E-bikes get more people out of their cars, finds US survey
Posted on in Cycles News
A new US survey carried out by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities sheds some light on how people actually use electric bikes.
The survey polled nearly 1,800 electric bike owners in North America, asking respondents why they bought e-bikes, what kind of trips they use them for, and how e-bikes compare to conventional bikes when it comes to barriers to cycling.
Some reasons given for owning an e-bike included the ability to ride more easily in a hilly area; to ride longer distances; because of a medical condition; and to just have fun. However, 28% of respondents said they bought an e-bike specifically to replace car trips.
Respondents were also questioned about what stops them riding a push bike, and it seems as though a lot of the main barriers could be overcome with e-bikes, such as not being physically able to cycle, bikes being too slow, distances too far, difficult hills and not wanting to arrive at the destination sweaty.
When quizzed on their choice to buy an e-bike, the vast majority of e-bike users (93.4%) said they rode a standard bicycle as an adult before owning an e-bike. More than half of the respondents rode their traditional bike as frequently as once a week; 30.3% weekly and 25.1% daily. After the purchase of an e-bike, the proportion of respondents riding a standard bicycle weekly or daily fell considerably. However, this decrease was met with an increase in total daily and weekly cycling with more respondents frequently riding their e-bike (91.5%). Of the 6.6% of people who said they had not ridden a standard bicycle as an adult, 93.5% of them now ride weekly or daily.