The Real Reason You Should Get an E-bike

www.theatlantic.com The Real Reason You Should Get an E-bike

It’ll cut your emissions. It’ll also make you happier.

43 comments

I'm not really a bike person (yet, anyways), but this summer, my car wasn't worth repairing anymore, so I got rid of it. And yeah, since I lost an option for transport, it feels completely irrational to say that I have been enjoying it as well.
Before, I'd be too lazy to walk to the shops, even though I knew the walks were the bare minimum of sport I really should do. Every other week or so, I'd take the car and fill it up. As a result, I also rarely had fresh bread, fruits and veggies at home. And shopping was stressful in the sense that I really didn't want to forget any items and had to plan ahead much more.
Now I walk there every three days or so. Not going for a walk is not an option. And if I'm spontaneously in the mood for, I don't know, kale, I can just grab some. My food spoils less often, too, because I don't buy as much in bulk. And I'm less prone to overeating on foods that I was supposed to eat over the next two weeks.
Obviously, there's downsides. Big items, I need to order online. Toilet paper is just the stupidest item in existence. Summer days can be brutal, if I can't go in the morning. Winter days, I'll have to see, although going by car was a pain on those days, too. And well, I imagine, for families, this may just not be logistically manageable.
But yeah, for me, taking the short-term comfortable option away has increased my long-term comfort.
- I'm not really a bike person (yet, anyways)
  Have a look at cargo bikes, they've diversified greatly over the last ~5 years. For example, there's models now that are smaller than a regular bike, way more nimble than a regular cargo bike, but still quite versatile if you don't need to carry three children and the kitchen sink, eg yoonit (they're a German company, not sure about availability elsewhere).
  
  I mean, I appreciate the thought, but splurging several thousand bucks on something I don't even know if I'll want to use, that just ain't happening... 😅
- Toilet paper is just the stupidest item in existence.
  Consider a bidet. It could help cut down your toilet paper usage.
- Wow, congrats on the walking! Sad that your car was a write off though. I'm kinda lazy and usually end up using my bike as a replacement for walking sometimes... even when I probably shouldn't 😅
  I've found that doing more frequent, smaller shopping trips really helps with keeping fresh food at home

[The legislation, he added, was also about “putting more joy into the world."]
Politicians in Texas never, ever, have this as an objective.

I have one. Nice for longer rides, but I mostly stick with my regular bike for errands.

How long do you need to use an electronic bike before you compensate the materials used for the battery - and the whole new bike, nowadays?
- There's a lot more to the equation that just the battery. In term of over all pollution they're far better than a gas car. (220g CO2e/km vs 21-25g CO2e/km)
  
  Okay. So...After 100 kilometers? 1 000? 10 000?
  Also makes me wonder the equivalent information about a basic bike (non-electronic) 🤔
- Even if you just paid cash for a car and thus that is sunk pollution we are not counting, not more than 3 years to make up the fuel. If you count the car you already did
  
  I don't worry about the car in my point of view because I don't even own a driving license 😄
  But to other's knowledge - good!
  Do you know about the electric bike?
- If you're worried about the pollution or carbon footprint of an ebike, you're wasting your time. Or a sea lion.
  
  Everything pollutes. We are inside a mix of more or less polluting options and choices of life that lead to more or less waste.
  Sometimes we get a little extra information of choices before executing them. And sometimes not.
  My interest was to compare information 😄
- Just buy a new battery.
  Also, use a conversion kit on your existing bike.
  Either way, less harmful than a car.
  
  This didn't answer my questions 😅 Also, less harmful is very vague.

If only they were somehow affordable.
- Ebike: $2k
  Conversion kit if you already have a bike: $500
  Car: $10k/year
  
  $10k a year for a car? My car, a plug-in hybrid, has a monthly payment of $320, insurance is around $100 and I use around 2kwhr to and from work daily, which costs less than $2 weekly. I only use gas when driving over 50 miles a day, which works out to a 10 gallon fill once a season, so around $120/year. I mainly drive it as an electric vehicle, maintenance is minimal. The car costs me $5208 a year in predictable costs and so far in 3 years has needed two new sets of tires and an oil change.
  If you drive a massive vehicle sure it can cost more, but cars don't have to be a 5-digit item on your yearly budget.
  
  Even $2k is a lot. You can easily get a good enough one at $800. Which is pretty damn cheap compared to what everyone on my city spends on meat bikes.
- I got mine for $700 and conversion kits are even cheaper (also, better). They don't have to be expensive. There's also just regular bicycles: Even though I have an ebike, I still regularly ride my hybrid for fun, exercise, or if I'm just not in a hurry.
  Check out the Lectric XP3 - it retails at $999
- You can get them on Amazon for less than $500.
  
  Really don't recommend those.

By far my biggest gripe about cycling communities is the apparent hatred towards cars. I like bikes and I like cars. One is a hobby and one is a form of transportation. Neither can replace the other. There are many people that don't necessarily need a car but I'm not one of them.
EDIT: I truly don't understand how you haters imagine I'm supposed to haul all this stuff around with a bike.
- Yeah, you truly don't understand that literally billions of people live lives different than yours.
  If you live in a city and you don't need a car but still have your life threatened daily by cars you will have a different perspective.
  It's nice that you have no issues with bikes. That's like saying, "No I don't mind you eating while I smoke".
- I like bikes and I like cars but when your sole method of transport is a bike and every single day your life is threatened due to the stupidity, recklessness or inattentiveness of people driving then it really starts forcing you to be more and more anti cars.
  It would be fine if people could drive in a safe, predictable manner like they should but they can't, saving an extra ten seconds on their journey is more important than another road users safety and well being more often than not.
  Not saying that the majority of cyclists are any better however, particularly casual cyclists. They will go through red lights, ride on pavements and generally cause a fucking nuissance of themselves by also not riding predictably and within the road laws. This in turn can annoy drivers causing them to in turn endanger cyclists lives further.
  It's an endless cycle perpetuated by the fact that most people can't follow the basic rules of the road for their particular vehicle and thus move in a predictable and safe manner.
- EDIT: I truly don't understand how you haters imagine I'm supposed to haul all this stuff around with a bike.
  This kind of thinking is why people buy/lease 2 ton F-150s, which only ever get used as a commuter and never really see a day of "hauling goods". Same thinking behind massive crossovers and SUVs, with piss poor gas mileage and horrible road visbility. The only time you'll see those off-road is in a driveway 🤦‍♂️
  People who actually NEED to "haul" stuff will own a covered bed like the one you've shown, or even better a panel van/box van!
  There are no haters here IMO, you just come across as a troll to me personally... occasionally there's people who want to nuke cars out of existence but they're a minority pretty much
  This community is about reducing car dependency, not removing cars as a whole, especially in rural areas where they 110% make sense. A farmer isn't going to replace their pickup with a cargobike, or their tractor with a fietscombine or whatever. In cities where there are more efficient ways to move huge volumes of people around, cars don't make a lot of sense, just contributing to excess noise, traffic, and smog.
  The way the US was rebuilt, and continues to build today, makes it difficult to actually have any alternatives to a car. Sprawling neighborhoods make buses not ideal, wide roads make speeding possible so unsafe for cycling, the low density of these areas make them very hard to justify putting train infrastructure nearby.
  I think it's a bit shit to be forced into owning a car, with all its requirements (insurance, maintenance, gas etc) instead of having at least some options open to you (bicycle, bus, train, and car)
  
  Well it rubs many people the wrong way when they start the article by saying "one of the best ways to improve your life: Ditch your car." as if that's some kind of general life advice that applies to everyone. I literally could not do my job without a car. Maybe if I lived in a city and worked in office, then yeah, but I don't.
- One is a hobby and one is a form of transportation.
  You're the problem.
  
  It is pretty reductionist. Automobiles are a fun hobby, but there are unfortunately places where infrastructure decisions make them a requirement for transit.
- I think a lot of the hostility towards cars comes from almost being killed by vehicles on a regular basis.
  
  Or actually being killed.

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