Phornbostel

Hey everyone! Wondering if anyone else has found the e-bike to be a great addition to a smaller motorcycle or scooter as a way to ditch their car.

im a long time motorcyclist and have recently got a Rad Wagon for most of my neighborhood running around, and do some longer distance stuff on a Royal Enfield Classic 350. And I finally ditched my car!!

not totally car free, but sharing a vehicle with other family members has made a big difference.

WaveyGravey

E-bikes have emerged as a worthy alternative to a motor scooter such as a Vespa.

1989Pre 

I don't think either motorcycles nor e-"bikes" have anything to do with living car-free. They both consume energy sources, which defeats the entire premise.

Phornbostel

I take your point. Maybe I should say car-lite.

my motivations for getting away from the car certainly include the need to reduce the world’s dependency on gasoline and other fossil fuels, but there are other dimensions to wanting to not own a car.

Reduced traffic congestion and fewer parking lots and stuctures would be pretty swell. Also, the much lighter weight of e-bikes and smaller motorcycles makes parts last longer so we could see a reduction in material waste in just replacing suspension and steering parts and tires.

If I can keep the same e-bike on the road for 10 years, instead of trading a chevy every 5 years because it’s wore out, that seems like a decent offset.

As well, my mother (77 years young!) has really enjoyed her e-bike in place of her car and the significant fuel savings that came with it. But she just can’t physically handle an acoustic bicycle any more. She’s certainly going car lite too and every little bit helps.

axelwik

I've been replacing a lot of car trips with an e bike and a small motorcycle lately (and riding my regular bicycles a lot more). All far better for the environment than defaulting to a car for everything. A small motorbike uses far less resources than a car, and my e bike uses almost nothing especially since we produce our own electricity via solar panels. When I have to travel on a major roadway, I'd much rather be on my motorcycle than a bicycle - far safer to me. Sure, it uses resources, but very little. The Motorcycle gets 50 to 60 miles per gallon.

It certainly does not defeat the premise of living car-free as 1989pre believes; we'll never dig ourselves out of the environmental mess that we're in with binary thinking.

I-Like-To-Bike

What "premise" is that? Some people may choose to be car-free because they do not need a car or find other modes of transportation more convenient (taxis or public transit) or enjoyable (bicycles, walking), others because they cannot afford it. Other people may not be voluntarily car-free but life's circumstances such as their heath or financial situation have everything to do with living car-free.

john m flores 

We're going to try to live car-free, accomplishing our errands with walking, analog bikes and motorcycles. An ebike does sound interesting, and something that I'd consider if we didn't have motorcycles.

Phornbostel

Maybe a Micro-Transportation thread would be warranted for this? It seems like there is a lot of wisdom out there on the topic. And I would love to be part of that conversation.

PromptCritical 

I have an e-bike and use it instead of a car for many trips, but I live in San Diego where weather is typically not a concern. I have my doubts about keeping it on the road for 10 years. I’ve never been able to keep any electronic device alive that long and the e-bike has electronics that are necessary for it to work, and just like a computer or smartphone, it is possible to “brick” it when required updates come along.

What kind of Chevy are you referring to? I kept my last one for 19 years and 200K miles, until I got tired of chasing an intermittent electrical problem and donated it to charity.

Phornbostel

Yes, I’ll admit that there is some wishful thinking in there. But the development is advancing. My hope is that the manufacturers start to put an eye toward durability and increased standardization of components. Learn a lesson from the automotive industry in what not to do. Parts availability and keeping repairs shops in business is the long view here. Fingers crossed. But my folks bikes have been running for three years now with zero issues.

I work in the aftermarket auto parts world and see a lot of the newer American trucks (Chevy, ford, dodge) needing new engines at 7-70k. And many of the midsized suvs have a lot of transmission failures. These are $3-8k fixes. The parts just aren’t lasting as long. Many components are going to plastic, like intake manifolds and other historically metal parts, which may be a function of keeping everything “affordable” ($80k for a Jeep?!) and still offer all of the new tech features such as ADAS systems and other electronics, that also fail regularly and come with some pretty high repair costs as well.