Could simply adding an electric motor to a human-powered bicycle significantly reduce urban smog, traffic congestion and energy consumption and even help curb climate change? Yes, but there are a lot of bumps in the road to overcome to get there.
Today’s e-bikes include a range of two-wheeled e-bikes and three-wheeled e-bikes, with a wide variety to suit the needs of consumers and businesses, with millions of units sold. Adding an electric motor to the powertrain of a traditional bicycle not only expands its range and use for entertainment and commuting, but also propels it into the commercial sector, primarily for last-mile delivery or as a taxi service.
One of the benefits of e-bikes is that riders combine pedal power with electric assistance to climb steep hills and go faster and further. E-bikes also allow older people or people with certain medical limitations to ride.
But before e-bikes can reach their full social potential, the industry and countries around the world need to overcome a number of hurdles, including manufacturing capabilities, battery reliability and safety, transportation infrastructure and culture.
Fortune Business Insights, a global market research company, said: “The global electric bicycle market size will be US$37.47 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow from US$43.32 billion in 2023 to US$119.72 billion.” US dollars in 2030.”
The COVID-19 pandemic in particular has accelerated demand as people stopped using public transport and rising fuel prices have also boosted demand. The research firm noted that growth is occurring across the board, but “Asia Pacific dominates the global market, with China accounting for the majority of the e-bike market.”
As of 2020, there are approximately 130 million e-bikes on the roads in China alone. “Factors such as extensive cycling infrastructure in developed and developing countries, including China, India and Japan; severe traffic and public transport congestion; as well as increasingly stringent emissions regulations for petrol motorcycles, are due to the dominance of the [Asian] market.” Insights,” writes.
Fortune magazine also predicts strong future growth in Europe. Currently, e-bikes are produced by major manufacturers in the United States, Taiwan, Japan, the Netherlands, India and Germany. Elsewhere, the e-bike market in the Middle East and Africa was valued at US$805 million in 2021 and is expected to grow to US$1.2 billion by 2027. Global sales of e-bikes are expected to grow to 60 million units annually by 2025, a trend that will see the industry rapidly evolve from a niche market to a mainstream mobility model.
While electric cargo bikes are already capable of replacing trucks and cars in many situations, a number of factors limit their use, including cost, safety concerns, lack of infrastructure and limits on how far they can travel on a single charge, according to a 2023 study. , published in Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Transportation Research.
The report shows that cargo bike owners take 1-4 fewer car trips per week when using e-bikes. Other studies cited in the report note that while e-bikes certainly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is unclear by how much. The downside is that they will increase demand on the network.
Bike Adviser, an American cycling website, calculated that if “Americans replaced just 8% of short-distance car trips (5 miles or less) with e-bikes, we would avoid 44,000 tons of CO2 emissions per day, the equivalent of 724,496 tree seedlings.” The carbon is captured over 10 years of growth.” One caveat: if e-bikes are to realize their full potential as carbon-cutters, the grid will need to be powered by alternative energy sources rather than fossil fuels.
A New York University (NYU) study shows that expanding e-bike infrastructure could reduce carbon emissions in the New York metropolitan area by as much as 30%, especially helping low-income neighborhoods when considering delivery alone, to say nothing of other uses. But there are barriers to wider use. “More distribution centers are needed to meet growing demand from e-commerce… To accommodate the future expansion of cargo bike operations, a more complete network of bike lanes is needed, and more efforts are needed to improve the accessibility of bike distribution centers,” the NYU study concluded .
In November 2023, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s Urban Mobility Project reported that using cargo bikes for last-mile delivery could reduce traffic and pollution. Cargo bikes are easier to park, can reach places larger vehicles can’t, and they make up for being slower than a car. “This result points to an important finding regarding fossil fuel vehicles, namely that current business practices can lead to high levels of inefficiency and significant unnecessary emissions, noise and other risks resulting from the use of more fuel-intensive vehicles in transportation. faster and larger vehicles. The report examines the transport systems of Stockholm (Sweden) and Barcelona (Spain).
While replacing gasoline-powered cars and trucks with electric bicycles will help clean up air pollution (including tailpipe emissions of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and volatile organic compounds) that seriously harm public health, this is not the case. How understandable this is, because the issue has not been fully studied.
E-bikes are especially valuable for combating urban air pollution in developing countries, replacing dirty, smog-producing two-stroke engines that run on a mixture of gasoline and oil and currently power millions of polluting scooters, motorcycles and scooters. motorcycles provide power. Tricycle. A study published in the journal Nature Communications notes that modern gas motorcycles “emit tens of thousands more fine particles and toxic gases, proportional to the amount of fuel consumed, into the atmosphere than even heavy [gas] trucks and buses.” times.”
But as mentioned earlier, bumps in the road could slow down the growth of e-bike sales. Firstly, this is a production problem. The manufacturer hopes to produce and sell e-bikes worldwide. But there’s a problem: no international organization has yet begun to set global standards for classifying e-bikes based on power, speed, size and other parameters.
Ash Lovell, director of e-bike policy and campaigns for PeopleForBikes, a US bicycle industry advocacy group, warned that these manufacturing standards are necessary to sell e-bikes internationally. European manufacturers are working hard on this, she added.
Before this, there was the problem of selling a large number of poorly designed and unsafe e-bikes. “We’ve seen a huge increase [in e-bike use] over the last 10 years, and with that growth we’ve seen a proliferation of different types of products that are either very economical or not very well made. or “This is an elite product. Quality products are hard to find… because of the price,” Lovell said.
The next hurdle: the need to design and build infrastructure and write traffic rules to cope with the influx of e-bikes. There are many factors to consider, including traffic laws, travel routes, charging infrastructure, redesigning bike lanes and loading stations to accommodate cargo e-bikes, determining exactly who can use those bike lanes, and creating hubs where trucks can unload e-bikes. bikes on the last mile. bicycle delivery.
Governments have yet to recognize that e-bikes are a unique type of vehicle that requires special consideration when planning lanes, charging stations and parking. A study in China found that “city planners… need more time (to address) the extremely rapid electrification of bicycles. For example, despite the speed of e-bikes (up to 25–40 km/h or 15.5–25 mph). ) hours) is significantly higher than traditional bicycles (less than 15 km/h or 9.3 mph), but they are [currently] classified as bicycles by the Chinese government.” study notes Injuries were more severe.
Although bike lanes have been popping up on roads in rich countries for years, they are usually reserved for traditional bicycles. E-bikes (or e-bikes) travel faster, tow trailers, or carry wider loads, making overtaking and cornering on standard bike paths more difficult.
A paper published last fall by the Urban Cycling Institute in Amsterdam reported that e-bike riders also find it difficult to ride up and down pavement curbs, especially when the curbs are not cut off. Cargo bike users also find it inconvenient to activate light switches on sidewalks, according to the institute.
Transportation planners must quickly catch up as the market grows across the board. The German Bicycle Industry Association estimates that half of the bikes sold in Germany next year will be equipped with electric motors—Germans bought almost 2 million e-bikes in 2021.
Another industry concern relates to battery safety. There are many types of electric bike batteries, the most common being lithium-ion batteries, which account for 68% of the market share. Lithium batteries are more efficient, cost less, take up less space and weight, and are easier to recycle than alternatives such as lead-acid batteries (the second most common type) and nickel-metal hydride batteries.
But nowadays, lithium-ion batteries can easily catch fire, cause explosions and even cause death. To ensure consumer safety, countries around the world need to develop regulatory safeguards.
In the US, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) develops mandatory battery safety standards. “This will take some time,” CPSC spokeswoman Patty Davis said. At the same time, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission requires manufacturers to comply with the US voluntary code UL 2849 and the European voluntary code EN 15194.
“We found that the level of compliance was low,” Davis added. “We’re still seeing fires.” The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled lithium-ion batteries at least 10 times in the past four years, she said. “Until [the standard] becomes mandatory, substandard products will continue to emerge, putting consumers at risk.”
In March of this year, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission opened a public comment period on its “Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” on electric bicycle safety (excluding battery hazards). According to the agency’s fiscal year 2024 operating plan, CPSC is working on a separate project aimed at “improving the safety of high-energy batteries in consumer products, especially micromobility products.”
Rad Power Bikes, North America’s largest manufacturer of electric bicycles, told the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission that “poorly manufactured electric bicycle batteries and associated electrical components, often using lithium-ion batteries, can pose unique fire safety problems… Existing fire Protection Safety measures do not solve this problem.” Bicycle standards. “The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) wrote to the agency that “National fire and emergency services respond to numerous incidents every day involving consumer products (e-bikes, scooters, wheelchairs, etc.) and their thermally rupture batteries.” . “
The IAFC concluded: “Increased community education is needed to better explain the risks of using the wrong battery for a device and the wrong charger for a specific battery… The next step is to create a method for the community to safely dispose of damaged batteries. and damaged batteries. Damaged equipment. Another key aspect that the IAFC is focused on is the [security of] charging infrastructure.”
To make e-bikes safer and more energy efficient, we’ve worked hard to develop a self-charging battery that stores the energy used while riding. The Solar Bike Project has developed a solar cell, but it is currently bulky and can only provide enough power in sunny climates. Solar energy can reduce the need to install charging stations. In 2023, the EU will introduce legislation to ensure batteries are green, safe and circular (requiring less harmful materials to be used in battery production and ensuring used batteries are collected, reused and recycled).
Although the cost of motorized bicycles is much cheaper than cars, they are still higher than the cost of traditional bicycles, which is holding back the growth of the market, especially among low-income groups.
The US is grappling with the problem, with at least 52 state and local governments already creating incentive programs to entice residents to buy e-bikes, although national tax incentive legislation remains stalled in Congress. Most of these incentives include rebates, but some use coupons to subsidize purchases or provide tax benefits. Some plans have limits, while others use income limits or phase-outs.
For example, Colorado currently offers point-of-sale rebates ranging from $500 to $1,100. It will launch a $450 tax credit this spring. Maine is launching a grant program to help low- and moderate-income residents purchase e-bikes “to offset transportation that would otherwise be provided by fossil fuel-powered vehicles.” The city of Santa Barbara, California, is renting out e-bikes so people can try them out. In San Francisco, you can trade in your car for an electric bike and get some money back (up to your income).
Lovell said tax credits don’t help as much as rebates or vouchers because “waiting for [the buyer] to file a tax return to get the rebate doesn’t work for those who are strapped for cash.”
Many subsidy programs have just begun, so it is too early to judge their effectiveness. But a review of New Zealand’s government employee financial assistance scheme found “the scheme is generally successful”, with 39 per cent of employees saying they might not buy an e-bike without a subsidy.
In Africa, startup Spiro aims to phase out fossil fuel-guzzling motorcycles and scooters with its innovative trade-in program that replaces gas-powered bikes with electric ones. Founded in 2022, Spiro already offers sharing services and has put 10,000 e-bikes on the roads in Benin, Toga and Rwanda, with plans to place 140,000 e-bikes in Uganda and over 1 million e-bikes in Kenya. The petrol bikes being sold were either scrapped or converted into electric bikes. Spiro is also helping to address the lack of charging infrastructure in Africa, with plans to install 3,000 charging stations in Kenya alone.
Last year, the United Nations Development Program held a national workshop to promote the development and implementation of electric vehicle sharing models in Vietnam.
The popularity of e-bikes is further highlighted by the world’s first e-scooter championship, the global Formula E series launched by Lucas di Grassi in partnership with the UN Environment Programme. Of course, sustainability and reduced carbon emissions are desirable, but the thrill of riding an e-bike at speeds over 60 mph is sure to attract buyers, too.
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Post time: Apr-08-2024