I do actually, even on one way streets when cyclists aren’t supposed to be coming from one direction, but my point was about cyclists on paths that are not open to them, not on mixed use spaces such as cross walks.
What was your point relative to that?
With my e-bike, my average speed on flat bike trails averages 26-29 kmh (16-18 mph or so). Anything faster than that seems unsafe, as my trails are also used by pedestrians… and homeless people sometimes sleep on them. With a bike that weighs about 70 lbs with all my cargo, it still takes a good amount of effort to keep moving at those speeds in a lower assist mode. When I’m on a busy street without bike lanes or if I’m following traffic through a busy intersection, I’ll get up to 32 kmh or higher at times, thanks to a little add-on device that defeats the speed regulator on my bike. 
Most of the bikes I looked at before purchasing are using rather standardized batteries that either sit on the bike rack and can be easily removed, charged, serviced, swapped out and recycled. The others, like this Trek in the article use a series of lithium ion batteries housed in the downtube. Again standard off-the-shelf batteries inside their package that can be swapped out, refurbished and recycled.
Bad for the environment, probably.
But many of the users of this technology are doing things that are better … but perhaps not best. Ranking it all: walk, skateboard, bike, e-assist bike, public transpo, electric scooter, carpool, electric car, hybrid car, car. (or something like that, go ahead and argue)
Personally, the e-assist addressed my major friction point for bike commuting - which is the hills along my commute. So far I’ve saved a couple thousand miles of driving (which, actually was carpooling most of the time).
Yes, but… My commute is anywhere between 34 and 38 KMs depending which bridge I take to work. So, in my case the electric bike is a lot more environmentally friendly than the only other real alternative, my car. Public transit would set me back close to 2 hours (one way) because of timing issues between bus/metro/bus. Electric bike is about 90 minutes give or take. No electric assistance with a shot knee (torn ligaments while rock climbing) is not a true option either, did it a couple of times, more in the 2 hours range. 4 hours of commute daily I can’t handle. So my choice is 2x1 hour in my car burning fuel or 2 x 90 minutes cycling on electric bike…
4 inch tires became my preferred size after having to change 3 wheels in 3 years due to the ridiculous amount of potholes in our streets (Montreal). I can now float over some (not all!) of these with ease and, yes, electric Fat bike with shocks, Would not go back, my back thanked me for this choice.
An ebike is more efficiently powered than human power, which requires the consumption of food that has a higher carbon footprint than the tiny amount of electricity required by the ebike’s motor.
You could have your hybrid converted to a very capable electric for $1000 or less.
True, but after riding aluminum for another year, and considering the higher speeds I’ll be traveling at, I’m ready for some SQUISH.
This is an interesting point so I found some quick numbers and did some math (warning, sketchy sources and sketchy math abound):
~2g CO2e per kJ of electricity (source, based on 2016 US average)
~1000kcal dietary energy consumed per kJ of output when cycling (assuming 24% human mechanical efficiency - source)
~1t CO2e to produce 1000kcal (1000 dietary calories) of food, assuming average American diet (source)
So yeah, unless I’m mixing up units somewhere in there, the emissions produced to generate the electricity for an e-assist system are completely dwarfed by the emissions produced by the food a pedal-cyclist would use.
However, comparing 1:1 like that isn’t quite fair. I’m sure that ebike riders will, in general, ride less efficiently than pedalbike riders (riding at higher speeds without tucking to reduce wind resistance; accelerating to higher speeds in traffic only to burn off the energy by braking more). There is likely also a substitution effect where pedal-cyclists are less likely to burn extra calories elsewhere (at the gym, running, etc) than ebikers. And we’d have to take into account the carbon impact of manufacturing the bikes - the ebike has large lithium batteries, and probably quite a bit more metal in the frame.
Either way, pedal- or e-bike, you’ll do far better than a car. Even an electric one, I suspect.
Stuff like this is why I can’t get more people into bicycles. It’s fun, remember fun?
What is the deal with the rear rack on that bicycle? It seems like it uses the fender to bear the load which just can’t work for carrying more than a change of clothes.
Nope. The batteries are 100% removable.
The rear fender seems to be fairly ridged and the geometry looks like it would put the load of a pannier mostly on the rear axel.
I didn’t say they weren’t removable. Sorry for that ambiguity. I believe the Trek and Faraday are completely replaceable but must be charged on the bike.
What I was referring to is the Shimano type systems have a fully swappable battery system, where you can own several packs, take the battery pack off, charge it and bring it back when you’re ready to ride.
Agreed. I used to use a mini rear rack which attached to my rear dropouts and (aluminum) rear fender. I opted to use a bracket to the rear brake bolt too, but that shouldn’t be necessary - when set up properly the fender only prevents the rack from rocking forward or back (and the fender is very strong in that axis); the weight, and any horizontal stabilizing forces, are supported by the rear dropouts.
If you hack the firmwear, you can get them up to around 40 mph, though it many jurisdictions that’s consider an electric motorcycle and has to be registered as such with a class M license requirement. Besides which, the motor on a pre-built e-bike will wear out quicker if you do that. The best solution IMHO is to build one out of a good solid bike with at least front suspension (and rear or seat suspension also helps), and some decent size hydraulic disc breaks. Better motors can be gotten online with or without batteries that will handle maintaining that speed with less chance of overheating. You can also make your own battery out of cells, but it’s a lot more work and kind of pointless unless it’s just something you really want to do.
And you can turn the pedal assist feature off and just let the battery power the bike if you get sick of peddling.
I love both my mountain bike and my DYI e-bike. I’m sure I’m a pariah by a snob’s standards. That’s fine; I’d rather the acceptance of inclusive riders and the low opinion of snobs.
ETA: Bear in mind, the author’s Trek has a 250 watt motor. You can buy conversion kits with up to 1500 watt motors. I suppose these no reason in principle why you couldn’t take an even more powerful motor and repurposed it, but I imagine it would be pretty heavy and at that point you’re probably better off buying or building an electric motorcycle.
Also, only do this if you’ve some experience riding two-wheels at that speed. It’s not without risk.
In Austin e-bikes are banned from trails anyway. On the road it’s really nice to have that extra speed even if you don’t use it too often. Mind 20 mph is fine, but reaching 40 mph on a well maintained empty road is a lot of fun.
Like I said. If you use the e-bike as a replacement for a moped or a card it’s (of course!) a good thing.
I’m just worrying that in the grand scale of things the total environmental effect might be negative because for every replacement of a car there are 10 people who use an e-bike instead of a “manual” (“pedual”? 
) one…
But maybe I worry too much. I live in a very bike-friendly region, so here there are lots of people using bikes for normal transport, so there will also be lots of people switching to e-bikes. Worldwide there are less bikes to replace and a lot more (fossil fuel-)motorized stuff to replace.
For years I had a version on my bike that said, “My other car is a pair of hiking boots.”
