3 ms·

With regular maintenance and replacable batteries, I don't really see any reason an average eBike wouldn't last for many years

analog31 5y ago
Most of my friends with e-bikes are already on their second e-bike. One issue is obsolescence. The newer bikes have bigger tires, better frame designs to accommodate the motor, better controls, more battery capacity, and so forth. They are purpose built as e-bikes, rather than conventional bikes with a motor and battery strapped on. Another is repair. Finding spare parts for the electronics is a headache. The hall sensor went out on one friend's bike motor, resulting in a new bike. Voltages and connector pinouts have to be matched unless you're a whiz with a soldering iron and can find documentation -- good luck. Conventional bikes had similar issues with both things, but there's a brisk global market for keeping older bikes working, and a sufficient supply of aftermarket parts for obsolete bikes are available in the US. And there's a lot of shared folklore on how to keep old bikes working, along with people who cobble bikes together from old parts and sell them. I can still maintain a 1963 Schwinn. All but one of my bikes are assembled from spare parts. That kind of secondary economy hasn't emerged for e-bikes yet.
- deanclatworthy 5y ago
  This isn’t such a problem with high end brands. I have a specialized ebike and am fairly sure I’ll get 5-10 years out of it. Only concern is the motor.
  - analog31 5y ago
    That should be do-able. And of course it's hard to say how long a bike "should" last. It's not unrealistic to get 40 years out of a conventional bike, though some parts are consumable. Since my bikes are thrown together from parts, there's a bit of survivor bias going on when I say that they're 30 to 40 years old, and there are some older technologies not worth saving such as steel rims. What I do hope is that otherwise good bikes and their parts don't become un-salvagable because someone can't find a wiring diagram or something like that. I hope that like with conventional bikes, a cottage industry arises that shares information and recycles out-of-fashion bikes into usable vehicles for the rest of us. What do they do with old bikes in India or Africa? That's what I want to see. I don't feel bad if that 5-10 years is followed by a decent life in someone else's hands.

analog31 5y ago

Most of my friends with e-bikes are already on their second e-bike. One issue is obsolescence. The newer bikes have bigger tires, better frame designs to accommodate the motor, better controls, more battery capacity, and so forth. They are purpose built as e-bikes, rather than conventional bikes with a motor and battery strapped on. Another is repair. Finding spare parts for the electronics is a headache. The hall sensor went out on one friend's bike motor, resulting in a new bike. Voltages and connector pinouts have to be matched unless you're a whiz with a soldering iron and can find documentation -- good luck. Conventional bikes had similar issues with both things, but there's a brisk global market for keeping older bikes working, and a sufficient supply of aftermarket parts for obsolete bikes are available in the US. And there's a lot of shared folklore on how to keep old bikes working, along with people who cobble bikes together from old parts and sell them. I can still maintain a 1963 Schwinn. All but one of my bikes are assembled from spare parts. That kind of secondary economy hasn't emerged for e-bikes yet.

deanclatworthy 5y ago
This isn’t such a problem with high end brands. I have a specialized ebike and am fairly sure I’ll get 5-10 years out of it. Only concern is the motor.
- analog31 5y ago
  That should be do-able. And of course it's hard to say how long a bike "should" last. It's not unrealistic to get 40 years out of a conventional bike, though some parts are consumable. Since my bikes are thrown together from parts, there's a bit of survivor bias going on when I say that they're 30 to 40 years old, and there are some older technologies not worth saving such as steel rims. What I do hope is that otherwise good bikes and their parts don't become un-salvagable because someone can't find a wiring diagram or something like that. I hope that like with conventional bikes, a cottage industry arises that shares information and recycles out-of-fashion bikes into usable vehicles for the rest of us. What do they do with old bikes in India or Africa? That's what I want to see. I don't feel bad if that 5-10 years is followed by a decent life in someone else's hands.