(upbeat remixed music)
- So we here at The Verge love electric rideables.
Hoverboards, skateboards, scooters, motorcycles, mopeds,
unicycles, tricycles, you name it, we've ridden it.
But I'm here to tell you why I think electric bikes
in particular are more than just a fun tech fad.
I think they could actually be the future of transportation.
But that said, there's a lot out there,
and you don't wanna get fooled.
So here's some stuff you need to know about e-bikes.
(downbeat remixed music)
Obviously e-bikes are not new.
They've been around for decades.
And if you live in China or Europe, it's a good bet
that e-bikes are already a way of life for you.
In Europe, for example, e-bikes have long helped
older adults maintain independence and are just now
really blowing up with younger riders.
But here in the U.S., e-bikes are still pretty niche.
They only account for a 4% of total bikes sales.
Compare that to more bike-friendly countries
like the Netherlands where there are more e-bikes sold
than regular bikes.
Overall, experts predict that worldwide sales
will hit $23.8 billion by 2025.
But Americans are slowly coming around.
Sales of electric-bikes in the U.S. have grown
more than eight folds since 2014.
It took a long time to get to this point.
Now one of the first patents for an electric-bike
was registered in 1895 by an inventor named Ogden Bolton.
Now Bolton didn't actually end up making or selling
any of his bikes,
but amazingly some of the same design details can be found
in e-bikes today.
A rear hub motor with a battery centrally mounted
on the frame.
Now I know what you're thinking.
What the hell is he talking about?
A rear hub motor, amps and volts.
I don't wanna get ahead of myself.
So let's talk about the basics before we get to
why e-bikes are the future of transportation.
(upbeat dance music)
So generally speaking e-bikes are bicycles
with a battery-powered assist that comes through
when you pedal or in some cases use a throttle.
Pushing on the pedal activates a small motor
that gives you a boost.
So when you're zipping up a hill
or cruising over rough terrain,
you don't have to break a sweat.
Twisting a throttle does the same thing
but without pedaling.
There are two types of motors.
There's the mid-drive which is located in the middle
of the bike usually between the two pedals.
And then there's the hub motor which is located
in the center of either the front or the rear wheel.
There are pros and cons to both types of motors.
Hub drives have been around forever and tend to be cheaper
and more versatile.
They're really excellent motors for anyone needing
a reliable e-bike for long, mostly flat commuting.
Mid-drives are usually smaller and lighter
and can allow for greater torque than hub drives
making them well suited for hilly areas and off road use.
Their center position on the bike also creates
a more balanced ride.
And changing a tire on a mid-drive bike
is usually less of a pain in the ass.
E-bikes also tend to use different types of sensors
to determine how best to dole out power.
There are two types, torque sensors and cadence sensors.
Torque sensors regulate the motor based on
how hard you're pushing the pedals,
while cadence sensors work off of how fast you pedal.
Good bikes use torque sensors while the low enders
have cadence only, and a lot of bikes use both.
I highly recommend testing out both types of motors
before buying an e-bikes to see which is the best for you.
Think about how you plan on using the bike.
Commuting, off-roading, touring?
The better e-bikes brands usually match the appropriate
motor placement with the type of bike they're selling.
Most mountain bikes come with mid-range motors
while the majority of commuter bikes sold
in hill-less Amsterdam are hub based.
♪ They see me rollin' ♪
♪ They hatin' ♪
♪ Tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪
(funky percussion music)
Now let's talk power.
Manufacturers will often offer power ratings
for a variety of reasons.
Until recently power ratings
were a way for bike companies to dance around
Europe's strict importation laws
which prohibited anything stronger than 250 watts.
But now the continent allows the sale of bikes
with way more powerful motors, which is good
because it allows bikes to be seen as a viable
alternative to cars.
Still power ratings can be pretty subjective,
and you can probably get away with just ignoring them.
To get a better idea of how much maximum power
you'll actually feel, check to see if they list
the volts and the amps.
Multiply those two together to get the watt hours
or the number of watts that can be delivered in an hour.
This gives you a great sense of how much range you'll get.
For example, Rad Power Bikes' excellent cargo bike
the RadWagon has a battery pack that is 48 volts
and 14 amp hours.
48 times 14 equals
672 watt hours.
If you're thrifty with your energy usage,
each mile you travel will cost you about 20 watt hours.
Therefore, a 672 watt hour pack will get you
about 34 miles of range.
(light electronic music)
Alright, let's talk classes.
There are three classes of e-bikes in the U.S.
Class one is pedal assist with no throttle.
Class two is throttle assisted but with a maximum
speed of 20 miles per hour.
In a class three, it's pedal assist only, no throttle,
but with a maximum speed of 28 miles per hour.
In Europe they only have two classes.
Class one, which is by far the most popular,
has a maximum speed of 25 kilometers an hour
with no helmet required.
Class two is 1,000 watt plus motors
capable of going 45 kilometer an hour,
require a helmet and can't be ridden on bike paths.
They're basically motorcycles.
So where can you buy an e-bike?
Well, your local bike store is honestly your best bet.
You're gonna get a selection that's been curated
by the owners, and the folks that work there
are gonna have answers to all your burning questions.
Amazon is obviously another place,
but there's some pretty serious trade-offs
that you have to consider.
Your bike could arrive pretty banged up.
And the companies that sell e-bikes on Amazon
are a little bit ephemeral, here one day, gone the next.
It's not just Amazon of course.
A majority of the e-bikes sold in the U.S.
are just cobbled together from off-the-shelf
Chinese made parts that you can find in the catalog.
And if that sounds easy, it's because it is.
It helps explain why there are like a billion
e-bikes companies on Kickstarter and Indiegogo
trying to impress you with their flashy designs
and futuristic tech.
Many don't come with warranties or any customer support.
And it's very likely that you're buying a Chinese model
that's just been rebranded for Western marketing
and sold at a markup.
If you find an e-bike that you like,
an interesting test is to search the bike's specs
on Alibaba to see if something similar
is being sold in Asia.
It might even be cheaper.
Alright, so I promised to explain why I think
that e-bikes are the future of transportation.
So here we go.
First, it lowers the barrier to biking.
So if you're someone who's older or you're stressed out
about the strains of biking, it really lowers the barrier,
and it's easier to justify getting on a bike and just ride.
You're more likely to ditch your car or delete you Uber app
if you know you're gonna get to where you wanna go
without getting sweating and stressed out.
And look, if you're worried about electric bikes
taking all the fun out of cycling, well, you're wrong.
A study of the cognitive and psychological effects
of outdoor cycling actually found the same results
for e-bikes and traditional bikes.
Let's say climate change has got you down.
Electric bikes are way more sustainable
than electric cars.
They're gonna make our cities more livable,
and they're gonna help clear up traffic congestion.
So as our cities are becoming more congested,
some companies are turning to e-bikes
to make their deliveries.
Domino's Pizza recently announced they're gonna be using
Rad Power Bikes to make pizza deliveries in some cities.
UPS is using electric cargo bikes.
German delivery company DPD is gonna be using
these really cute looking mini trucks
that are actually e-bikes in disguise.
E-bikes are changing the way that businesses
are doing business.
(light uplifting music)
So the other day I was riding an e-bike to work,
and a remarkable thing happened.
Well, first, I wasn't killed, which,
in a city as deadly for bikers as New York,
is a minor miracle.
But more importantly I got to the office super quick,
much faster than if I had taken the subway,
and I wasn't a sweaty, stressed out mess when I arrived.
Here e-bikes are almost exclusively used
by food deliver workers, and it got me thinking about
how far behind the rest of the world the U.S. is
when it comes to bikes.
We see them more as recreation than as transportation.
Something to be used in fair weather
and not in the rain and the snow like the Dutch do.
But come on, our U.S. women's team just beat them
in the World Cup.
Surely we can compete in the saddle as well.
Our streets are designed for cars,
and pedestrians and bikers are really just an afterthought.
But e-bikes can open up a whole world,
especially for people with different abilities.
Look, they're not gonna solve everything,
but I can guarantee that once you start riding,
you're not going to wanna stop.
Did we make that word up?
Is that a real word, rideable?
It's like a lunchable, but you ride it.
(laughs) What the hell is that thing?
(engine hums)
- [Assistant] Maybe it'll be really quick.