E-BIKE: Electric bicycles could help displace cars and other conveyances powered by internal combustion engines.
Image: Wikimedia Commons/Jim.henderson
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Overview
New Solutions for Clean Energy
The 21st-century equivalent of the cavalry has come charging in to rescue cities in China and South Asia in their battles against air pollution and global warming. And it's also beginning to help out on the traffic-choked streets in London, New York, São Paulo and Los Angeles.
This is the electric bicycle, or "e-bike," a technology that blends the simplicity and mobility of a traditional bicycle with the speed of a moped or motorized scooter, but without the internal combustion engine.
Transportation experts say e-bikes -- along with electric cars, light-rail trains and more pedestrian-friendly cities -- could become one of the primary drivers of cleaner air and reduced global greenhouse emissions across much of the urbanized world, with China, India and Southeast Asia leading the fight to clear the air.
"The bicycle is an enormously efficient vehicle," said Ed Benjamin, managing director of eCycleElectric, a consulting firm to the light electric vehicle industry with offices in the United States, China and Taiwan. "The rolling resistance is minimal. They cost very little in terms of materials and the energy needed to build them compared to other vehicles. They don't require gasoline and can be parked almost anywhere."
"The problem," Benjamin added, "is we could say a bicycle is only good for healthy, strong people who are willing to get out in the weather. And there are large populations around the world that don't fall into that category."
Still, e-bikes -- defined as two-wheeled vehicles equipped with a traditional bicycle drivetrain but enhanced with an electric motor capable of propelling a bike as fast as 20 mph -- have solved the mobility problem for hundreds of millions around the world.
In China alone, more than 100 million e-bikes have been sold over the past decade, accounting for "the single largest adoption of alternative fuel vehicles in history," said Christopher Cherry, a University of Tennessee engineering professor and leading scholar on e-bikes.
In addition to being light and relatively inexpensive, e-bikes are also more climate-friendly than other modes of transportation, including gasoline- or diesel-powered cars and buses, and even electric passenger vehicles. In fact, carbon dioxide emissions for a Chinese e-bike are about one-tenth of what is emitted by a conventional electric car, when factoring in the electricity source needed to power the car's much larger batteries, according to research published recently by Cherry and colleague Shuguang Ji.
Yet despite their many positive attributes, e-bikes have been slow to win favor with consumers outside Asia, and they represent a tiny fraction of total U.S. bicycle sales. In the United States last year, official tallies show e-bike sales of 80,000 units, according to data compiled by Electric Bikes Worldwide Reports. That compares to 30 million e-bikes sold last year in China, 1.4 million in India, 400,000 in Europe and 300,000 to 350,000 in Japan.
Pedal-prone people grow older
While no two countries or regions have the same set of factors driving the adoption of e-bikes, most share a few things in common -- namely urban congestion, a lack of sufficient parking for cars and a cultural acceptance of two-wheeled vehicles as a viable form of daily transportation.
Throughout much of Europe, where the modern bicycle was invented in Germany around 1818, "the population is generally getting older and less mobile, but these are people who have ridden bicycles their entire lives," said Benjamin. "So the idea of being able to go longer distance at faster speeds, but still doing it on a bike, has broad appeal."
China's e-bike explosion dates to the mid-1990s, when large cities like Beijing and Shanghai adopted strict anti-pollution measures to alleviate some of the world's worst urban air quality. The country has its own cultural bond to two-wheeled transit.
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10 Comments
Add CommentThis would work really well, if we could do away with that whole "winter" thing. And reducing emissions certainly won't help accomplish that!
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUntil China can make an Ebike that lasts even it being an EV won't help.
I ended up building my own e moped trike using a moped front end, a battery box frame and a hot rodded golf cart transaxle. Extremely reliable, very low cost, under 1cent/mile to run electric and battery and gets around 600mpge either energy or cost wise.
As for all yr I'm putting a cabin on mine to keep out the sun, rain and cold.
I'm also building a 20mph wheelchair with 40 mile range that also will have a removable cabin for bad weather.
Jerry: your dream bike sounds a lot like my first vehicle that required a driver's license. It cost more to fuel than "under 1cent/mile" but not very much compared to an automobile. The year was 1958, I was 22 years old and an Ensign in the Navy. The vehicle was a used Messerschmitt tricycle-wheeled motor-scooter, with 2 tandem car-style seats and a lift-back dome that could be removed in good weather. It got over 65 miles per gallon, used an oil/gas mixture that stank--but no worse than a 1950s motorcycle. It was capable of 65 MPH (does anyone need to go faster than that?) and was so lightweight that some unknown kids picked it up one night where it was parked on-street and crammed it in front of the main door of the Coronado National Bank. I got a ticket, but when the judge heard my story and saw a photo of that little darling he tore up the ticket while laughing till tears got in his ears.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf you want to see Messerschmitts in action, rent the film BRAZIL. As for my cutie, it putted around Coronado, CA for a couple of years, during which time the Messerschmitt dealerships in the US closed down, unable to compete with ugly 2-toned finned & portholed monstrosities that got 4 to 6 miles per gallon. I couldn't afford to send to West Germany for parts on an Ensign's almost nonexistent salary, so I finally sold my little darling to a VW dealer for use as a parts car abd bought a pedal bike. The VW folks painted advertising all over the body, and the last time I was back in Coronado, in the mid 60s, it was still put-putting around. I'll be 76 in 3 weeks, and still have happy dreams of that fun vehicle! An electric one would be, of course, non-smelly, cleaner, and even cheaper to drive. My suggestion to you is to obtain an ancient Messerschmitt body and go from there!
Not while these guys are in power!! Note most are oil backed. They will pay for the laws that need to be formed to protect their assets.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.cnbc.com/id/45553238/?par=vty
A littler off topic but, Free eyesight anyone??
http://victoriafriendsofcuba.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/mission-miracle-performed-almost-200000-eye-surgeries-in-2011/
http://victoriafriendsofcuba.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/mission-miracle-performed-almost-200000-eye-surgeries-in-2011/
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI love the 'Shmitt' since I saw my first one when you had yours.
I'm building an all composite stronger than steel EV sportwagon with just 1 rear wheel too. It'll get the equivalent of 250mpg and both with gasoline DC generators charging the battery for unlimited range over 100mpg.
Pedal bikes could save even more, and give us exercise besides. Even better when we can make them out of wood, or maybe grow them. I haven't owned a car for 15 years, now 76.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe missing Link between an E-Bike and a Car is called Velomobile. With a cabin, three or four weels and mostly without E-Motor, even in wood, if you like:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://plywoodvelomobile.blogspot.com/2011/01/paddy-makes-his-maiden-ride.html
In the eightys, the Scientific American dit allready a Cover - story about a raceversion called "Vector". Today there are in every day use by entusiasts, like in the "Race across America" lately.
Future coudt be now...
Sorry, forgot some links:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisrecommended Site about the "Roll over America" (ROAM)with over 40 Velomobil-"cars" driving arcoss the states:
http://rolloveramerica.eu
Some Manufacturer Sites:
http://www.milan-velomobil.de/index.htm
http://www.velomobiel.nl/
and one about history of pedalcars:
http://www.mochet.org/Velocars/velocars.html
or a Velocar race:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah-c_379f6M&feature=related
With the "pedalcar" and the "PVV", there had been even two trys in the oil-crisis of the 70´in America
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe problem with pedaling is you stink later in the day too often. A .3hp e motor allows a steady 20 mph and eff of, so high it doesn't matter as only pennies/100 miles.
This morning I bought 2 big wheelchairs I'll turn into personal transport modules with 50 mile range at 20 mph with option weather cabin. These can be driven on a bus, in buildings, trains etc too.
And most of my fun stuff and prototypes are almost all built from wood/epoxy because it's cheap, easy, light, looks great finished clear.
My present transport is a hot rodded golf cart transaxle which in really light, aero vehicles can get 50mph with higher voltage and bigger car tires, wood chassis/battery box and MC fron end. Extremely reliable and 600 mpge.
Here I'm recommending my own website (-: ).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI still think that if you want to learn a lot more about electric bicycle. It this a nice page about electric bicycle trend and statistics from around the world: http://www.electric-bicycle-guide.com/electric-bicycle-news.html