EBikes are a lot of fun to ride, with the electric assist motor helping you zip up and over hills and explore new areas with ease. They are so much fun that the true utility of an eBike is almost completely overshadowed by the joy of riding one.
With electric assist, carrying cargo or passengers is much easier, and minimal to no sweat means you can arrive at your destination looking presentable.
When you consider all of the benefits and utility of an eBike, they can really be a good car alternative or replacement. Plus, in this day and age, there are plenty of ways to use other transportation options when you need them, and to have things delivered to your home, so you have more time for fun rides!
Riding an eBike more often can mean real financial savings, on top of the fun and health benefits that come with regular riding. For some, that might mean simply cutting back on car trips here and there. For others, it could mean a couple downsizing from two cars to one and picking up an eBike or two to fill the gap. And for the truly committed, it might mean giving up car ownership altogether — yes, really.
In this article, we'll look at practical ways to ride your eBike more and drive your car less.
Why eBike More & Drive Less?
From a practical perspective, eBiking can save you a significant amount of money compared to driving a car. Some of the highlights are potential savings of $2,000+ per year by replacing some car trips with an eBike, and nearly $10,000 per year if a motor vehicle is eliminated. Of course, your mileage may vary.
eBiking has the physical and mental health benefits that are a great way to enjoy the ride while commuting to work or running errands — and by eBiking, you don't have to deal with the typical car hassles, like sitting in traffic and finding and paying for parking.
However, the best reason for eBiking more is that it's just fun!
Commuting to Work or School by Electric Bike
Commuting to work or school is a very common use for driving a car, but an electric bike can accomplish the same task just as easily.
Start by mapping out a route to work that's safe and avoids heavy car traffic. Google Maps' bicycle directions feature is a great starting point — plug in your commute, and then test and tweak the suggested route until it works well for you.
For example, you might find a more direct side route that includes a hill Google Maps steers you away from. That's worth a second look, since Google's bike directions are optimized for conventional, non-assisted bikes and tend to avoid hills by default. On an eBike, a hill that would slow down or exhaust a traditional cyclist is often no problem at all, so don't be afraid to override the suggested route when your motor can easily handle what Google Maps is trying to avoid.
Also, have fun exploring different routes through parts of town you may have never traveled through before. You might be pleasantly surprised to find parks, restaurants, coffee shops, and more that are fun to check out and share with your friends and family.
Pack Your Charger, Clothing, and Work Essentials.
Depending on how far your commute is, you may want to take your charger to work so that you can top off your battery for the ride home, or even buy a second charger to keep at work.
Carrying your work gear, clothes, and other essentials is easy with cargo options such as front and rear racks, baskets, trailers, and more. For those who drop the kids off at school on the way to work, there are several kid-seat options for electric bikes.
If you regularly carry a lot of cargo and/or passengers to and from work, an electric cargo bike may be a good fit, as it is built to carry much more than a regular eBike.
Errands by Electric Bike
Similar to commuting, you will want to map out good biking routes to run errands around town by avoiding high-traffic streets.
You will need a good lock to keep your electric bike safe during your time in the store. Common U-Locks and Cable/Chain Locks can provide solid protection against theft. No lock is foolproof, but U-Locks are generally the most secure type of lock available.
There are new lock options, such as foldable locks, adjustable band locks, zip locks, wheel locks, seat locks, and handlebar locks. The lighter, smaller locks are intended as short-term theft-deterrent locks for a quick errand stop, not for maximum security (you wouldn't use these to lock your bike overnight, for example).
Work by Electric Bike
This is not commuting to work by electric bike, but rather using an electric bike as your work vehicle!
Electric bikes have become a popular option for restaurant and grocery deliveries in dense urban centers. EBike delivery times can be the same as or better than car delivery times.
People who work with Uber Eats, DoorDash, and other delivery services can use an electric bike as a fun and cost-effective way to make deliveries. There are even services to help you manage the cost of an eBike; Zoomo offers a monthly subscription service for couriers to keep the eBike's initial cost low.
Like couriers, Zoomo and other companies offer fleets of electric bikes to businesses for deliveries.
If you use your eBike for work, then it could be a business expense with some tax benefits — it may be worth checking it out with your accountant.
Mass Transit
There are times when you may not want to ride your electric bike, for instance, if the weather is not cooperating! For those times, there are mass transit options like buses, trains, subways, and ferries. These are very economical options for getting around when eBiking is not feasible.
You may find that the money you've saved by not driving most days is more than enough to cover the cost of a transit pass.
When You Need a Car
There will be times when you want a car for longer trips or to transport large items. It is good to remember that there are more options available these days to “borrow” a car when you need it.
The most classic way is to rent a car from one of the national car rental companies, such as Enterprise, Alamo, Hertz, or Budget.
One of the newer car rental/sharing companies is Turo, where you can rent a car from an individual owner. It's kind of like the "Airbnb of car rental." And there are some fancy, unique cars available, so it might be fun to borrow one of them!
An advantage of Turo is that you can see where rental cars are available near your house, so you can easily pick one up when needed. Some owners will deliver the car to you. Additionally, Turo could be a good money-making option if you end up using your electric bike a lot and have your car available for others to rent.
After car-sharing options, there are rideshare options like taxis, Uber, and Lyft for quick rides. These are great for getting a quick ride from almost anywhere.
Home Deliveries
Another way to make eBiking life easier is to have items delivered to you so that you can spend more time having fun riding! The time spent running around town for groceries and other goods can really add up.
Amazon is the big name when it comes to home delivery of goods, but almost every business these days has an easy delivery option.
Grocery delivery became popular and more refined during the depths of the pandemic, and it can be a good way to save time during the week. There are also grocery pickup options that can still save you time instead of running all over the store.
Restaurant delivery has been around for a long time, but it is now supercharged with apps from DoorDash, Uber Eats, Postmates, GrubHub, and more. These apps make it very easy to order exactly what you want and get a realistic delivery time.
Ride On
So, eBiking more and driving less can save you money, and it is usually a lot more fun to ride! eBikes may not always work for every transportation need, but it is great to have many other options available to us.
When you consider the high costs of car use and ownership, it is compelling to consider these other options.
Enjoy your rides!
-Pete