Electric Bicycles – Eco Transportation

Posted by JT on Monday, June 9, 2008 · 19 Comments

I wanted people to know that I am on a mission to boycott driving my nice Honda Civc Hybrid. Even though I am driving a hybrid, the price of oil on the market and the rising cost of gasoline has forced me to boycott the oil companies. I have been experimenting the best way to get to my work in an eco friendly way, which is 7 miles away. It is not that far, so I tried an old electric scooter I had which only got me about half way to work. I had to call my co-worker to come pick me up. Then I thought about riding my bike, but I need to buy a city cruiser bike because my mountain bike which is not suitable for city bicycling.

But a recent eco-tip had opened my eyes to an electric bicycle. I guess in the back of my head I always knew they existed, but I have never really seen anyone or heard about anyone ever using one. So, I challenge all my readers to think long and hard about how close you live to work, and the viability of using one of these electric bicycles instead of driving. These are the stats for this innovative mode of transportation:

In California, PG&E’s baseline Rate per kilowatt is $.1156. At baseline, CA PG&E prices they can charge fully for only $0.18.
That’s like paying less than a penny a mile!
Compare them to a car getting 20mpg, with gas costing $4.50 in CA, which costs ~$0.22 a mile.
Comparing the electric bikes to that they get the equivalent of 440MPG!
Max Speed: 18.8 mph
Range: 17.6 Miles w/ light pedalingObviously you would have to compare the prices of your own local energy provider to find out how much money you would actually be saving. But no matter how much your energy costs are, this mode of eco transportation would be cheaper than driving a car for sure.

I am placing my order after the completion of this blog. I seriously don’t understand why more people aren’t using this as a primary mode of transportation, especially if you live in a downtown area like I do.

Thoughts, Comments, Questions…

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JT (427 Posts)

Just living life in Portland, Oregon and enjoying every day that goes by. I love the environment, and I love community, and I love being able to share my experiences and perspective with the world. Follow @EnvironmentBlog

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Category: Bikes, Transit · Tags: bikes, e-bikes, eco transportation, Electric Bicycles, electric bikes

Anonymous

Awesome! These things are the future of getting around.
JT

Can't wait to get mine in the mail, and I'm so thankful for the free shipping offer.
Anonymous

you're boycotting the car you probably just (within a couple years) bought? this is arrogant san francisco worthy bullshit environmentalism. i bike to work every day to afford tuition i don't know i'll be able to pay and you make yourself feel all responsible by letting resources sit in your driveway for a cause you think you're helping. fuck off.
JT

Whoa, whoa there…I bought the car because I needed it for work. Even though I am currently boycotting gasoline, does not mean I will never drive my car again. It is not a waste. Calm down there buddy, don't get jealous just cause you can't afford it =)
Anonymous

Haha. For real. You will always probably need a car but for going to and from a place that is a short enough distance something like an electric bike is the best option. You're not going to make a 200mile road trip with one which is where a car comes in. Wow.
Militant Libertarian

Ya, let's blame the oil companies, whose average profit is barely 18% (what a grocery store can expect to profit). Nevermind it's all the GOVERNMENT'S fault. Great idea, pal.
JT

Well we certainly aren't in control of the price of fuel. If it keeps going up, people's livelihood will crumble. Big Oil has posted record profits, we can either start using less to save ourselves money or we can just keep giving more money to companies like BP, Chevron, and Shell. Hmmm…not such a hard decision for most. I'm just saying.
Lisa

We need better systems that integrate bicycles as a part of our inner city transportation solutions. This is a great way we can transition into sustainability with style. Great post, hope to get one these suckers one day, once I save enough money =)
Mark Jefferson

I converted my (unused) mountain bike to an electric bike using a Bionx PL350 Kit. My commute is 20 miles one way, and I ride my electric bike to work every day. Takes about an hour, and I burn 900 calories each way! Two hours a day may sound like a long commute, but when I did the math (60 minutes commute time, 60 minutes workout time) it was a wash.I needed to exercise for health reasons (super-high cholesterol and Diabetes) and this has worked out extremely well for me. I've even been able to go down on the dosage on insulin I take.Some people at work laughed at first, but I've been shedding the pounds and now people are starting to seek me out about my bike. Just my $.02 worth…Cheers,Mark in St. Louis
Allan

I have an electric scooter. Not the stand-up ones, a proper moped. They're great. Much more fun than sitting in congested traffic.
Elmo th eElectric Bi

Gas prices at this time in Lexington, KY are around $2.00 a gal. However, the oil companies hook us and then have us pay more for gas inn cycles. I don't trust them and I will continue to ride my electric bike as much as possible.
Anonymous

I also recently purchased a new car at the end of 2007 before the fuel prices started rising. My commute is about 10 miles each way to work, so when the fuel prices continued to rise I decided to look into a more affordable mode of transportation. The public transit system did not work out as well as expected, so I did some research and found that an electric bicycle was the perfect solution for me. I found a company called EcoBike that carries some very nice looking, very comfortable, affordable and reliable electric bikes. So after much deliberation I decided to go ahead and buy their commuetr model, the Elegance 36. This was by far the smartest purchase I have made in years, even though I still have my still somewhat new car in the driveway, which I do use when traveling long distances (which really is not that often). With the money I save on fuel, I can easily make my car payment and I have found that I really do enjoy commuting on my electric bike much more than I thought I would! I have even began using it to run errands around town! Commuting by bike allows me the time to relax and enjoy my commute to and from work instead of sitting impatiently in traffic twice a day!
Living Greener

Hi I too have a Honda Hybrid, which I use in bad weather and long trips. Last summer I converted my bike to electric and it's great for getting around town. I live in Ontario Can. It's well worth the $800 total I spent on it. I just bought a electric powered 14' Pontoon boat that I can't wait to get in the water this spring. You can see pictues of it on my blog at greeneasyliving.com Great posting on your site as well.
Mountain bike parts

Finding The Best Electric Scooters AroundThanks to the Internet, finding the right kind of electric scooter to suit your needs has been simplified by just a few clicks of the mouse. Specialized mountain bikes
Fred Smilek

These things are so fun! I've ridden either these or ones like them. Great idea.
Anonymous

It was very interesting for me to read this article. Thanx for it. I like such themes and anything that is connected to them. I would like to read a bit more soon.
Anonymous

It was certainly interesting for me to read the blog. Thanx for it. I like such themes and anything connected to this matter. I would like to read more on that blog soon.
sewa mobil

Very nice, thanks for the information.
http://goo.gl/nlV2r אופניים חשמליים

Great bike… want to have it

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