In follow-up to my previous post, Electric Bike, Chapter 1:  The Quest for Sustainable Transportation, I provided some background about what has led me to consider purchasing an electric bike as a part-time alternative to driving to work.  In this chapter, I’ll focus on the reasons why I’m now actively exploring this option.

I feel blessed to be in a position to have the ability to choose and my intention is not to judge anyone for their personal mode of transportation.  Rather, I’m feeling excited about where this journey is taking me and want to share what I’ve learned, for anyone else who might benefit from the information.  I’m also quite interested in networking with others who with similar interests.

Here is my boiled down list of reasons that I am seriously considering purchasing an electric bike (in no particular order):

1. I love riding bikes.  It was one of my favorite past times as a kid and I still enjoy riding for recreation – which I don’t do nearly as often as I’d like.
2. I have a desk job and could use all the extra exercise I can get, even if just a little (and yes, there is pedaling involved).
3. I don’t want to arrive at work completely sweaty since there is no place to shower.
4. With gas prices continually on the rise, I’ll save money (and since it only costs a few cents to recharge the battery, it will eventually pay for itself).
5. I want to do what I can to lighten my carbon foot print.
6. I want to pursue an alternative that is sustainable, not only for the environment, but something that I’m likely to stick with.  (In thinking about riding up that hill to work that I mentioned in my previous article, I can imagine there would be lots of times where I might opt out of riding a regular bicycle because I just didn’t feel up to it.)

In examining the environmental impact, I came across an interesting article entitled, “Greening the Planet: Why the plug-in bicycle beats the plug-in Prius and all-electric cars“.  In it, the author shared some interesting analysis about the battery power needed to power an electric bike vs a Prius or other all electric vehicles (which are much better for the environment than a gasoline engine, by the way).

My preferred commuting vehicle has a 355 Watt-hour battery, but the primary engine is me because it’s an electrically-assisted bicycle. Some question the environmental sensibilities of cyclists who commute with electric batteries and motors on their bicycles. Many of those doing the questioning commute via Prius themselves; many more commute in vehicles that are a lot less green. Good-quality electric bicycles typically use the same kinds of batteries as hybrid-electric and all-electric cars, so let’s compare the environmental burdens posed by the batteries in each kind of vehicle.

My electric bicycle uses a lithium-based battery similar to the one planned for the plug-in Prius. It has a reasonably typical 355 Watt-hour capacity. The older-style nickel metal hydride battery in today’s hybrid Prius has capacity of 1,310 Watt-hours, enough for some 3.7 electric bicycles. (Some cyclists use cells from salvaged Prius battery packs to power their electric bikes today — they’re pretty good.) Most auto trips still carry a single occupant, and the same batteries that can help move one car and driver could help move more than three times as many cyclists. Bicycles take up much less room on our public roads than cars and require vastly less energy and materials to manufacture. They consume much less energy overall, and unlike sitting in a car bicycle riding actually contributes to public health. I use approximately $0.03 worth of electricity on a relatively long 28-mile round trip electrically-assisted bicycle commute.

But consider the plug-in version of the Prius. Toyota has announced that its lithium-based battery pack will have a 5,200 Watt-hour capacity, enough to power about 15 reasonably typical electrically-assisted bicycles. 15! If folks who are willing to pay the added costs of plug-in hybrid cars are considered environmentally virtuous, what shall we say for folks who are willing to pay the added costs of expanding the range and versatility of their bicycles by adding 1/15^th the battery capacity of a plug-in Prius to their own hybrid-electric rides? Surely the public infrastructure costs of a few extra bicycle racks and improved bike lanes pale before the costs of expanded electric power transmission capacity and dedicated charging facilities for electric cars. And surely the impact of increased electric bicycle demands for the lithium batteries and the resources used to create them will be trivial compared to the impacts of increased demands from plug-in hybrid and all-electric cars.

For comparison, the forthcoming all-electric Nissan Leaf will have a 24,000 Watt-hour lithium battery pack. It’ll be a real step forward for reducing auto tailpipe emissions, but that same battery pack would power 68 electric bicycles! (At 16,000 Watt-hours, a Chevy Volt would power 45.) Wouldn’t it be good public policy to ensure that a significant share of those lithium battery cells are used on efficient, compact, light-weight electric bicycles instead?

In my next post, I’ll share some of what I’ve learned about the various options as well as the specific bikes that I’m considering.

In closing, I want to share this video of someone riding his (really fast) electric bike during rush hour through the streets of Stockholm in morning rush hour traffic.  It’s exciting to see so many people commuting to work by bike.  Note:  Europe and China are way ahead of us, both in terms of general bike usage and electric bike adoption, though it is starting to take off in the US in places like California and larger cities.