• Yeah and a motorcycle is almost as heavy as a car… if you compare a Honda Goldwing (379 kg) to a Citroën 2CV (475 kg).

        I didn’t say anything useful, but we sure cherry-picked ourselves out of the general statement that cars 5-10 times heavier than motorcycles!

        •  Tak   ( @Tak@lemmy.ml ) 
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          13 months ago

          Except you’re being hyperbolic for the sake of cherrypicking.

          I’m talking the Nissan Leaf at 40kwh and even on the lower end of ebike batteries at 400Wh, we’re still not at the claimed rate. This is why it heavily depends because the Hummer EV is closer to 200kWh and some ultra lightweight ebikes could be 200wh or less. All currently on the market, being sold, and something you might see on the road unlike a Citroën 2CV

  • Electric bikes have become really popular and common here in Denmark. I only have around 5km to work, so no need for an electric one, but if I had perhaps 20km to work, I’d buy an electric bicycle instantly.

    • The raw electricity usage is ~25 times lower for E-Bikes. And that is not counting in the 2 ton weight difference with all this steel, battery cells, electronics etc.

      •  5714   ( @5714@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) 
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        173 months ago

        The lower weight and size also has significant external benefits, because roads need less maintenance and don’t need to be as big (that means less taxes for the owning classes in the back).

          • Yeah, BYD is massively subsidized by the government, mainly to try to destroy the western EV market. I’m really on the fence on that one. On the one hand, I’d like our car Industry to be a bit more disruptive and come up with cheaper solutions (fuck SUVs, the German car Industry is just making huge luxury cars that are way too expensive, both capex and opex wise). On the other hand, I don’t want Winny the Pooh gaining influence on the west.

  • I’ve honestly been considering giving up my car for an electric scooter for the summer - my wife will keep her car, so we can still go to places with the family, but I don’t need a car for my work commute. At the same time, I’m too lazy to wake up early enough to walk.

    Helps that I live in a medium sized European town. Escooters and bikes are very viable - and you can rent them for a low fee too, from multiple providers (I do wish they didn’t each require their own app, but of course they do).

  • My dream vehicle: electric tadpole velomobile. Efficient, stable even in winter conditions, weather protection. Unfortunately unaffordable at the moment, prices starting at around 9000€. Plus living in a condo storing one safely while not in use is a difficult endeavor.

  • I live in Chicago.

    I’m not gonna say there’s no reason to have a car, but I see no reason for the average Chicagoan to own a car.

    The CTA is actually pretty reliable overall The streets are comparatively bikeable The Divvy System (bike share) is well layer out.

    Make America Multimodal Again. This. Shit. Works.

    • To echo the OP’s reply below, there are a lot of different reasons combining right now to make them popular.

      One of the factors that has improved the most over the last 5 years is how much more access people have to safe and cheap optons. Buying a cheaper e-bike even just 5-6 years ago had you gambling on components and hoping your battery and charger were certified and sourced reputably. And, while you could order online, the experience wasn’t always great.

      Nowadays it seems like almost everything has certified chargers and batteries, and the overall build quality of cheap bikes and scooters (bikes especially) has improved as well.

      Combine that with being able to order a bike or scooter online, ship it to your door in just a week or two, and get going with minimal assembly and adjustment. Boom, that’s an attractive option, even before you hit incentives. E-bikes and scooters are so insanely cheap to own and operate compared to a car (even a super cheap car) so it just makes a ton of sense that people would choose them.

    • Hard to comment on incentives without knowing what part of the world you’re in, but yeah they’re much cheaper than cars, less effort to use than standard bikes, and in cities can be the fastest way to get around a lot of the time.

      • Let’s not forget the scooters are very compact, you can easily bring one into the office, shop, bus. A bicycle needs to be locked outside, often exposed to the wearher and could be stolen. I’d say it’s more of a factor than bicycle costing more effort to move around.

        Bicycles also have more moving parts, needs more maintenance i assume than electric scooter that has a direct drive motor with no chain or gears.

  • I got a bike for <10km flat trips (30 min).

    An ebike for longer (10-20km), or hilly, or carrying stuffs trips, or very hot days.

    A trailer for groceries.

    And I don’t like to exercise! But I clearly saw an improvement on my physical and mental health.

    My wife as her car for longer trips or when we have to move all family.

    Thing is we have a fairly good bike infrastructure (bike lanes everywhere and some bike roads), but not good enough for kids or people who are afraid to share road with cars.

    We need more bike-friendly roads (low speed on separated lanes), and make people conscious that car is not mandatory most of time.

  • I live in one of the most dense cities in the world. I own an ebike, electric scooter board, and an ICE Toyota sienta(basically a shrunken Senna). All 3 vehicles serve a purpose.

    Within 10 minutes? Walk.

    Between 10-20 minutes walk, electric scooter board

    From 20-30 walk, e bike

    Over 30 min walk, car.

    In-between these, I take the bus or subway, if the stop is close to the station.

    Basically, every vehicle has a purpose. Adding an ebike might be good to have in addition to your ICE vehicle.