People here seem to love e-bikes, and honestly they’re pretty good and I love them too. But what about electric moped scooters or electric motorcycles? I remember riding on an electric moped back in China, sitting in front of my aunt who was driving, and it felt really cool, though thinking back I don’t remember either of us wearing helmets so might not have been the safest thing (then again we couldn’t go very fast on the dense Chinese city streets either, and it was seen more as “biking 2.0” because most Chinese cities have excellent bike lanes that also allow scooters as long as you ride at lower speeds). Maybe it’s just childhood bias and nostalgia but I’ve always liked the concept of electric mopeds.
I’ve also heard people in North America saying it’s a good car alternative especially in places with milder climates, because while it would be ideal to just have walkable/bikeable cities in the first place, if you have no choice but to live in a suburb and don’t want a car it can be a good compromise between not having a car but still having a vehicle capable of quickly covering the distances imposed by urban sprawl, but it’s a lot cheaper, less resource intensive, and allows you to dart around traffic. The only issue is you can’t park it at a bike parkade and have to use a parking lot, and you can’t bring it on public transit.
What do you think? Do you think electric mopeds and motorcycles have a place in a car free society?
Not sure how it goes for North Americans’ purchase power, but affordable and thus common ones in Việt Nam have rather poor range (~40 km brand new) and we have no public infrastructure for charging so they’re usually used for urban commute only. Batteries need to be changed every few years and as recyclable as any other Li-ion ones (optimistically below 50%, but closer to 0% in reality). They’re pretty much electric cars that are more energy efficient but worse range.
Personally I’d prefer ebikes which use less rare-earth resources and allow one to pedal even if the battery runs out, or just a purely mechanic one on relatively flat terrains. That being said, if you consider the obesity rate in North America, neither is a realistic option.
Pretty much agree with your points. Ebikes aren’t perfect but I think they’re a lot better than cars or even electric cars. They are good because they get more people on bikes and hopefully helps push cycling infrastructure in the right direction. Also, to the point about the limited range. Unless you live really far from where you work most people don’t need to go very far day to day so I’d say it’s still a good solution for a lot of people. I could see families that have two cars going to one and an ebike which would be a step in the right direction at least.
My comment about range was on the electric motorcycles, which unlike electric bicycles, without electricity you’ll be stuck in the middle of the road. Electric motorbikes shouldn’t go in the bicycle’s lane either since they are faster and have surprisingly high acceleration. Indeed they’re still better than electric cars at mass but that’s a pretty low bar to begin with.
BTW a nuclear family actively using two cars is ridiculous IMHO (perhaps just cultural difference?) and I suppose they have their reasons, e.g. weather or bad roads, so the solution for them should probably be a smaller car (one/two seats) instead.