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France is giving citizens $3k to get rid of their car and get an ebike
- rasz 6y agoNo one is _giving_ anything to anyone. There is a €2,500 trade in for old cars with attached stipulations. You can easily get >2500 Euro for most used cars by just reselling them on the secondary market.
- FuckButtons 6y agoUnless your car is really old or knackered - which might be a good way to get a new e-bike, buy a clapped out old banger for 500 euro and trade it in and get 2000 for nothing.
- 908B64B197 6y agoGreatest barrier to e-bike adoption? Nowhere to park it. I mean a nice, locked space indoor to do so. Not some bike rack on the street where it will eventually get stolen.
- Guest42 6y agoI wonder what the insurance would look like. It seems potentially more risky than driving.
- atat7024 6y agoNot if everyone has ebikes.
- foepys 6y agoQuite a lot of ebike accidents involve only one party. The relatively high speeds mixed with ice, wet leaves, going up and down the sidewalk, turning way too fast, etc. make ebikes quite dangerous. All those are also typical bike accidents. There are even quite a few deaths without anyone involved but the rider.
- carlmr 6y agoThat's why in Germany at least we have two classes of ebikes. The ones assisting up to 25kph (i.e. moderate bike speeds but you can keep them up going uphill) and the ones supporting you up to 45kph. For the latter you need liability insurance and a scooter or car driving permit. They also have a numberplate.
- nobodyandproud 6y agoI have a class 1 ebike: Pedal assist and up to 20mph only. It’s an amazing piece of tech, because it makes grades and hills feel flat. Yet it never feels like a scooter or something motorized that you don’t have full control over. That is, it’s no worse than a regular bike. It has all of the other downsides of bikes, however. To make this work, government needs to build up physical and legal infrastructure for bikes: Roads and paths optimized for bicycles only. No cars. No scooters. No pedestrians. And enforced, meaningful penalties for violators. And yes, parking as well.
- Tepix 6y agoIn Germany you can get a 9k€ subsidy on an electric car. You can get 0€ subsidy for a L7e electric light vehicle that goes 45km/h max, uses vastly fewer resources to build and operate and uses less parking space. Many of these vehicles (like the Renault Twizy or the upcoming Microlino) could replace cars used for short distance commutes. I hope it changes soon.
- dasKrokodil 6y agoThat's because none of the big German car manufacturers produces L7e vehicles.