On January 17, 2010 the New York Times ran an article featuring the E-Bike concept from Sanyo in the Business Section under the section title, “Bright Ideas” written by Brad Stone. It posits that the era of the e-bike may finally be coming to America. Apparently tens of millions are sold in China each year. The downsides to e-bikes if you haven’t seen one at a shop yet are that the battery pack drivetrain adds about 40 pounds to a regular hybrid bike that isn’t so light to start with and they are priced in the $2200-2600 range which is a lot of bike to leave at the train station. The upside is that the e-bike additional 250 watts on demand makes it possible to overcome the heavy weight.

Brad’s article includes a quote from David Cabanban, the Sanyo North America bicycle business manager who says, “The average auto trip in the US is five miles or less. At the end of the day, how do you lower pollution and get people healthy? We’ve got to get people back to riding bikes.” Brad reports that e-bike makers saw a mini-boom in 2008 when gasoline prices spiked and people started looking for eco-friendly alternatives to the automobile. But there are challenges with include that in the US bikes are seen as recreation not transportation. We do not have the infrastructure to support bike commuting in most places and while it may be a statement of professional achievement in China, in the US bikes are not held in very high regard.

Funny, but I thought it was me on my bike that was not being held in esteem…I have experienced lots of nasty encounters while commuting. I have been shoved and slapped as well as spit at by various teenagers when I was commuting across the county in the early 90’s, and more recently I have been aimed at by drivers as I’ve left the White Plains train station when I was not able to quite clear one of the massive intersections before the light turned on me. In one particularly scary incident I gave a hearty – not rude - wave of the hand to guy bearing down on me with his horn blaring. (Have you ever noticed that your car horn does absolutely nothing to control your car?)  Anyway my gesture prompted the driver to chase me and scream at me in beautifully colorful language that I should not be on the road. I took to the sidewalk for protection and made the mistake of rolling by the guy since he was stuck at the next light and I experienced another volley of insults. I really wish this guy could be transported to China and be surrounded by millions of cyclists. I see it rather like the big bug that gets taken apart by the army ants.

Now if I had known that it was my bike and not me that set my buddy off I wouldn’t feel so bad or scared.

On February 1, 2010 the New York Times Business section carried an article titled, “An Electric Boost for Bicyclists” on its first page by David Goodman (David came an covered the first gathering of the East Coast Greenway (http://www.greenway.org/ny.php) and Westchester Putnam Walk Bike Alliance and frequently writes about bikes and bike history in  New York.). David talks about a Shanghai marketing manager, the president of San Francisco’s board of supervisors, a retiree in the Netherlands and the myriad others who have taken to using e-bikes as transportation. Without bike lanes and following no rules I see tens of e-bikes in use every day in Manhattan under guys doing, mostly it seems, Chinese restaurant takeout delivery. David estimates there are 120 million e-bikes in use in China up from a few thousand in the 1990’s. The growth in China is spurring interest in other markets including India and Europe.

About a week ago I received the news from friends and saw it myself that in NYC the Transportation Alternative group lost a court case with the result that groups of 50 or more cyclists need to have a parade permit. Is it just me, or is there a disconnect here?

I don’t know, but I think the argument that we often hear saying that alternative energy and green initiatives will not succeed without the proper market conditions is accurate because we live in a market driven world and some would argue always have. Right now the market is telling me that I better watch out when I leave the White Plains train station to get home. I am only trying to balance my carbon footprint with a trackstand at the light and save about $1000/year in parking and car expenses by not taking my car. The market is also telling me that since bicycles are not a respected alternative to automobiles, as in China, that an electric bike is not going to be an acceptable choice in a car driven market either. So who is going to buy these things in the US? They are cool. The electric assist (governed to not exceed 20mph) is a really useful device, and quite a kick, but I can’t see that many cyclists going for the added expense and complexity. From a distribution point of view, the dwindling dedicated bike shop channel which has been shrinking for the last ten years is probably not the place a non-cyclist will look for an e-bike. Perhaps the big box stores will be the better option – Walmart anyone? Walmart is driving green initiatives by asking its suppliers for a carbon footprint for products that it is selling. Changes like doing away with extraneous packaging not only helps the environment, it helps the manufacturer and Walmart’s bottom line by reducing product expense and increasing profit since we are not paying less for the missing packaging. That’s smart market driven change.

But green aside. But issue-angry-loony drivers aside. But China aside. But $2500 e-bike prices aside.

I say how the heck are we going to classify e-bikes for Westchester Cycle Club rides? I ask you, are there B riders out there who are going to freak after being dropped by a D-e-bike rider?

Me? I hope that if you have an e-bike, that you come on one of my rides so I can draft off you!

Wish me luck getting home.

 
Ed Cangialosi
RepartoCorse.com
914-328-9811 Reparto
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