Electric Bikes - More Vehicles On The Road

I like electric assist bikes but they do remind me how our transportation system is not ready for them. Are they a bike or a motor scooter? They can go 15mph consistently - slower than cars butr faster than what is in the bike lane. Are helmets mandatory in jurisdictions that require helmets for motorcycles and motor scooters? Can they go on sidewalks? How equipped are we for more vehicles on the road? In my experience in DC's Columbia Heights area, increased commuter bike riding has not resulted in a decrease of cars on the road. Net result is more vehicles in the same space.

Electric-assist bikes, or e-bikes, gaining toehold in U.S. market

By Randy Salzman, Published: February 16

Charlottesville zoning officer Craig Fabio pedaled into a driveway on River Street and peered inside a stack of tires. “No rims,” he said, pulling out his cellphone to photograph the evidence. “It’s a violation. Breeds mosquitoes.”

If Fabio had been driving a car, he might have sped past the tire pile without seeing it; and if he had seen it, he couldn’t have investigated until he found a place to park. Instead, he was riding an electric-assist bicycle, using both pedal power and its battery-operated motor to cruise at a practical 10 to 15 mph. His $1,800 Giant Twist Freedom model is one of two e-bikes the city provides to its zoning officers to increase efficiency while diminishing congestion and greenhouse-gas emissions.

Popular elsewhere in the world — about 20 million a year are sold in China, where they are licensed and regulated like cars — e-bikes are slowly gaining ground in the U.S. market. Some buyers like their green credentials; Charlottesville bought its e-bikes after signing the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. (The city considered Segways, but e-bikes were cheaper and allowed officers to get across town almost as quickly as they could by driving.)

Others see them as an ideal commuter vehicle, because they allow the rider to work as hard as he or she wants — typically, that means using the electric motor to help out on the ride to the office and switching to pedal power for a workout on the way home.

The typical e-bike has a mountain-bike-style frame, with a motor located inside an unusually large rear hub and a lithium-ion battery pack, usually mounted on a back rack. The switch between pedals and battery differs depending on the model: Some can be ridden on pure battery power; others, including the Twist Freedom, made by Giant Bicycle, are “pedal assisted,” meaning the electric boost kicks in only if the rider is pedaling.

Depending on how much the rider pedals, a typical five-hour charge will last for about 40 miles — and if the batteries die, the 50-pound e-bike can usually be pedaled (or walked) home.

Young and older

David Goodman had never heard of e-bikes until he dropped into the Green Commuter bike shop in Takoma Park last year to pick up some saddle bags. But the 33-year-old anesthesiologist walked out of the store with an electric-assist Europa that would give him “help up the hill” on his three-mile commute to Holy Cross Hospital.

“I saw it and realized it’s great that there is something to help with the pedaling, something that would make my commute sweatless,” he said. “I let people at the hospital try the Europa out, and there’s always a smile on their face when they’re done riding. For me, it’s all about the fun factor and the easy way to get some exercise.”

Joe Reyes, who owns the bike shop, said he sells two or three e-bikes a month, mostly to commuting professionals such asGoodman.

“One customer calculated that on his $1,400 e-bike, in Metro savings he’ll pay for it in a year, and he doesn’t add in the exercise element,” Reyes said. “You’re providing about 75 percent of the power, so you’re still getting some exercise. . . . You don’t have to get to work all sweaty, and then on the way home you don’t have to use the electric assist, but it’s always there on tap if you need it.”

The bikes are also drawing attention from an older crowd.

“By far, our number one market is baby boomers who are out of shape, just got out of surgery or for some other reason are just getting back on the bike,” says engineer Jason Seybold, a founder of E+ Electric Bikes, a high-end e-bike manufacturer in Dulles. The company has a small showroom where customers can get a look at its line of nine bikes, which start at $2,500 and are notable for having the battery installed inside a hub. The company’s choices include an Emergency Medical Services model: Equipped with a bag big enough to hold a paramedic’s equipment, it’s meant to be used at large outdoor events, where medical staff might need to maneuver quickly through crowds.

Two years ago, Lionel and Claire Metz bought e-bikes for use around their home in Albemarle County, Virginia. Lionel, 87, values the moderate outdoor exercise it provides, something he needs after three years of medical problems that included prostate surgery. Claire, 63, said that she rarely misses a day on her e-bike, often cruising a 20-mile loop.

“There’s a library full of research on the benefits of movement,” Colin Milner, chief executive of the International Council on Active Aging, says. “So a product like this would certainly accommodate someone who has issues with their joints, or is overweight, or has other health issues. It’s a good beginning.”

Salzman is a Charlottesville writer specializing in alternative transportation and related issues.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/electric-assist-bikes-or-e-bikes-gaining-toehold-in-us-market/2011/02/16/AFsr5gqB_story.html

Upward Mobility - An E-Bike in China

A member of China's People's Liberation Army rides an electric bicycle in Beijing. The "e-bikes" are especially popular in big cities, where urban realities provide at least some disincentive to car ownership.

Photo Credit: Nelson Ching/Bloomberg

Putting the brakes on pedal power
Bicycles give way to automobiles, but e-bikes keep two-wheel tradition alive

By Keith B. Richburg and Zhang Jie
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Of all the signs of China's growing prosperity -- the gleaming new office towers, the glitzy shopping malls and designer boutiques -- perhaps the most visible is on Beijing's streets and highways, where noxious traffic jams have replaced the free flow of bicycles.

Domestic sales for cars and sport-utility vehicles passed a million a month in November, making China the world's new automobile capital, at the expense of one of the world's great bike cultures.

Bicycles were ubiquitous in Beijing not long ago -- the preferred mode of transportation for millions of Chinese. Major streets boasted wide bike lanes, sidewalks carried ample parking space for bikes, and bikes usually had the right of way at intersections. But lately, public space for bicycles has been shrinking under the tyranny of the car.

"The drivers are very aggressive. They won't wait for you for a second," said Wang Litang, 65, a retired government worker who still takes his singing thrush on long bike rides, the cage dangling from the handlebars, a common Chinese practice. "The road belongs to them now."

But the battle of the byways is not over yet, as two-wheeling enthusiasts have a popular new competitor in the marketplace that is giving the car a run for its mileage. It's the electric bicycle, or e-bike, which operates on a rechargeable battery. While China is on target to sell more than 12 million cars this year, it is also on track to sell 20 million e-bikes, if trends hold from 2007 and 2008, when 20 million e-bikes were sold each year. E-bikes are proving most popular in Beijing and other big cities, where some commuters are realizing that owning a car may bring a certain prestige as a sign of affluence but also comes with gasoline prices, parking fees, the odd traffic ticket and the notorious traffic jams.

"My family bought our first car in the 1990s, but we sold our car last year," said Bai Liping, 45, a saleswoman in an insurance company and an e-bike rider. "Having a car is not that convenient, compared with an e-bike."

Besides the lower costs for parking, and the convenience of whipping quickly through intersections, she said she spends far less on maintenance than she did on a car. E-bikes need their batteries recharged overnight, and the battery typically lasts about a year before needing to be replaced.

They are also relatively inexpensive, from about $219 for the smallest models to about $366 for the largest, fastest variety.

"The real sweet spot will be if China's e-bike explosion leads to the development of electric cars and the infrastructure for charging these e-vehicles," said Alex Wang of the Natural Resources Defense Council office in Beijing, and an avid e-biker. "China is probably better positioned to make this leap than any other country in the world."

But interviews with several e-bike owners showed that convenience, not the environment, was foremost in riders' minds. "It only takes us 15 minutes from here to our store," said Zhang Shu Mei, 39, who was at Beijing's Eastern Suburban Market loading up her e-bike with goods for her grocery store. "We feel freezing riding on this e-bike in the cold wind. But there's no other choice. What would we ride if we don't use this?"

The growing popularity of e-bikes also seems to be threatening the dominant position of traditional bicycles, at least in the big cities. According to the China Bicycle Association, the peak for traditional bicycle sales in China was in 1988, when 40 million bikes were sold. That number has steadily dropped, and it has stabilized at around 20 million locally, with more Chinese bikes sold for export.

The nature of the bicycles being sold here has changed, said Niu Qing, general manager of the bicycle association. Urban Chinese are increasingly buying mountain bikes and multi-geared bikes, to be used for weekend recreation, instead of the old-fashioned commuter models.

"The bike is transforming gradually from purely a traffic tool to an entertainment and body-building measure," Niu said, adding that predictions of the death of the bicycle in China may be premature. "The industry is not going into a nose dive like people think," he said. "It will never vanish."

There may be one unintended side effect of the explosion of e-bikes and fewer people going to work through pedal power: According to the Health Ministry, 22 percent of Chinese adults are overweight and 7.1 percent are obese. In the cities, those numbers rise to 30 percent overweight and 12 percent obese. The statistics mark a dramatic rise from the 1990s, the ministry said.

"People are lazier than before," said Jin Shan, director of the sports culture research center at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences. "Before, no matter how far it was, the bike was your only choice. Changing from bikes to cars and e-vehicles is one reason Chinese people are getting fatter."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/14/AR2009121403411.html