Electric Bike Journal

[Nickie Koskinen]

But97 days later, either because of stubbornness, foolhardiness or can't-keep-me-down determination, or a combination of all three, I saddled up on a bike again and set forth on the East Bay Bike Path for my comeback ride.

I was thinking about my streak this week when our State House reporter Patrick Anderson reported that Rep. Rebecca Kislak is sponsoring a bill that would let e-bikes operate on streets and bike paths like conventional pedal-powered bikes. Similar laws are on the books in 36 other states.

Rep. Michael Chippendale, along with state Department of Transportation Director Peter Alviti Jr., have criticized Kislak's bill. Chippendale says e-bikes are motorized vehicles and should be regulated as such. Alviti says it is dangerous to have e-bikes share the same space as pedestrians and human-powered bikes.

At first, I admit, I thought, "Yikes!" E-bikes on my beloved East Bay Bike Path, my home away from home, my cathedral and and my cost-free therapy on the 32-mile round trip from my apartment. At first I was worried about the e-bike proliferation. I'm a pedal purist, you might say. But, as a journalist and cyclist, I wanted to seek out the facts.

The truth of the matter is that e-bikes are here to stay. According to the World Economic Forum, e-bike sales grew by 145% in 2020 compared with the previous year. The market share of e-bikes stood at nearly $17 billion in 2020. Some market analysts predict it will be a $52-billion industry within six years. Forecasters cite gas prices, environmental advocacy and COVID-19 as factors that will only fuel the growth of the e-bike industry.

Bike shop owners have told me that, as counterintuitive as it sounds, e-bikes encourage more riders to pedal everywhere, even if they are getting a nudge from a battery-driven motor. Riders can go farther and manage hilly terrain that would otherwise intimidate them from biking. (For instance, as a cyclist, I opted not to live in College Hill, the operative word here being "hill.")

The cost of operating an e-bike is less than filling the tank of my Subaru Impreza, which runs about $50 as gas prices hit an OMG-high. According to an electric bike industry newsletter, depending on your bike, it costs less than 10 cents per charge on an e-bike, which can get you 250 to 500 miles. I was also surprised that the costs of maintaining and repairing an e-bike are negligible, since they often share similar parts with a regular bike, and repairs can be done at your local bike shop.

According to a federal study conducted between 2000 and 2017 that looked at e-scooters, e-bikes and regular human-powered bikes, statistically speaking, there were some telling numbers. An analysis of 245 million injuries showed that just under 131,000 involved scooter accidents ending with an emergency room visit. There were about 3,100 e-bike injuries. In that time period, there were about 9.4 million injuries involving pedal bicycles. Of course, the number of e-bike accidents may rise as they become more popular.

Another study said 90% of electric bike accidents are caused by the riders' risky behavior, such as riding in lanes for cars, ignoring red lights and going against traffic. It also said older e-bike riders face a higher risk of brain injury in an accident, perhaps because of slower reflexes. The average age of a rider hurt while on an e-bike is 32, compared with 25 on a traditional bike.

The more money applicants make beyond that threshold, the smaller their rebate will be. The rebate is reduced by one percentage point for each $4,000 an applicant earns above $25,000 or $50,000. But the reductions will stop when the rebate certificate reaches 50 percent of the cost of an e-bike.

The rebate certificate must be used at bike shops that have applied with the Minnesota Department of Revenue to be included as an eligible retailer. When the certificate is presented at participating shops, the retailer will reduce the price of the e-bike according to the amount on the certificate.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misidentified the rebate certificate as a check, and said all Minnesota taxpayers are eligible for the rebate. People who pay Minnesota taxes but who are not residents of the state are not eligible.

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The state Assembly earlier this week approved legislation (A.4389C) that would prohibit the manufacture, distribution, assembly, reconditioning or sale of a lithium-ion battery or second-use lithium-ion battery intended for use in a bicycle with electric assist, a moped, or other micro mobility device unless the lithium-ion battery is certified by an accredited testing laboratory.

Goodell said he would support requiring the testing laboratory seal on the sale of new e-bikes and scooters, but that the requirement to install a new battery if the device is being resold is too much to ask of those who have already purchased an e-bike or scooter.

Jeffrey Dinowitz, D-Bronx, cited a New York Times report of 255 lithium-ion battery fires and 18 deaths in 2023. The New York Post reported earlier this week that lithium-ion batteries used in e-bikes and other electronic mobility devices are a leading cause of fires in New York City. FDNY Chief Fire Marshal Daniel Flynn, told The Post that fires related to lithium-ion batteries have gone up nearly 900% since the pandemic, with more fires related to the batteries happening so far in 2024 than in all of 2019.

On Wednesday, Assembly members passed A.6811, which establishes the lithium-ion battery safety program and requires the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority (NYSERDA), in collaboration with the state DEC and other state agencies, to create a program to provide new lithium batteries at reduced cost or no cost to eligible individuals, which may include provision of new lithium batteries in exchange for used lithium-ion batteries.

A.9337, which incorporates training regarding lithium-ion battery emergency response into the Office of Fire Prevention and Control specialized hazardous materials emergency response training program; and

Cycling on the E-bike resulted in lower trip duration and exercise intensity, compared with the conventional bicycle. However, most of the time was spent in MVPA. This suggests that changing the commuting mode from car to E-bike will significantly increase levels of physical activity while commuting.

Physical activity can have a beneficial effect on health and fitness [1, 2]. Unfortunately, most adults are insufficiently active [3], below the recommended 150 min physical activity of moderate intensity or 75 min of vigorous intensity per week [4].

In the last decades, research has indicated an increase in exercise training during leisure time [5], and a reduction in household- [6], work-, and transport-related physical activity [5]. Promotion of transport-related physical activity has traditionally focused on walking and cycling [7]. Meanwhile, electric assisted bicycles (E-bikes) have become increasingly popular [8]. E-bike users have reported advantages such as higher speed with less effort, reduced travel time and easier to climb hills compared to conventional bicycles [9, 10]. In Europe, E-bikes provide electrical assistance only when the bike rider is pedalling [11], thus is partly human powered. Moreover, E-bikes seem to be highly used for commuting purposes [10, 12,13,14]; therefore, it is essential to establish whether cycling with an E-bike can be health-enhancing, which depends on duration and intensity of physical activity [15].

Intensity can be measured as relative, such as percentage of maximal oxygen uptake (\( \overset.\mathrmV\mathrmO_2 \max \)) or absolute as metabolic equivalent of tasks (METs), where one MET is defined as resting metabolic rate (RMR). However, without direct measurements, RMR is usually replaced by a 1-MET reference value of 3.5 ml O2/kg/min [16]. Intensity when riding a conventional bicycle has been classified as vigorous, ranging from 6.4 to 8.2 METs [16,17,18,19]. Recent studies on E-bikes have reported somewhat lower intensity, ranging from 4.1 to 6.1 METs [19,20,21,22]. Some studies [20,21,22] have compared cycling with no- and maximal electrical power; however, an E-bike is heavier than a conventional bicycle and therefore E-biking with the power switched off does not fairly represent cycling on a conventional bicycle [8, 23].

The two routes (a flat route of 8.1 km, and a hillier, but shorter, route of 7.1 km) started at the same place of departure, reached the same destination, and ended at the place of departure (simulating commuting, back and forth, from residence to a place of work). Altitude at both departure and destination was 18 m above sea level. The hilly route reached a maximal altitude of 83 m above sea level, including one hill that was climbed twice (to and from destination giving a total height difference of 130 m). Conversely, the flat route had no steep hills, and reached a maximal altitude of 35 m above sea level (total height difference 34 m). The route profiles are shown in Fig. 1.

In total, 19.0 and 23.9 min were spent in MVPA when using measured METs, respectively for E-bike and conventional bicycle, which was 95% of total cycling time for both cycle types. Most of the time in both the hilly and flat routes were spent in MVPA, however, due to less time spent cycling on the hilly route, the time in MVPA (26% lower), and especially in VPA (35% lower) was lower using E-bike compared to conventional bicycle.

In the present study, comparing e-biking to conventional bicycling on two different routes simulating relevant cycling to work options, e-biking was faster and less intensive than conventional bicycling, especially on the hilly route. However, 95% of time spent biking, both for e-bike and conventional bike, were considered to be MVPA.

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