Great series on electric bicycles

"The Parable of the Electric Bike."

The five articles are by Alan Durning of the Sightline Institute. They discuss whether or not the electric bike will take off, why they are more efficient than electric cars, and whether or not they should be subsidized as electric cars have been (he argues no).

I don't think electric bikes will save the world. I do think that they can make bicycle commuting much more attractive to larger segments of the population. Maybe, over time, it could lead to as much as 10% of work trips by bicycle, or more. And that would be a significant contribution.

Caption: Brynnen Ford, pictured above, illustrates. Brynnen uses her Madsen “as a minivan alternative.” She drives carpool with it, hauling kids to and from elementary school over the steep hills of Seattle’s central area. Before she electrified her cargo bike with an eZee motor and battery from cycle9.com, the hills were too much. “I tried doing it last year without the electric assist and while sometimes I could do it, other times I would opt for the car . . . so I wouldn't die of exhaustion from carrying the kids up the hills. Now, I almost never opt for the car.” From Juice Hawgs" by Alan Durning.

Of course, what still mattters most is proximity of residence to work, adequate infrastructure etc.

Speaking of bikeways, bicycle lanes, and cycle tracks, at the DC DOT presentation on cycle track proposals (written up in Washcycle "It's like someone spilled a bucket of Portland on downtown" and Greater Greater Washington "DDOT shares downtown bicycle facility plans") one of the presentation boards stated that cycle tracks can lead to as much as a 20% increase in the number of people bicycling.

That's quite significant.