
Forget Tesla, e-bikes should be at the heart of the electric vehicle revolution – greenallianceblog.org.uk
Steve Garidis, executive director of the Bicycle Association of Great Britain
E-bikes have taken the world’s cycling markets by storm. They (mostly) look just like regular bicycles. They are ridden just like regular bicycles. And, in many countries, they have the same rules: no licence or registration is required to use them on the road.
E-bike riders are evangelical about them, many discovering (or rediscovering) a passion for cycling. They come with all the joys and benefits of cycling, and far fewer of the downsides; just a subtle and silent helping hand that flattens hills and dismisses the curse of headwinds.
Long gone are those days when cycling businesses, used to focusing on the enthusiast market, sniffed at e-bikes as ‘cheating’. E-bikes cost more than regular bikes, attract better margins and have attracted a new sort of customer. They are driving much of the growth and investment which the cycling industry has enjoyed in the past five years.