Nope.
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I found this article kind of weird. I ride my ebike for commuting, shopping and just liesure and speed and how long it might take me to reach my destination has never been on my list of concerns.
If it was all about getting the ride over with why would I use any bike in the first place? And if you are feeling lazy about using an ebike, then turn the assist setting down to zero! Doh!
My ebike fives me tons of opportunities. In the old days (I’m 66 and a bit out of shape) when I got to the bottom of a hill I’d have to decide whether to attempt the hill or go around. Conversely, if I was about to go down a large hill, could I make it back up on my return?
With the ebike I can go anywhere, and when I add my trailer, I can go shopping anywhere with nearly any load. And one of my most scenic paths can be upwards of 40 miles. This is all a phenomenal increase in options.
With an ebike, I can turn the assist up or down as I see fit. I can go as far as I want and don’t ever need to worry about making it back. I can get all the exercise I want, or as little. And I can change my mind as I go.
This article simply misses the mark.
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After almost 25 years of bike commuting I bought an e assist bike in August. My daily commute is only three miles over a fairly level route and continues to be the province of my traditional bike but when I work downtown that ride is an almost continuous up hill return ride. In that the E bike excels particularly after a 12 hour day. Washington DC apparently has the second worst traffic in North America after LA and I can often beat a car trip on the E-bike.
One really important element seemingly ignored in this article is that in a crowded urban space not having a car to find parking for is in itself a huge time saver. In addition to the time and expense of renting space in a commercial garage for a day ( easily $15 - 35 in DC ) running errands or stopping for coffee would often be out of the question without the convenience of parking a five foot long, 25 - 65 lb bike versus a 16 ft long, 4000 lb metal box.
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The assist bike I built (similar to many out there) allows adjustment of the assist level. On the way to work I can use more so I don’t sweat and lower it on the way home. On the most scenic parts the assist can be turned off. When I have my laptop and lots of weight on the rack it helps on the bigger hills. You can get a great workout and tailor it as needed. I still like my unassisted gravel bike more, but the assist bike adds flexibility which means I can ride more often. Try one!
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I’ve been pondering buying an e-bike for commuting. The main advantage, I believe, would be that I could do the morning ride making liberal use of the assist to get in and up the hill to the office without sweating much. Then I could ride home using it less. Current practice is to bike 1/3 of the way to work then get on a bus, and make the whole ride home. It’s enough of a hassle I can’t imagine doing it more than twice a week.
And, yea, I’m not really after extra speed on flat. First it wouldn’t be very safe for much of the ride, the trail is fairly busy. Second going 25% faster on the flat just isn’t that big of a deal. Going 100% or 200% faster up the hills? That’s interesting.
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Not technically.
I’m working on putting together a fat tire ebike and will make the speed limiter able to be switched off with a much more powerful motor and battery. this gives you better climbing even when in limited street legal mode, and better speeds when offroad.
The ability to disable the limiter is a grey area and if you are riding obviously overpowered or fast you will get a ticket.
Seems to me that 500 W max output is a hard limit and not a grey area.
the limiter, when engaged, enforces the street legal limits on output and caps the output at street legal limits. limited controllers are used by most major ebike manufactures to comply with the various laws in different markets. they typically aren’t able to be easily switched on and off, that is the main difference.
I haven’t seen the biggest benefit of an e-bike I experience mentioned - in urban travel, I love my bike’s ability to accelerate from a stop at an intersection. Now, instead of crushing the pedals to try to get across into the next bike lane or whatever. This is also where so many collisions happen when cars turn in front of you.
As an increasingly old and lazy person, I also second all the votes for “actually getting me on the bike” being the most important measure (where I invariably get more exercise and joy.)
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My commute is 35 miles and 2000 feet of hills each way. By car it is 45 minutes, $15 of direct cost for gas and bridge toll. By my regular bike it is 3 to 3.5 hours one way, which I would do a few times per year but not possible as a regular commute.
Last Spring I built an e-bike conversion of an old mountain bike, a 750W speed pedelec capable of 28 mph (which is legal in California). The e-bike commute is 2 hours each way and costs a total of 1.2 kW-H or about 25 cents. The bridge crossing is free for the bike. My morning commute is usually cool weather, I arrive at work slightly sweaty but not worth another shower. I am doing the e-bike commute 1 to 2 days per week, which is 4 to 8 hours of fun instead of the time spent in traffic. The commute is a decent workout, definitely improves fitness during the week when I have less time for after work exercise.
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Yes, we have very good facilities. I keep my business clothes at the office and have them laundered just across the street. I just shuffle socks and undies in a small backpack.
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Agree. It is not about time saved or otherwise on the commute. I enjoy riding my bike to work so much, I take a longer scenic route just to be able to do a bit more of it.
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San Francisco has Bicycle Valets at several public transit stations. Or, one can take their bike on the train/bus/ferry at option and park in the many high-rise bike garages that exist (for free). When you make parking free, and speed the commute (under 20 miles, California will nearly always be faster in a plane, train, boat or bus than a car), and make it so out-of-shape hedge fund managers and coders can commute (eBike), it is easy to see why this is going to take off. Let alone the environmental benefit, carbon footprint reduction, and possibly healthier demographic. Once oil is obsolete, which at this point is inevitable and past the point of no return, it is an entirely new geopilitical ballgame.
Riding a pedal-assist e-bike isn’t passive in any way. Just like with a regular bike, the more effort you put into pedaling, the faster you’ll go. Remember that you can adjust the level of assistance. In my experience, pedaling a 60 lb. e-bike (not including gear) at its lowest assist setting (usually “Eco”) on flat terrain takes more effort than pedaling a conventional bike at the same speed. If I’m feeling the need for more exercise, I go with a lower assist level. I only use the higher settings for hills.
I have a short 6.5 mile commute, but I live at the top of a massive hill with a 20% grade for nearly a mile. There’s no realistic way I could ever get up it without an e-bike, nor would I want to make that kind of extreme effort at the end of a long day at work. As it stands now, I can get up the hill at a max. of 10.5 mph with a good amount of sustained effort in the highest assist level and in a low gear. I can either reduce the assist level or increase the gear to improve my speed and level of exertion. In fact, I’ve gone from 8.5 mph to 10.5 mph in 6 months.
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That seems like a perfect use case for an e-bike. My ride to work in the morning provides a good amount of exercise (depending on how much effort I put into it), and while I do sweat, it’s not extreme and I don’t need a shower when I arrive. Good thing, because we don’t have showers at the office.
If you do get an e-bike, be sure to do extensive research beforehand on the components and dealer support. High quality, high-performing, and well-supported e-bikes (more specifically, their motors) are expensive, but you really do get what you pay for. I can attest to that. I’m on my second e-bike this year (a Bulls model with Bosch motor) because the first one (a 2015 Kalkhoff with their proprietary Impulse motor) will no longer be supported in the USA as of 1/1/19. I learned that after I took a tumble and the controller on the handlebar needed replacement. I was without a bike for 6 weeks while the parts were shipped from Germany. Thankfully, the dealer also replaced the entire motor with a revised model, as the original version has a very high failure rate, so the bike should be good for years to come. However, I didn’t want to risk being without a bike for that long again, or having no support at all for it, so I bought the Bulls and gave the Kalkhoff to a casual user in my family, which worked out perfectly. The Bosch motor in the Bulls is super powerful and smooth, and the entire experience with the Bulls is a step up. But… it cost me $4K with tax! I’m still sore about that part, but it’s a great bike.
Likewise. A third of my commute is along a peaceful river path that really helps me relax on my way to and from work. My bike commute is one way is 28-30 mins compared to 18-24 mins by car, but it’s time well spent, especially considering the exercise I’m getting.
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Speed is well and good but having an electric bike is what allows my mum to go biking at all with her malfunctioning lungs and messed up knees. I think getting people to bike who wouldn’t otherwise is really where the benefit of e-bikes is, not an increase in speed.
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When my work moved from 2km from home to 14km I bought an e-bike. I wouldn’t have biked that far on my regular bike, and it would have taken well over an hour. My commute takes 50 minutes, I get heaps of light exposure to set my circadian rhythm, and we didn’t have to buy a second car (we are a one car household). So the e-bike has saved us thousands of dollars and I get some mild to moderate exercise at the same time!
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A 12 km/30 min (one way) bike ride is plausible each and every day, and it would be lazy to ride an e-bike that distance.
Huh?
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Is it me or is this article (and the accompanying charts) somewhat… confusing?
Is there a missing bar in one of the graphs? And what is long and short commute. One is 12km (short I assume). The other must be about 20km given the difference in time, but why am I doing the math?
