I don't get why some people don't get ebikes.

[CassidyAce]

Regardless of whether or not there's an agenda in that article, the reality is complex. Obviously, even if riding an ebike has a lower carbon footprint than regular cycling, carbon emissions are only one type of pollutant. The other pollutants in battery manufacture are no less of a concern. Equally, much depends on the type of food consumed by riders and how it's produced; after all, some forms of agriculture are more damaging than others (and again, not solely as a result of carbon emissions). Likewise, the carbon footprint of an ebike depends on how the electricity that's used to charge the battery is generated.

To be fair, the author of the article is clearly aware of these issues and he's very candid about the limitations of the comparison being made, even saying that one part is 'simplistic' and that another is 'UK-centric'. However, what has been shown is no more than that, given certain assumptions, ebikes could have lower carbon footprints than regular cycling. The article doesn't consider overall environmental impacts and how they are affected by varying the assumptions (but doing that would be more like a PhD thesis than an article for mass consumption!). It's food for thought rather than conclusive.

 

[earth-worm]

Great for people with declining health/fitness and not struggle so much climbing/going up to speed. One major issue with me is that batteries could be more sustainably managed/designed but that is nothing compared to the ones they put into cars.

 

[2manyoranges]

Rush to the electric car everyone! It’s the Future. It will save the planet!
Hurrah!!!

Wait….

The designers forgot to tell us that the batteries lose performance over time?
I feel my range anxiety rising.
The designers forgot to build recycle-ability into the batteries?
I feel my general anxiety rising.
They forgot to model how much green energy we would need if everyone has an EV?
Ah my anxiety is topping out.
They forgot to tell us about the particulates from tyres and brakes and how they are greater from EV?
My conspiracy paranoia is rising.
The adverts claim ‘85% recycleable’ but the batteries aren’t
My paranoia is now topping out.

Doing the right thing seems pretty damn hard.

 

[Totoro]

Great for people with declining health/fitness and not struggle so much climbing/going up to speed. One major issue with me is that batteries could be more sustainably managed/designed but that is nothing compared to the ones they put into cars.

Yes, I'm guessing we all have batteries in our phone which "most" people are happy to change quite frequently and laptops, power tools and so on. Ordering from companies who use electric vehicles E.T.C

But as for E-bikes, yes and no. If you want one or need one then go for it, if you don't or just don't like them then don't.
I'm more worried about people jumping into their cars to do a two minute journey. I'm looking into getting my battery rebuilt by a local company using new branded cells, I'm guessing somebody checks that they dispose of them correctly or maybe even recycle what they can.

 

[hamster]

Rush to the electric car everyone! It’s the Future. It will save the planet!
Hurrah!!!

Wait….

The designers forgot to tell us that the batteries lose performance over time?
I feel my range anxiety rising.
The designers forgot to build recycle-ability into the batteries?
I feel my general anxiety rising.
They forgot to model how much green energy we would need if everyone has an EV?
Ah my anxiety is topping out.
They forgot to tell us about the particulates from tyres and brakes and how they are greater from EV?
My conspiracy paranoia is rising.
The adverts claim ‘85% recycleable’ but the batteries aren’t
My paranoia is now topping out.

Doing the right thing seems pretty damn hard.

All EV battery manufacture now has dismantling / reprocessing built in to the factory design, not least because old batteries are already factored as the cheapest raw material feedstock.

However EVs don't solve congestion, hollowing-out of city centres or our population's sedentary lifestyles. E-Bikes go some way towards solving these issues.

An e-Bike touring weekend with a cycling pal and our wives was a revelation. My pal and I are totally happy on our tourers, but the hired e-bikes made all the difference for our less-keen wives. My wife has limited mobility and painful joint degradation in her hip and finds cycling painful uphill or over 5 miles. As it was we did a 100 mile relaxed touring weekend.

I have totally changed my mind, and e-bikes have a real part to play in extending cycling across the population.

 

[2manyoranges]

Ah good that’s me brought up to date re car battery recycling. I’ll read to be up to date on detail.
Thanks.

I am very supportive where e-bikes replace a car or replace a car journey.
I am very supportive where it makes a person mobile when they have impairment or difficulty

(I don’t like them up my arse in singletrack, but that’s in my other post of last season….)

 

[hamster]

Ah good that’s me brought up to date re car battery recycling. I’ll read to be up to date on detail.
Thanks.

I am very supportive where e-bikes replace a car or replace a car journey.
I am very supportive where it makes a person mobile when they have impairment or difficulty

(I don’t like them up my arse in singletrack, but that’s in my other post of last season….)

I managed to avoid comment on the people shredding up trails using hopped up e-bikes as some kind of motorbike substitute.

 

[2manyoranges]

I managed to avoid comment on the people shredding up trails using hopped up e-bikes as some kind of motorbike substitute.

Interestingly we were stopped-and-talking-nonsense during a long ride on the Downs and heard a weird zzzzzz-ing noise and three guys shot past on full blown MX bikes - proper armour etc - and electric. If they had been on two-strokes or four-bangers it would had shattered the peace and been a bit upsetting. They were on a remote bridleway not a greenway so they were strictly illegal. But somehow, and a bit illogically, it felt fine. They came, they went. And much better than IC rowdiness. If they had been on e-bikes I would have just sighed and thought ‘get an effing proper bike’

 

[MattiThundrrr]

If they had been on two-strokes or four-bangers it would had shattered the peace and been a bit upsetting

Interesting perspective, that. When I'm sharing trails, I use the noise of internal combustion as warning that I'm not alone. I can hear them coming, prepare myself

 

[ibbz]

Regardless of whether or not there's an agenda in that article, the reality is complex. Obviously, even if riding an ebike has a lower carbon footprint than regular cycling, carbon emissions are only one type of pollutant. The other pollutants in battery manufacture are no less of a concern. Equally, much depends on the type of food consumed by riders and how it's produced; after all, some forms of agriculture are more damaging than others (and again, not solely as a result of carbon emissions). Likewise, the carbon footprint of an ebike depends on how the electricity that's used to charge the battery is generated.

To be fair, the author of the article is clearly aware of these issues and he's very candid about the limitations of the comparison being made, even saying that one part is 'simplistic' and that another is 'UK-centric'. However, what has been shown is no more than that, given certain assumptions, ebikes could have lower carbon footprints than regular cycling. The article doesn't consider overall environmental impacts and how they are affected by varying the assumptions (but doing that would be more like a PhD thesis than an article for mass consumption!). It's food for thought rather than conclusive.

To be fair the author is writing nonsense.
To follow his logic e-bikes have a lower carbon footprint than joggers walkers and hikers as they eat more.