In the 1860s, bicycles ridden mostly by foreign businessmen, students and missionaries began plying the streets of China's port cities, eventually spreading to interior cities and provincial capitals. But only after 1949, with the founding of the People's Republic of China, did bicycling see the kind of explosion that made for the popular image of Chinese thoroughfares jammed curb to curb with bikes.
According to bicycle historian Amir Moghaddass Esfehani, China's Communist Party leaders embraced the bicycle industry by merging small manufacturers into national firms, giving the industry preferential allowances of rationed materials and providing subsidies to Chinese workers to purchase bikes.
Cherry, the University of Tennessee engineering professor, said that while traditional bicycles remain part of the transportation mix, Chinese consumers have embraced the e-bike with revolutionary zeal. On recent trips to cities like Shanghai and Beijing, Cherry said, thoroughfares that used to carry a mix pedestrians and bicycles have become "veritable rivers of e-bikes."
'As clean as it gets'?
That transition, experts say, has netted huge benefits for China's urban air quality and has helped rein in greenhouse gas emissions from the country's transportation sector.
Recent research published by Cherry and colleagues in the journal Environmental Science & Technology identified e-bikes as the least-polluting form of motorized transportation in China, with significantly lower emissions of fine particulates (PM 2.5) and greenhouse gases than even conventional electric vehicles (EVs), when accounting for the source of electricity used to charge the cars' larger batteries.
While China's electricity sector is not uniform -- with some regions relying more on hydropower than on fossil fuels -- it remains, on the whole, dominated by coal plants that emit millions of tons of pollutants per year.
According to Cherry's recent study comparing vehicle emissions in 34 Chinese cities, carbon dioxide emissions from both internal combustion vehicles and EVs were an order of magnitude higher than those for e-bikes, which average just 250 watts and can be charged overnight using a standard wall plug. Conventional vehicle emissions came directly from tailpipes, while those associated with EVs come from power plant smokestacks, often located outside cities.
The result, he said, is that some urban areas are experiencing cleaner air conditions because the emissions-free electric vehicles are moving pollutants from city streets to power plants, but that the country's overall pollution budget remains unchanged or even slightly higher due to the additional generation by coal plants.
"Hands down, electric bikes are about as clean as it gets in terms of addressing these primary pollutants," he said.
To be sure, there are some downsides. Critics have noted that 95-plus percent of e-bike motors produced in China today rely on lead-acid batteries, which until recently were discarded as trash when they wore out, according to Benjamin. A gradual shift toward lithium-ion batteries, combined with an aggressive campaign by Chinese government officials to encourage battery recycling, has helped, but concerns about lead pollution persist in some areas.
And in some Chinese cities, where e-bike riders are vying for lane space with cars, traditional bikes and pedestrians, sometimes there are disastrous results. According to Chinese government data, the death toll from accidents involving e-bikes reached more than 3,600 in 2009, compared with 2,500 in 2007.
While some cities -- including Beijing and Shenzhen -- have responded to public safety concerns with e-bike bans, most have been poorly enforced or scrapped after the measures had little effect on e-bike ridership, Benjamin said.
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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