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What If Ebikes Were as Cheap as Conventional Ones?

5 points by vwoolf 4y ago

haspoken 4y ago
https://archive.ph/n7FQf https://archive.ph/n7FQf
rapjr9 4y ago
ebikes used to be much cheaper when they used lead acid batteries. The batteries made them heavy, but they worked. I bought one for under $500. Current prices seem to be around $1500-$2000 at the low end which seems ridiculous, a LiIon battery system should not add $1000-$1500 to the price. https://www.electricbike.com/currie-ezip/ https://www.electricbike.com/currie-ezip/
johnthuss 4y ago
I bike to work almost every day on a conventional bike. I wish more people would bike, but I don't think the high price of e-bikes is really a factor. For commuting on bike to work you need a really good network of bike trails since people don't feel safe on roads. Often trails don't go where you need to go. And even on an e-bike the trip takes longer than a car ride. And a bike greatly limits your flexibility to do things like go out for lunch, or run errands after work, or pick up groceries. The inconvenience of it is hard to overcome.
exabrial 4y ago
E-Bikes help people get out that don't usually get out, but "just because a little of a good thing is a good thing, it doesn't mean a shit ton of a good thing is a good thing". The real problem is in America is most of our cities were developed at the same time as the automobile. I just spent a few weeks in Europe, where "right of ways" and density were necessary during the development of their cities. Cheap ebikes will help a few things, but too many will make other things much worse.
- laurencerowe 4y ago
  Why would they be worse than car trips they replace?
  - exabrial 4y ago
    Good question... a trip to a crowded Chinese city would probably change your mind. They're a good _supplement_ to public transportation, not a replacement. They can clog infrastructure, can be abandoned, parked in mass illegally, and have disposal lifecycle problems of their own. E-bikes themselves depend on toxic mining too right now which is a problem people gleefully ignore, and not to mention the energy cost of producing steel is net-negative at the moment. My preference would be trackless trollies and streetcars (5-10m intervals), followed by subway (15m intervals) and mid-distance electrified trains (30m-4hr intervals), supplemented with bikes. I'm still hopeful for fuel-cell cars and aviation in the next 20years, as that represents the ultimate connivence for the USA, as the vast majority of the USA it's _hours_ drive between major cities.

5 points by vwoolf 4y ago

https://archive.ph/n7FQf https://archive.ph/n7FQf

ebikes used to be much cheaper when they used lead acid batteries. The batteries made them heavy, but they worked. I bought one for under $500. Current prices seem to be around $1500-$2000 at the low end which seems ridiculous, a LiIon battery system should not add $1000-$1500 to the price. https://www.electricbike.com/currie-ezip/ https://www.electricbike.com/currie-ezip/

johnthuss 4y ago

I bike to work almost every day on a conventional bike. I wish more people would bike, but I don't think the high price of e-bikes is really a factor. For commuting on bike to work you need a really good network of bike trails since people don't feel safe on roads. Often trails don't go where you need to go. And even on an e-bike the trip takes longer than a car ride. And a bike greatly limits your flexibility to do things like go out for lunch, or run errands after work, or pick up groceries. The inconvenience of it is hard to overcome.

exabrial 4y ago

E-Bikes help people get out that don't usually get out, but "just because a little of a good thing is a good thing, it doesn't mean a shit ton of a good thing is a good thing". The real problem is in America is most of our cities were developed at the same time as the automobile. I just spent a few weeks in Europe, where "right of ways" and density were necessary during the development of their cities. Cheap ebikes will help a few things, but too many will make other things much worse.

laurencerowe 4y ago
Why would they be worse than car trips they replace?
- exabrial 4y ago
  Good question... a trip to a crowded Chinese city would probably change your mind. They're a good _supplement_ to public transportation, not a replacement. They can clog infrastructure, can be abandoned, parked in mass illegally, and have disposal lifecycle problems of their own. E-bikes themselves depend on toxic mining too right now which is a problem people gleefully ignore, and not to mention the energy cost of producing steel is net-negative at the moment. My preference would be trackless trollies and streetcars (5-10m intervals), followed by subway (15m intervals) and mid-distance electrified trains (30m-4hr intervals), supplemented with bikes. I'm still hopeful for fuel-cell cars and aviation in the next 20years, as that represents the ultimate connivence for the USA, as the vast majority of the USA it's _hours_ drive between major cities.