E
Bikes
Electric bicycles (e-bikes) may reduce energy use, air pollution
and noise for private transportation through a modal shift from fossil-fuel
powered vehicles to e-bikes on short distance trips. However, designing
effective promotion campaigns for the adoption of e-bikes requires detailed
knowledge on user characteristics and motivations. In order to explain e-bike
use on work, shopping and leisure trips, the present study combines concepts
from technology adoption with factors derived from research on mobility behaviour.
The study employs structural equation modeling to survey data from 1398
Austrian early adopters who purchased an e-bike between 2009 and 2011.
Results show that early adopters are predominantly comprised of
persons aged 60 years or older who mainly use the e-bike for leisure
trips. Carbon-intensive travel modes on commuting trips are barely substituted.
Early adopters typically hold pro-environmental and technophile attitudes.
E-bike use is most driven by perceived usefulness, which in turn depends on an
easy use, appropriate infrastructure, also user’s norms and attitudes towards
environment and physical activity. Comparison by trip purpose shows that a
supportive social environment and personal ecological norms influence e-bike
use on work and shopping trips, whereas leisure use of e-bikes is driven by
attitudes towards physical activity. Comparison by age groups underlines that
older e-bike users are more dependent on practical usefulness of the technology
and facilitating road infrastructure. Therefore, e-bike promotion strategies
should differentiate between trip purpose and age segments when selecting
target groups.
E Bikes in the Mainstream
Electric bicycles (e-bikes) represent one of the fastest growing
segments of the transport market. Over 31 million e-bikes were sold in 2012.
Research has followed this growth and this paper provides a synthesis of the
most pertinent themes emerging over the past on the burgeoning topic of
e-bikes. The focus is transport rather than recreational e-bike
research, as well as the most critical research gaps requiring attention. China
leads the world in e-bike sales, followed by the Netherlands and Germany.
E-bikes can maintain speed with less effort. E-bikes are found to increase
bicycle usage. E-bikes have the potential to displace conventional motorised
(internal combustion) modes, but there are open questions about their role in
displacing traditional bicycles. E-bikes have been shown to provide health
benefits and an order of magnitude less carbon dioxide than a car travelling
the same distance. Safety issues have emerged as a policy issue in several
jurisdictions and e-bike numbers are now approaching levels in which adequate
safety data are able to be collected. Research on e-bikes is still in its
infancy. As e-bike usage continues to grow, so too will the need for further
research, in order to provide the necessary data to inform policy-makers and
industry.
E Bikes Barriers
One major barrier of e-bike use is that the purchase price of
e-bike is 3 to 4 times higher than that of a conventional bicycle
E Bikes Cycling in The Netherlands and the UK – Bicycle Highways
The Netherlands and the UK are European regions with very
different cycling cultures. Levels of cycling in the Netherlands are much
greater than in the UK (1% of all trips in UK versus 27% in NL) largely a
result of the Netherlands having a long history of implementing a ‘multifaceted
and mutually reinforcing’ set of policies focused on supporting and promoting
cycling. Dutch owners of e-bikes therefore benefit from favourable conditions
for cycling and are able to use the existing network of approximately
35,000 km of cycle paths. Regional authorities are also investing in
‘bicycle highways’, which offer direct connections between urban centres (e.g.
Arnhem and Nijmegen — and there is a strong push to encourage e-bike use for
commuting
E Bikes Use in Sweden
There is a strong political desire to reduce the use of fossil
fuels in road transport. In this paper, the use of e-bikes (of the pedelec
type) in Sweden is analysed by focusing on changes in travel behaviour and
their corresponding effects on CO2 emissions. The aim is to analyse the effect
on CO2 emissions due to the use of e-bikes. The analysis is carried out on the
possible differences in changed travel behaviour between areas dominated by
either urban or rural environments. It is based on a combination of responses
to a questionnaire distributed to e-bike users and a survey of local transport
planners in Swedish municipalities. The results indicate that there are large
gains to be made from e-bike usage in terms of decreased CO2 emissions through
a reduction in car mileage. Furthermore, the results indicate that the
potential for e-bikes to replace car trips is as great in rural areas as it is
in urban areas. At the same time, the results indicate that the Swedish
municipalities carrying out e-bike campaigns target trips in both urban and
rural areas, therefore representing an effective promotion strategy to achieve
the full CO2 emissions reducing potential of e-bike use. This study also shows
that, depending on the type of errand being carried out, more respondents
living in urban areas than in rural areas replace their conventional bicycle
trips with e-bike trips. Thus, the use of e-bikes produces some less than desirable
effects, such as reduced physical activity
E Bikes Use in Oxford, UK
Oxford, UK— Oxford is regarded as one of the UK's ‘cycling
cities’. The university-city is located approximately 100 km from London
in the south of UK, and is renowned for being an important educational centre
and tourist destination. It has a resident population of around 150,000 and a
temporary population of around 40,000 students. Around 17% of journeys to work
are by cycle compared to the England and Wales average (excluding London) of
around 3%(UK
Office for National Statistics, 2014). The local authority describes provision for cyclists in
Oxford as: “One of the most comprehensive in the country with cycle lanes on
many main roads, traffic speeds generally less than 30 mph and 20 mph
on all side roads and many quiet routes away from the main radial roads”
In
some parts of the world, electric bicycles (e-bikes) represent a significant
share of daily travel, though they are still rare in the United States. The
small size and maneuverability of e-bikes that are assets in cities in China may not be as important
in the U.S., where cities are built to accommodate cars, but their potential as
a substitute for cars makes them an important part of the discussion around
sustainable transportation. In this study we conducted 27 interviews with
e-bike users in the greater Sacramento area in which we asked participants about
the reasons why they chose to invest in an e-bike, the ways in which they use
their e-bikes, positive and negative aspects of using e-bikes, and reactions
from friends and family members. Several important themes emerged from the
interviews. The functional characteristics of e-bikes, particularly greater
speed and acceleration than conventional bicycles with less exertion, contribute to several positive aspects of their use, including
enabling more people to bicycle, more trips to be made by
bicycle, and more fun for their users. The result, for these users, was an
overall decrease in driving, with some users getting rid of their car
altogether. Negative aspects cited by users include security concerns, safety
concerns, unwieldiness, and range anxiety. Participants also discussed several misperceptions on
the part of non-users that could inhibit their adoption. These results provide
insights for the development of e-bike policy and guidance for future research
E Bikes Use in China
The rapid adoption of electric bikes (e-bikes) (~150 million in
10 years) has come with debate over their role in China's urban transportation
system. While there has been some research quantifying impacts of e-bikes on
the transportation system, there has been little work tracking e-bike use
patterns over time. This paper investigates e-bike use over a 6-year period.
Four bi-annual travel diary surveys of e-bike users were conducted between 2006
and 2012 in Kunming, China. Choice models were developed to investigate factors
influencing mode-transition and motorization pathways. As expected, income and
vehicle ownership strongly influence car-based transitions. Younger and female
respondents were more likely to choose car-based modes. Systematic and
unobserved changes over time (time-dynamics) favor car-based modes, with the
exception of previous car users who already shifted away from cars being less
likely to revert to cars over time. E-bikes act as an intermediate mode,
interrupting the transition from bicycle to bus and from bus to car. Over 6
years, e-bikes are displacing prospective bus (65→55%), car/taxi (15→24%) and
bicycle (19→7%) trips. Over 40% of e-bike riders now have household car access
so e-bikes are effectively replacing many urban car trips
Swiss
E Bikes Research
Modal shifts hold considerable potential to mitigate carbon
emissions. Electric bikes (e-bikes) represent a promising energy- and
carbon-efficient alternative to cars. However, as mobility behaviour is highly
habitual, convincing people to switch from cars to e-bikes is challenging. One
strategy to accomplish this is the disruption of existing habits—a key idea
behind an annual e-bike promotion programme in Switzerland, in which car owners
can try out an e-bike for free over a two-week period in exchange for their car
keys. By means of a longitudinal survey, we measured the long-term effects of
this trial on mobility-related habitual associations. After one year,
participants' habitual association with car use had weakened significantly.
This finding was valid both for participants who bought an e-bike after the
trial and those who did not. Our findings contrast the results of other studies
who find that the effect of interventions to induce modal shifts wears off over
time. We conclude that an e-bike trial has the potential to break mobility
habits and motivate car owners to use more sustainable means of transport
Swiss Intervention design
The annual Bike4Car programme in Switzerland seeks to break car
drivers' habitual behaviour. In this programme, organised by a Swiss
environmental nongovernmental organisation (NGO), car owners are offered a free
trial of an e-bike over a 2 week period in exchange for their car keys. In 2015
Bike4Car was implemented in collaboration with bike retailers making e-bikes
available to the participants; the Swiss Federal Office of Energy, which
supported the programme with an intense national ad campaign (TV, internet and
posters); and 32 cities responsible for local promotion. Between May and
September 2015, 1854 car owners participated in Bike4Car. After the end of the
programme, participants were offered a coupon to purchase an e-bike for a
reduced price. Reductions varied by retailer. The largest participating
retailer offered a reduction of 500 CHF (approx. 425 Euro), covering around
20%–25% of the price of an e-bike. By November 2015 10% of participants used
their coupon to buy an e-bike
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