Comments Sarah Howell has made
Everybody Gets Electric Bikes
Great bike!
I work at one of the few electric bike stores in America (right here in Seattle). I love my job because every day people are blown away by how much fun these bikes are. And every day a light goes off in somebody's head and they realize, hey, I can use this for a lot of the things that I thought I needed my car for.
Like the NYT article said, ebikes are huge in China [http://postcarboncities.net/node/210] Annual sales in American though, still number in the thousands. There are a few reasons for this gap: the Chinese already had a strong bike riding culture, they are intensely urbanized, and frankly, they have different product expectations. They pay a lot less for their electric bikes because they're ok with single speeds, cheaper components, lead acid batteries, and so-so reliability. These are not inherently bad things, they are just not the "American" ideals.
Electric bikes have been a strongly emerging technology for over a decade, one sure sign that they're still in development is the popularity of home made versions, like Russ' excellent hybrid. There are also thousands of companies all over the world, still tweaking the details, and every now and then we can still expect a breakthrough in battery technology.
The downside of electric bikes in America is that the stores that sell them are still too rare, and if you don't live in places like NYC, Seattle, or California, you can't easily test ride one to pick out the model that fits you best.
The upside of electric bikes in America is that the most technologically advanced, most reliable, and safest ebikes in the world are sold here. These "off the shelf" models use high end Li-ion or NiMH batteries. The best are cleverly designed so that the (expensive) batteries can be removed (to make the bike lighter, for lifting), or locked in place for security. Here in Seattle you can walk into a store and choose from 10 different models: Do you want to sit upright like on a cruiser, or lean down like on a road bike? Prefer to get your power from a throttle or "pedal activation" or both? Big or small tires? Shocks? 8 speed internal hub gearing? These bikes have rock solid engineering, and a virtually maintenance free electrical system. And if you don't stray too far from the shop that you bought it in, you can rely on brilliant mechanics to solve any minor problems that might come up.
We definitely go about doing things differently in America, sometimes we're the last to (collectively) figure out the most obvious things. But electric bikes are way too much fun, and way too practical not to catch on in this country too. The main reason I know this will happen is that because I work in an electric bike shop, and there's no stereotypical kind of person who buys them. Everybody gets them. Somehow, that cheers me.
The bikes we sell in the Fremont neighborhood of Seattle range from about $1,075 to $1,900. There's no need to pay more, unless you really are the kind of person who buys a Ferrari.
On Ultimate Seattle hybrid plug-in posted 2 years, 5 months ago 25 Responses