“In a systematic energy flow comparison, a grid-charged battery driving an electric motor will present mechanical energy about ten instances far more efficiently than a human eating a common diet. For private travel in between five and 30 miles per day, the electric bicycle presents the lowest environmental and individual monetary cost, generally without the need of escalating urban travel time”
From Power, International Warming, and Electric Bicycles Power Flow Analysis with an Emphasis on Personal Transportation

1. Hill Climbing
That may possibly sound obvious, but it’s the key benefit. A great electric bike efficiently flattens hills, rising your average speed and eliminating the ‘groan’ aspect when a gradient comes into view. Supplied you supply a reasonable amount of work, you can expect to climb hills of 1 in ten (ten%) on an electric bike with ease, and clear a maximum gradient of 1 in 7 (14%), or a lot far more. In hilly country, the effect is nothing brief of miraculous.

two. Security
It sounds unlikely, doesn’t it? But the mathematics is compelling. Believe of a steep and busy road, with cars climbing at 30mph. If you previously slogged up the hill at 6mph, but can tackle the same gradient at 12mph with an electric bike, you will see 33% fewer cars, and they will pass you at 18mph rather than 24mph. Or at least, we assume that’s appropriate.

What ever the figures, there’s no doubt that an electric bike aids to hold you out of danger. The exact same basic principle applies to road junctions – the faster your acceleration, the sooner you can get out of problems. And with no require to rush the hills, you won’t be tempted to ride downhill at breakneck speed… another valuable safety function.

three. Private Fitness
Certainly a traditional bike will keep you fitter? That, of course, depends how significantly – if at all – you use it. e bike damen (b) has found that 46% of traditional bikes are used only when or twice a week, with a further 30% becoming applied once a fortnight or even significantly less. By contrast, a current survey of electric bicycle owners reveals that a third ride their bike at least as soon as a day and 81% use the bike at least when a week (c).

The figures confirm our knowledge that an electric bike generally gets applied at least twice as frequently as a traditional machine.

Mainly because riding an electric bike is a great deal additional enjoyable in hilly nation, into strong winds, or when carrying heavy loads, users have a tendency to make improved use of them. The motor provides up to half the effort, but much more typical use means a lot more workout for the rider.

4. No Sweat!
Sweat could not be a really serious challenge when you are out for a leisure ride, but it really is additional critical if you happen to be cycling to work. Though some employers are rather grudgingly offering showers and other facilities for cyclists, the terrific majority have no intention of carrying out so. An electric bike eliminates the problem at supply. In hot weather, it’s attainable to maintain a standard schedule by transferring a bit much more load to the electric motor. In colder climate – or if you really feel in want of physical exercise – just throttle back, or turn the motor off.

5. Clean & Green

Electric bikes naturally consume power, exactly where a traditional bikes does not (offered we ignore the environmental price of expanding and processing meals – see under). Having said that, the quantity of energy utilized is quite small compared to a moped, motorcycle or car. Apart from fuel, the only consumables are the batteries, and these can typically be recycled when life-expired. As for energy use, electric bikes ordinarily consume fuel at an average rate of 100 to 150 watts of electrical energy, against 15,000 or so for a car (admittedly travelling substantially more rapidly). In terms of fuel consumption, an electric bike achieves about 800-2,000mpg (290 – 700 litres/kilometre) (d). No other commercially offered car can match figures of this sort.

If it’s challenging to location these numbers in your personal life-style, consider of a one hundred watt electric light bulb burning for an evening – that is enough power to propel an electrically-assisted bike for 20 to 40 miles…

6. Genuinely Sustainable
There is a lot of nonsense talked about sustainability in transport, but an electric bicycle can be made genuinely sustainable. Buy electricity from a ‘green’ supplier, or create your personal with a roof-mounted windmill or solar panel array (see Solar Energy information), and the vehicles’ fossil fuel consumption will be zero. Certainly a traditional bike does that currently? Only if you grow the meals you consume while riding it. Regrettably, most contemporary meals production and distribution is so fuel-intensive that the consumption of a typical cyclist is not terribly great.

7. More quickly travel
In theory a automobile can typical a high speed, but in practise speed often falls under 10mph in cities. The challenge is congestion – motorcycles get about this to some extent, but they are still confined to the road network. An electric bike can retain a greater average speed than a bicycle but take benefit of the similar network of cycle facilities, giving access to routes that vehicles and motorcycles can’t attain. The result is typically a quicker door-to-door journey time than any other mode. And by taking advantage of the uncongested cycle network, but eliminating hills and headwinds, electric bikes are frequently the most consistent mode of travel.

eight. Higher Resale Value
Electric bikes are new technology, and it is early days however, but the evidence points to a considerably greater resale worth than a standard bike. Accurate, a typical electric bike charges a lot more to buy, at £400-£1,000, but it appears you are going to get most of that back if you sell the machine on.

9. Motorised, With out The Red Tape!
You know how it is… MOT due, log book missing, insurance coverage fees rising year on year. Electric bikes are treated just like ordinary bicycles for legislative purposes, so there’s completely no registration or legislation to be concerned about. You are of course free to insure the machine if you want, but there is no compulsion to do anything but get pleasure from oneself!