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Electric bike trials in Australia see 50% purchase and change transport habits
- anitil 9y agoThis article is ... odd. Some of the wording doesn't make a lot of sense. An example: " (Time of year not weather indication were not cited).". From what I can gather, 60 participants were given an electric bike for 10 weeks, and around 50% later went on to buy the bike they were given. Usage was 60% at the beginning, dropping to 28% by the end. So half or greater of the people who purchased a bike weren't even using it.
- euos 9y agoMy employer did similar trial (I ended up buying the bike and now I do around 30% commute by bike). I don't think you can expect high percentage from people that are not obsessed with cycling - and those already use regular bike. E.g. I need to be home early 2 days/week to drive my kids to classes, sometimes I need to go to grocery store after the work, on some days there's dentist, weather, etc. So the drop in the usage is expected.
- senectus1 9y agowhy would someone who is obsessed with cycling be interested in buying an electric bike? All the cycling nuts I know consider them to be heresy...
- quasse 9y agoI'm a fairly serious cyclist (currently own 5 bikes) and the two I use most are my cyclocross bike and my electric bike. Most of the cycling nuts who consider them heresy are weekend warriors who've never ridden a daily 14 mile commute in the winter.
- taneq 9y agoThere's your lycra brigade guys who will always think adding $1,000 worth of electric drive gear to a $500 bike is cheating, but spending $10,000 on an ultra-light carbon fiber frame with ultra-low-rolling-resistance tyres is totally legitimate. But then there's also people who start off with an electric bike and love how convenient, cheap and easy they are. I have a couple of friends who've got e-bikes and use them as regular transport.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- victorhooi 9y agoThere's a pretty large difference between shaving 250 grams off your bike weight, versus replacing all your pedalling with an electric motor =). One will get you banned from the Tour de France - the other will not... I confess I'm one of the lycra brigade people (they're not all guys!), and have spent money on trying to save those couple of extra grams. However, for me, I like cycling also for the exercise benefits - and using an electric monitor would remove all those benefits. Although for somebody who doesn't want to pedal - I think they're great! You get many of the benefits, without arriving as sweaty.
- Someone 9y agoNitpick: shaving 250 grams off your bike weight _can_ get you banned from the Tour de France. UCI regulations state a minimum weight for a bicycle of 6.8 kilos (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racing_bicycle#UCI_rules https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racing_bicycle#UCI_rules)
- victorhooi 9y agoFair point =). Fortunately, I don't race in UCI events, haha. My understanding was that the rule is around safety - i.e. they didn't want people pushing the limits at the risk of failure. There's calls for it to be scrapped, now that we know more about the limits of carbon fibre.
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- inopinatus 9y agoOn the contrary. My household is cycling obsessed and we bought a 250W electric commuter this year. It won't displace our carbon fibre / titanium race machines, but it is tremendous fun to ride around casually or to commute on. They are comparatively expensive, though. I expect to see a drop in price as popularity grows, since bicycle manufacturing is a volume game.
- Baeocystin 9y agoI picked up my RadRover a year ago for ~$1,300. Considering the price of 'serious' bikes, it's quite cheap. A motor hides the dual sins of fat tires and heavy frames quite well!
- fulafel 9y agoA person who likes biking might get one for friends/SO/family seniors who might join but don't bike regularly. Or to use when you have a kid or 30 kg of groceries in the trailer. (An obsessed person probably doesn't have non-biking friends/SO...)
- nl 9y agoI'm a cycling nut and I quite like electric bikes, although I've never tried one. One of my best rides ever was racing an electric bike up a local 8km climb. I was fitter and my bike was lighter, but he had a motor. Everytime the road got steep I'd catch him up but then on the flatter parts his weight wasn't a hindrance and all I could do was draft. It was awesome. I don't like seeing eBike times on Strava though.
- Matthias247 9y agoI'm pretty much a regular biker and have lots of friends who are also cycling (mountainbike as well as road bike). Some years ago the opinion about ebikes was really somewhat negative. But I felt that this has changed, and ebikes are now mostly seen as something positive. I personally think they are a great alternative for commuting. E.g. they allow for making a boring 20km single-way commute without getting exhausted, and saving the energy for any other activity/sports which might be more interesting for their user. They also make cycling more accessible for older and handicapped users. All those factors reduce the usage of cars where they are not really needed, which is a good thing. There are still some fears around ebikes in the mountainbike community. E.g. that they make hard trails high up in the mountain too easily accessible for people without the required fitness and cycling skills. Which could cause them problems for getting down again without crashes. Another fear is that the increased trail usage and speed through ebikes might cause these to wear out faster.
- Someone 9y agoSo, you've been riding with a group of friends for decades, and your health is deteriorating so you can't keep up with them anymore. Do you: - drop out of the group and stop cycling? - every outing, require them to drop down to your speed? - get a bike that gives you some assistance, so that you can keep up with them? Similarly, if your speed drops due to age, do you stop making those regular rides to a friend or your favorite cafe, or do you get a bike that helps you a bit?
- dagw 9y agoI know at least a couple of people how are pretty serious about biking (as in fairly regularly take part in amateur road and mountain bike races), but who also ride electric bikes for their daily commute since they are so easy and convenient and you get to work without having broken a sweat.
- dx034 9y agoYou can use it occasionally. I have colleagues who only cycle to work once per week. That's still a 20% reduction in traffic and will probably still bring health benefits.
- gniv 9y agoThe usage refers to the trial only. Here's the quote from the original article [1]: "Usage of the e-Bikes for commuting remained high for the duration of the Albany trial, peaking at 60 per cent in the first week, before dropping to 28 per cent by week nine. But the uptake in cycling was sustained even after the trial finished. One in two participants enjoyed riding their e-Bike so much they purchased it once the trial finished. " [1] http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/electric-bike-trial-in-perth-and-albany-results-in-huge-savings-across-the-board-20170803-gxoqc9 http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/electric-bike-trial-in-per...
- anitil 9y agoI guess usage might have gone up after the trial finished, but it seems unlikely to me. I could be wrong though - they were willing to part with cash. I cycle almost every day, I just feel this piece is over stating the effect.
- CryoLogic 9y agoIn Seattle, electric bikes and boosted boards a commonplace. Great for avoiding rush hour traffic.
- avivo 9y agoIt references that RAC ran the study. I was curious. It turns out it's the "Royal Automobile Club of WA" (Western Australia). More details: https://rac.com.au/about-rac https://rac.com.au/about-rac and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Automobile_Club_of_Western_Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Automobile_Club_of_Weste... It's great to see a historically car focused org trying to replace cars with bikes! It sounds like a pretty incredible organization — curious what the Western Australians here think.
- arkem 9y agoI haven't lived in WA for a while now but I always thought of the RAC as kind of a default roadside assistance and insurance provider. There are plenty of other providers and with a little effort I can recall some of their names but when thinking about car insurance RAC springs to mind immediately. Last time I lived in Australia I owned an electric bike and not a car and it was great. I would rent a car maybe once or twice a year for a long road trip but would otherwise just stick to my bike.
- strayamaaate 9y agoHi, from Perth, WA. I think it’s a great initiative. We have a similar climate to the US west coast with only a few weeks of rain a year, relatively flat landscape and way too many cars per person (due to public transport and distance). It’s pretty common to drive very short distances to pickup something small. I’m sorely guilty of it. One reason I avoid cycling is that I feel it’s somewhat risky. I lost a close friend in high school who got knocked down by a drunk driver. More bikes on the road raises awareness, so a net positive imho.
- NegativeLatency 9y agoNorth of California it rains regularly for most of the year.
- microcolonel 9y agoGiven that electric bicycles are automobiles, it hardly seems much of a stretch to me.
- avivo 9y agoThe actual study writeup, showing bike use before, during, and after: https://rac.com.au/~/media/files/rac-website/pdfs/about-rac/publications/reports/2016/rac-ebike-trial-the-power-of-electric-bikes.pdf?la=en https://rac.com.au/~/media/files/rac-website/pdfs/about-rac/... Total (bike and ebike use): Before: 11% 1st week: 55% 5th week: 65% (peak) 10th week: 50% After: 41% (not everyone bought the ebike) Car use went from 61% (before) to 46% (after) — bikes decreased walking also. 100% of participants said they were satisfied, with more than half saying they were extremely satisfied with the e-bike.
- Shivetya 9y agohow many were cyclist before this study? I would assume most. Usage surely has to be weather dependent. I just find studies like this to be highly contrived and too short to have actual real value in their predictions. Did you find information of average length of trip, number per day, and such?
- keyle 9y agoAlso Zero Motorcycles are starting to have interesting models here. check them out if you're interested in electric motorcycles. I requested a quote for their 2017 models, waiting on a response.
- mmel 9y agoActually, they just shuttered their Australian distribution. https://motorbikewriter.com/zero-electric-motorcycles-pulls/ https://motorbikewriter.com/zero-electric-motorcycles-pulls/
- keyle 9y agowow really, what a shame. Thanks for letting me know as I just inquired about getting one!
- drcross 9y agoI also never got a reply from them in several weeks.
- Reason077 9y agoThe biggest problem I see restricting the uptake of e-Bikes for urban transport is the risk of theft. You really need secure bike parking at both ends of the journey given that these are typically $1000+ machines - locks are no obstacle for a determined bike thief! A cheap push-bike, on the other hand, you can feel comfortable parking on almost any street - which is really what makes a bike so convenient in the first place. Better security/anti-theft technology needed. Needs to be effective and convenient!
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- agumonkey 9y agoAll bikes get stolen, even the crappiest ones. Theft is the reason I don't use my bike anymore, unless I don't stop.
- maccard 9y agoCrappy ones don't get stolen. I lived in an area with rampant bike theft, had 3 bikes stolen, and bought a crappy bike. I didn't even bother locking it most of the time. I sold it when I moved, after 2 years of pretty much daily use.
- theBobBob 9y agoI knew someone that had a pretty decent bike and he purposely made it look crap. He put loads of crappy stickers on it, wrapped different parts of it with different coloured tape etc. Not sure did it actually change anything, but it has never been stolen.
- agumonkey 9y agoThere's a counter intuitive effect with high grade bikes. They often have a unique look (frame, colors, tires...). If (IF) the bike is quickly moved far from its original city, other bikers will notice it whenever someone uses it again. Often on bikers board you can read stories of users helping each other out. A generic bike on the other hand .. less chances to be noticed (by definition).
- dalbasal 9y agoIt's actually a curious result (though not surprising, based on experience). Ebikes are just a very light and low power motorbike. We have motorbikes. There are obviously huge downsides to an ebike relative to an motorbike. They're faster, for instance. I think a big part of the story is that ebikes are just fun to ride, aside from practicalities like travel time. This is kind of a weird conclusion, for a tranport policy person to digets. It can't be quantified and charted. What are they supposed to do with it? This makes me curious about other things. Would a super-light, 4 wheel vehicles also be fun? What would a transport system look like if fun was the major guiding principle?
- chubs 9y agoI commute by both motorbike and (push) bike. Pushbike has some nonobvious advantages IME: * You can ride in the breakdown lane which is way less stressful than lane-splitting on the motorbike. * You can take off-road shortcuts between suburbs which is fun and saves loads of time. * Maintenance when you commute by motorbike costs a fortune! Tyres, chains, and valve shims cost thousands a year. Way more than a car.
- chubs 9y agoI seriously considered buying an e-bike for commuting to work (I'm in Australia too). The biggest obstacle for me are the laws. We follow the euro laws (max 250 watts, and max 25km/h). The power is fine for a skinny-tire road bike, but you really need more for a suspension bike. Our roads aren't as nice as europe - you really want to ride a dual suspension mountain bike. Also my commute is 40 KM each way (very common), so you really want to be travelling faster than 25! I imagine people in europe don't commute that far. So it doesn't look to me like the rules work particularly well for us, at least it swung me against buying one personally.
- saiya-jin 9y agowhat you write makes complete sense, but there is the other side - these fast bikes are completely silent, and according to my fiancee who is a doctor there is a surge of very grave injuries done by people on e-bikes who are becoming more like motorbikes, but completely silent. so what you describe is great, but would require similar/same driving license as some weaker type of motorbikes, with plates, registration etc. are you willing to go through this?
- amiga-workbench 9y agoI've got a 1000W bike which is ridden off road for 95% of my commute. I've found when I kick the limiter in on my controller box, I don't have anywhere near enough power to assist with getting up hills. The 25km/h limit probably wouldn't be so bad on its own, its the 250W limit that makes things very awkward.
- chubs 9y agoThat sounds like a pretty damn sweet ride!
- amiga-workbench 9y agohttp://i.imgur.com/OH1iPId.jpg http://i.imgur.com/OH1iPId.jpg Its just a bodge job, Chinese conversion kit on a cheap frame but it works well.
- eternauta3k 9y agoI've considered buying a bike with a gas engine, since they are quite cheaper.
- emmelaich 9y agoPerth (and Western Australia generally) is pretty flat and has a lot of rain-free days. I'm sure that is relevant.