There have been electric bicycles nearly as long as there have been bicycles with pneumatic tires. This drawing from Ogden Bolton Jr.’s 1895 patent application doesn’t really look all that different than some of the electric bikes on the road today.
Much has changed in a hundred years. Global warming and carbon footprints, the geopolitics of petroleum, cities clogged with cars, and an active baby boom generation that wants to stay active are all hot topics now. Together with significant technology improvements, they’re also all excellent reasons why more and more folks will consider electric cycling in the years ahead.
Why are electric bicycles are still rarities in North America today? They can be quite expensive, largely because powerful, lightweight batteries are so expensive. They can be quite heavy, especially if they don’t use the lightest-weight batteries because of their costs. Or they can be of limited quality if manufacturers cut corners to try to keep costs down. There have been relatively few places that sell them, and fewer still that repair them. Our domestic market has been dominated by specialty manufacturers and by do-it-yourselfers. Many have turned out some terrific rides, but they haven’t been ready for mass markets.
But lithium battery prices have dropped steadily, and those costs are expected to continue to decline under pressure from the electric car market. A growing ecologically sensitive class, expanded interest in cities and “new urbanism”, and the dramatic rise in the numbers of older citizens as the baby boom matures all represent opportunities for electric bike manufacturers, and the main-line bicycle industry clearly knows it.
I had to drive 23 miles from my suburban Maryland home to find a shop that knew electric bikes a year or two back. Now a good local bike shop 6 miles from my door has a nice new electric Trek in stock. So do several other shops around town. Most customers in those local ships find the electric models odd and overpriced, but not all of them. As costs drop, quality increases, and distribution limitations are resolved a new class of electric cyclists will be joining the long-time members of our group.
Long-time electric cyclists need to recognize that our community is poised for rapid change – it will be larger, and it will also be different. Many newcomers will follow our footsteps, tinkering and upgrading and tweaking the technology to meet their needs. Others will just want a better vehicle to get them where they want to go. They are likely to be more interested in where they are allowed to ride their electric bikes than they are in amp-hours or torque. They are likely to be more interested in how they can store their expensive rides safely when commuting than in the details of battery management systems. Soon I believe they will outnumber the traditional tinkerers – and that will be all to the good.
Our community has a lot of work to do. We need to raise awareness of electric cycling among city planners and transportation planners. (We ought to be able to get them as excited about electric bikes as they seem to be about electric cars. They aren’t today, and they should be.) We need clear guidance for local police and for the insurance industry to minimize confusion about what we can and cannot do. We need to end misconceptions about the safety of electric bikes and to promote an image of electric bikes as effective transportation tools instead of expensive toys. And we need to reach out to the existing cycling advocacy organizations to help make all of this happen.
Please join the discussion on our forums at http://ElectricCyclist.com/forum , and lets work together to support our expanding community.
Tags: Advocacy, Bicycles, Bicycling, Cycling, Electric, Trends