E-bikes and scooters displace 4x as much demand for oil as all of the EVs in the world
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And what about safety? I would likely be hit trying to go the short distance I need to drive to the store…something I would be less likely to survive on a bike/moped.
IP
I have read recently that a number of house fires have gotten started by charging e-bikes. Not sure if it’s because people are hooking them up to an incorrect charger, or if the batteries are exploding or what…
Our kids live in NYC where I believe the city is looking to put in some regulations about charging e-bikes inside houses and apartment buildings.
'38Packard
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Back in September when a very similar article was posted, Hawkin wrote:
“I question the above claim that scooters (in particular) displace oil usage - it relies on the assumption that someone using a scooter would otherwise use a gas vehicle. I think that for a lot of dense inner city travel, scooters displace walking and not ICE usage.”
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140522000512
- Survey data suggest e-scooters disproportionately replace walking and bicycling.
- E-scooter trips are more likely in highly walkable areas.
“The study goes on the state a VERY interesting sea change in behavior that once someone switches from walking to an e-scooter (a non-physical form of travel), they are VERY UNLIKELY to ever go back to walking - that if the E-scooter is not available, the vast majority will instead chose to travel by car.”
DB2
That certainly depends on where you are. Austin is considered “bike friendly”, but it’s almost all recreational. Nobody commutes or shops by bike. Was different when I travelled to Cambridge, England for work. Roughly half the commuters are on bike. When there are that many bikes the cars know how to safely deal with it.
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Amsterdam shows how transformational it can be to demote automobiles and promote both walking and biking. I love being there.
david fb
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