hummer EV Has a Very Complicated Battery Pack, Road & Track
- General Provisions; Electric Bicycles, Federal Register
- Differences Between EBike Classes 1 2 3 Explained, SnapCycle
- Electric Bike Laws — State by State, People for Bikes
- After Nearly Two Years, New-Vehicle Transaction Prices Fall Below Sticker Price in March, According to New Data from Kelley Blue Book, Cox Automotive
- How Much Are Electric Cars?, Kelley Blue Book
- HEZZO Electric Bike for Adults, Amazon.com
- Do Electric Bikes Need To Be Registered In The US?, Pedal With Power
