We hop in the car to get groceries or drop kids at school. But while the car is convenient, these short trips add up in terms of emissions, pollution and petrol cost.
Last time I looked Lectric had the best bang for buck at $1,000. Not to use for your commute but just FYI if you’d think you’d want for not work commute.
I have had 2 Lectric e-bikes. For the price they are great and the customer service is great. The quality isn’t the best though. If space is an issue Lectric is great because it can fold up. I originally got a XP 2.0 to fit in my train station bike locker.
When I started looking at ebikes I was like oh cool $10,000 ebike… but why? I started working my way down on price until I got to Lectric and stopped there.
I could be wrong here but I think a Dad and son started importing a Chinese model for a good price with good service. Seemed like a great option for people on the fence who want to try it out before they start dropping a lot more money. Aside from only being a grand it has a step thru frame which was important and enough youtube videos to answer most of my questions.
I ended up getting a deal on a motor and controller. Got a used bike and just used the batteries I use for my Ryobi 40 volt tools.
Trust me, when I was pricing like maybe 2-3 years ago ebikes still had high prices. Even used. I just looked real quick and Trek starts at $3,500. The Rad version of the Lectric starts at $2,300. Moral of the story, I thought Ebikes cost too much. For me, I did not see a reason to buy something other than Lectric. Except I got parts for stupid cheap so I went that route but I still recommend Lectric as the standard to compare against. The price creep after Lectric happens really quick.
As far as service goes I recommend finding a good bike shop if you are not a bike person. Same with EVs and ICE cars. When I was putting mine together it didn’t take long to find one with nice people. For bike stuff. Finding someone that knows anything about the black magic that is electricity is another adventure.
If you live in some little village don’t have a grid, it’s likely that getting gasoline is not easy/close and it is also very expensive to you. Little off grid solar packages are dirt cheap by comparison… like shockingly dirt cheap. Panel prices are rock bottom now. If someone in some little village gets a few solar panels and a mini inverter with a small battery they have electricity for light as well as enough to charge an ebike and they never have to pay for gasoline which is very expensive. It can be a huge step up in their lives to have electricity and some kind of electric mobility.
The other half of making travel more efficient is needing to travel less by building homes near workplaces.
45mi is pretty good by car dependent standards, but we can do way better. It should be affordable (and desirable) to live with a commute under 15 minutes by bike, or better, walking (which would be like sub 5 by bike). 15 minutes by mass transit would also be acceptable given sufficient frequency.
To do that, it has to be legal to build homes near workplaces and in high enough density that anyone who wants to live close to their workplace can afford to do so (and that home be a desirable place to live outside of simply having a short commute).
A comfortable bike route is the most important thing. I bike 28 miles each way using my e-bike (Lectric XPremium with 20ah batteries) in Massachusetts to Boston 2 days a week. It’s not the distance but the comfort in riding. I can get up to 25mph with my bike (level 3) which helps with car traffic. But I have a rail trail and protected bike lanes for the last 16 miles. I hope MA connects the rail trails to my town eventually. On comfortable routes, you can go really far with pedal assist and the bike does most of the work. It is also the most fun way to get around. I love my Lightning but car traffic in Boston is insane. Every time I have driven to my office in downtown, I ask myself why have I done this. Parking the bike is free at my office garage, I charge the batteries at my work desk with a regular 110 outlet and a charger that’s about the size of a laptop charger. Saves me $20+ in parking fees or train tickets.
Ebikes are huge for developing countries or people can’t afford or are unable to buy a car.
If I didn’t have a 45mi round trip commute, I’d absolutely consider getting one.
Last time I looked Lectric had the best bang for buck at $1,000. Not to use for your commute but just FYI if you’d think you’d want for not work commute.
https://lectricebikes.com/collections/xp-3-0-series
I have had 2 Lectric e-bikes. For the price they are great and the customer service is great. The quality isn’t the best though. If space is an issue Lectric is great because it can fold up. I originally got a XP 2.0 to fit in my train station bike locker.
When I started looking at ebikes I was like oh cool $10,000 ebike… but why? I started working my way down on price until I got to Lectric and stopped there.
I could be wrong here but I think a Dad and son started importing a Chinese model for a good price with good service. Seemed like a great option for people on the fence who want to try it out before they start dropping a lot more money. Aside from only being a grand it has a step thru frame which was important and enough youtube videos to answer most of my questions.
I ended up getting a deal on a motor and controller. Got a used bike and just used the batteries I use for my Ryobi 40 volt tools.
Those $10k bikes are for competitive mountain biking.
I do recommend getting an e-bike from a local bike retailer so that stuff can be serviced by warranty if you are not much of a bike mechanic
Trust me, when I was pricing like maybe 2-3 years ago ebikes still had high prices. Even used. I just looked real quick and Trek starts at $3,500. The Rad version of the Lectric starts at $2,300. Moral of the story, I thought Ebikes cost too much. For me, I did not see a reason to buy something other than Lectric. Except I got parts for stupid cheap so I went that route but I still recommend Lectric as the standard to compare against. The price creep after Lectric happens really quick.
As far as service goes I recommend finding a good bike shop if you are not a bike person. Same with EVs and ICE cars. When I was putting mine together it didn’t take long to find one with nice people. For bike stuff. Finding someone that knows anything about the black magic that is electricity is another adventure.
Ah well, a lot developing nations have to build a functioning grid in the first place…
If you live in some little village don’t have a grid, it’s likely that getting gasoline is not easy/close and it is also very expensive to you. Little off grid solar packages are dirt cheap by comparison… like shockingly dirt cheap. Panel prices are rock bottom now. If someone in some little village gets a few solar panels and a mini inverter with a small battery they have electricity for light as well as enough to charge an ebike and they never have to pay for gasoline which is very expensive. It can be a huge step up in their lives to have electricity and some kind of electric mobility.
The other half of making travel more efficient is needing to travel less by building homes near workplaces.
45mi is pretty good by car dependent standards, but we can do way better. It should be affordable (and desirable) to live with a commute under 15 minutes by bike, or better, walking (which would be like sub 5 by bike). 15 minutes by mass transit would also be acceptable given sufficient frequency.
To do that, it has to be legal to build homes near workplaces and in high enough density that anyone who wants to live close to their workplace can afford to do so (and that home be a desirable place to live outside of simply having a short commute).
What about people who like driving? Do we get a say in this?
A comfortable bike route is the most important thing. I bike 28 miles each way using my e-bike (Lectric XPremium with 20ah batteries) in Massachusetts to Boston 2 days a week. It’s not the distance but the comfort in riding. I can get up to 25mph with my bike (level 3) which helps with car traffic. But I have a rail trail and protected bike lanes for the last 16 miles. I hope MA connects the rail trails to my town eventually. On comfortable routes, you can go really far with pedal assist and the bike does most of the work. It is also the most fun way to get around. I love my Lightning but car traffic in Boston is insane. Every time I have driven to my office in downtown, I ask myself why have I done this. Parking the bike is free at my office garage, I charge the batteries at my work desk with a regular 110 outlet and a charger that’s about the size of a laptop charger. Saves me $20+ in parking fees or train tickets.