How bad are electric bikes for the environment?
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- Опубликовано: 23 мар 2024
- Are these things actually a net positive for the planet? Watch an extended cut of this video on Nebula: go.nebula.tv/simonclark
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What is the environmental impact of building an e-bike? When people ride an e-bike, what are they no longer doing? Is an e-bike worse for the planet than a regular bike? In this video I talk industry experts and consult the academic literature on the net impact of electric bikes. The result may surprise you!
REFERENCES
1. ourworldindata.org/travel-car...
2. www.itpenergised.com/new-uk-g...
3. www.theguardian.com/environme...
4. ourworldindata.org/carbon-foo...
5. www.theguardian.com/environme...
6. issafrica.org/iss-today/child...
7. news.mongabay.com/2022/08/tox...
8. www.nature.com/articles/s4189...
9. www.sciencedirect.com/science...
10. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
11. earthworks.org/issues/acid-mi...
12. about.bnef.com/electric-vehic...
13. www.energimyndigheten.se/glob...
14. thedriven.io/2023/03/03/ev-ba...
15. www.pv-magazine.com/2019/07/1...
16. circularenergystorage.com/
17. eco-recycle.co.uk/e-bike-scoo...
18. cen.acs.org/environment/recyc...
19. www.mdpi.com/2313-0105/9/7/360
20. www.sciencedirect.com/science...
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Edited by Luke Negus.
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Наука
It's so weird when governments subsidize electric cars but not electric bikes.
switch to electric cars and people will have a noticeably smaller carbon footprint, switch to electric bikes from normal bikes and people will have absolutely no change in their carbon footprint. Nobody cares about the environmental impact of breathing.
I wonder why 👀
lol so true, the state I live in was offering $436 million in electric vehicle incentives while only about $13 million in e-bike incentives, which they stopped doing while they still do the EV one. SMH I hate it here
Norway subsidices both
NZ new right wing govt just dropped all subsidies and rebates for electric cars
E-bikes being more carbon efficient than normal biking blew my mind!
Greenwashing
@@lorenzoblum868?
@@lorenzoblum868 Nah, just energy recovery. You can't put potential energy from downhill sections back to your body, but you can put it in a battery. That charge means the rider needs to output less carbon dioxide.
purely biologically interpreted yes, true.
but if you look it in context, it's not true. if I would stop biking every day to work, I would go to the gym and burn the same calories without any real use.
AND you don't really eat much more becouse you're riding 10 kilometers a day. you would eat the same portion even if you would travel with the tram.
It takes a lot of fertilizer, cow farts and fuel to convert sunshine into some calories in your muscle.
I would love to use an ebike instead of my car, but the closest place to me that has even consistent bike gutters is 30 minutes away. I'd have to ride on the shoulder of a high speed road unprotected. I hate car centric infrastructure
move to a bike-centric place ;)
@@tomo1168 I plan on it as soon as I can
I have a different problem: the roads are covered in snow or ice a third of the year (snow came in november and right now is the first time of the year that most roads have melted)
@@romeolz I do feel like this kind of road maintenance is overlooked a lot. to my knowledge cities that have the combo of good infrastructure for people, not cars and proper plowing of roads and bikelanes make for some of the best transportation.
@@romeolzThere are spiked tires for bikes.
It's important to remember that infrastructure that works for both bikes and e-bikes is what really matters. We want people to be able to get where they need to be, to reduce emissions, and to have healthier people. E-bikes and bikes brings such significant reductions in Co2eq/km compared to other forms of transportation that the difference between e- and not e- isn't very significant.
Yeah, not only that but driver mentality - the roads near me are fairly hilly and narrow at times. I've seen drivers clip cyclists over taking them. It just isn't safe cycling on the road sometimes
Fat tire bikes and E-bikes in general don't really work on normal bike paths, they go way too fast and become a danger to anyone near them
@@kaioh16 That's why they need to be regulated, like they are in many EU countries. Motor can't go above 250 W, won't support you over 25 km/h (that's 15.5 mph), and no separate throttle, will only run if you're actually pedaling yourself. If it doesn't comply with that, it counts as a motorcycle where I live (which also has different classifications and various rules depending on type).
Of course, this is going to make it infeasible for lots of people who are looking to replace their car with an ebike, because trips would take too long (this needs to be solved in other ways). But that's the thing with ebikes, they're not intended as a more environmentally friendly replacement for cars, they're intended as a more convenient replacement for regular bikes. And you may also go a bit faster because there's no way you're averaging 25 km/h on a bike on just leg power (especially uphill).
To e or not to e, hardly a question.
@@kaioh16 Fat tire bikes are basically mountain bikes with bigger tires. Fat tire bikes (without a motor) are not exactly known for their high speed. Are you thinking of E-bikes with fat tires?
I'm in Italy, and I proudly use an e-bike for commuting to work since 2019. Apart from rainy days, I'll never go back to cars or public transports.
How do you commute on rainy days then? xD
@@KickKnete wait! I’m having a premonition! I see…I SEE…cars or public transports?
@@edwardliechti3359 Wait, I cant read?
@@KickKnete For the last few years it hasn't been raining that much in Italy at all. I also use my ebike to get to work and must have used the car instead due to unfavourable weather, less than a dozen times over a full year.
Batti 5 idem :)
It is interesting that the electric motor of an e-bike has lower CO2 emissions than the rider, but I wouldn't worry about it too much because the rider needs exercise anyway. Better to get exercise while commuting than to ride a stationary bike or jog around in circles. If you're worried about the carbon emissions of your diet, it would be more effective and healthy to avoid meat rather than to lead a sedentary lifestyle.
That is the reason why in a Life cycle assessment ( not analysis! ) there is a boundary where you describe what you take into account. Like what about additional showers? Less road maintenance? What about other environmental impacts other than CO2 equivalent emissions?
It's more subjective than many expect.
I did one about batteries and interestingly I found after Lithium production that sulfiric tailings are quite a problem
Strange how a horse will generate as much carbon as a car. But it runs on green energy.
One must also not forget that the horse, unlike the car, is quite lovely and can be pet
@@271kochu One must also not forget that the horse, unlike the car, is a sentient creature, and all such creatures have an inherent right not to be treated as property.
Despite the many claims by vegans, Its not healthy to avoid meat. Our digestive system is optimised for eating meat and we get a lot of minerals from meat that cannot be obtained elsewhere. Not least that we do not fully understand every single thing our bodies use from meat, so we can't even begin to supplement everything. Plus nobody ever seems to factor in the harm manufacturing supplements might have on the environment.
I'm in The Netherlands and so of course I have a regular bike I use for most trips. But I've actually used an electric bike for a while and the main drawback I found was having to carry the battery everywhere I go. The battery is expensive so can be taken out to avoid theft, but it's also heavy. A regular bike on the other hand I just put somewhere, lock it, and walk away. This is especially true for a 2-minute trip to a supermarket for example.
They are quite fun to ride though! And they make trips seem a lot shorter than they actually are: a long 45-minute bike trip suddenly becomes an enjoyable 30-minute trip depending on how fast you go.
Does your battery not have a lock? I wouldn't trust it to leave my bike outside overnight, as the battery only has a rather flimsy plastic clip to hold it in place which the lock holds onto, but for a quick trip to the supermarket and so on it seems safe enough.
The way I've dealt with this is by building my own from a regular city bike, locking it up like a regular city bike, then just accepting there's a decent chance the battery will get stolen eventually. Because its a self build the batteries are much cheaper, I could replace it for about 300 euros and its much higher capacity than any of the ones that come with off-the-shelf ebikes. Its been a year and a half and lucky so far. If it got stolen tomorrow its probably still a net saving in money not spent on OV and extra trips I might not have otherwise gone on at all.
Shut up. The e-bikes are not for you, NETHER lander. You don't really need them, not with your flat country stolen from the sea and your amazing biking infrastructure.
But come to a real country with hills and mountains (look them up) and you will understand the dire need for them.
As for that weighty battery, I leave it at home when I don't need it, leaving me with basically a regular bike.
in the Netherlands there is no need for an e-bike :D
I bought an e-bike when I moved to a hill here in Zürich. I have to climb every day 200meters to get home with the bike
Where you live is likely pretty flat, though. The benefits of ebikes really kick in where it's hilly. Here in San Francisco, ebikes open up whole sections of the city that are essentially inaccessible for most people on a conventional bike. Even if your destination isn't in a hilly part of town, there are probably hills between where you're at and where you want to go in a town like this. With a conventional bike, you have to take a longer route around that obstruction. With an ebike, you can just fly straight over them.
That advantage is worth having to lug a battery around in your backpack sometimes.
Come on RUclips algorithm!!!!!!
wooooooo
You can do it!
Engagement!
such a great video
score sum fakin' goals
The e-bike has replaced my regular bike, but then again, I have never owned a car or any other combustion engine driven vehicle. I use buses, trams, and trains less now than I used to, using the e-bike instead.
We lost another brother
@@appa609why does someone else being happier with an E-bike bother you?
@elfboi523 well your bike replaced a car then! I also own an ebike and don't own a car. If I didn't have my bike, I would need to buy a car.
Guess no kids?
@@jedrek1521cargo e-bikes with seats for kids exist. Then, when they’re old enough, they can ride their own bikes and don’t need a personal chauffeur for 12 years of their life, increasing freedom for both parents and children.
gotta admit, the approach shift you've taken is crazy refreshing. who would've expected a POV biking video/vlog that's also incredibly informative and well made
Great video, only 1 thing, E-Bikes are only expensive if you're comparing them to a regular bike.
If they're replacing a car, the math flips completely and they are, relatively speaking, dirt cheap. I bought a $6,500 E-bike that I used to go from a 2 car household to a 1 car household. 2 years later and I've spent a total of $50-60 on it for maintenance and repairs, and $25 of that because I hit a thumb tack in the road and had to get a tube replaced, and a total of maybe $10-15 a month for insurance. Idk how much electricity costs to charge the battery have been but it's pretty negligible, I didn't notice my energy bill change at all pre vs post E-bike.
The total I've spent on the E-bike over 2 years is comparable to what a car costs in a few months between insurance, gas, and depreciation. And if more people in society would move away from cars we could save insane amounts of money on road infrastructure as well.
So yea, if you're someone who's even mildly curious about getting around on an E-bike instead of a car, do it, it's better for your health, the planet's health, and your wallet's health.
It's mostly to infrastructure and government level decisions, not individual choices.
I live in Poland, tried ditching a car, but other people in cars are crazy, riding on roads is too dangerous, riding on sidewalks is illegal and cycling infrastructure is almost non existent.
Ended up with a broken wrist and two years not being able to ride a bike.
Riding a bike is MORE DANGEROUS than riding a car if the infrastructure isn't already established.
Yes, cycling is better for environment and for health ONLY IF everything is working alright.
We have to advocate for better infrastructure and laws, but we also have to ditch wishful thinking and shifting responsibility to individual choices.
Make biking safe before you tell it's great for everything and everyone. It could be and it should be, but it isn't.
@@ukaszm1137 Same here in Romania. Barely any actual cycling lanes, that are not drawn on sidewalks, neither part of a car lane, but actual separate bike lanes. Outside of those, you're really risking your life. At least in Bucharest. And, to be fair, from how much traffic there is and how the setup is, many times the cyclist are actually a PITA for the normal cars. Hopefully in a decade or so, we might get to something that's actually usable by more than a handful of people.
I mean, to make that a valid comparison you'd also have to factor in things like the additional costs of occasional long distance travel and deliveries. Buying an ebike doesn't help you bring home items from IKEA...
Ebikes still seem overpriced, due to their increased popularity. I bought one a few years ago, and I’d be hard pressed to find a similar one now for less than twice what I paid.
@@user-nc3fj9yd2cIt sure can depending on what kind of eBike you have. Also, renting a vehicle for one day is a thing. No need to own a car for something you will only do once or twice a year.
I really want an electric bike but the cycle lanes in my area feel too dangerous
Same here. My city is not built for pedestrians or cyclists. Although the hot tropical weather doesn't help either. Need more trees for sure, here in the tropics (I think) before any cycling action.
@@evekakuru2633 I'm from the tropics too, and there are almost no people cycle here 😅 But instead they are very open to public transit, even some people push the govt to build them
don't put yourself in danger in the name of environmentalism. activism first
Just do it, get that E-bike. Your wallet will thank you, the feeling of freedom will make it all worth while!.
@@user-rr3gj4nf9o I think this is the worst possible response. doing nothing would be better
advocacy first. find other cyclists in your city! they might be able to help you with safe routing! try a cheap regular bike first!
endangering yourself is neither practical, nor cheap. giving yourself a shiny new incentive to endanger yourself is stupid.
literally would not tell anyone to do this unless they're committed to urbanism martyrdom.
That fun-factor also contributes to improved mental health I think. I became much happier when I switched out my car for an ebike on daily commutes.
Also, ebikes solve a real problem for the elderly who don't feel safe driving and don't have good local transit options.
Cycling's so much nicer with the new cycle lanes put in since COVID
I bought an ebike for commuting. Would have been a difficult commute on regular bike with a 325ft hill climb on my way home from a long day of physical labor. It’s been amazing! Planning on selling my car now. I’ll probably have to get a cheap car of some sort because the e-bike can’t do everything I need it to but it’s still a big improvement to both the environment and my finances.
Look into the cost of car share/taxi and also car rentals for the rare times you need a car
So far I have almost 2k on my E-bike still own a car but I hate it, so much over kill for what I need. I wish they sold a micro car in the states. Urban living doesn't require 4k worth of steel to haul my skinny ass around. The OEMS can keep there 50,000 dollar evs.
Kudos to you for switching off driving. I carshare when I really need a vehicle (which is like once per two months tops) and highly recommend it
While an E-bike is certainly more efficient than most forms of transport, I have a hard time agreeing with them being more efficient than normal bicycles. Sure, an electric motor is more efficient than a human at moving a bike, I think that kind of brushes over something big. People have to eat anyways, and I have never come across someone who eats significantly more because they commute by a traditional bike. So charging a battery is essentially extra energy being used on top of the energy that would've have been used anyways to produce food.
Also from my perspective as a bike mechanic, beyond just the production of the motor and battery, it is also worth noting that e bikes tend to go through the consumable parts of a bike significantly quicker. Simply because of the additional power and speed available to an e bike, they go through chains, cassettes, tires, and brake pads much more quickly than one would on a traditional bike. Because of this, e bikes often need e bike specific components that use more material in order to make them more robust. That carbon impact needs to be considered too. E-bikes hey are also significantly heavier, so shipping them from the far east where most are produced, will also be more intensive.
I definitely do not hate e-bikes and I definitely think they have a strong place in the market, but It just seems insane to me to argue that they are better for the environment than a normal bike. I mean I 100% agree that getting anyone on a bike is infinitely better than having them take most other forms of transport, but I also think that a significant portion of people who are considering buying an e-bike would be just fine on a normal bike. Government all over the world and at all levels should be promoting cycling, but I really dislike how much e-bikes are being pushed, when normal bikes are perfectly fine for most people, while being better for cities, safety, and the environment. In our shop, one of the most popular reasons for people buying e bikes is because they don't want to arrive to work sweaty. This group, for example, usually don't need an e bike, they just need to bring a change of clothes with them to work. That's an additional battery and motor that needs to be produced. Sure, if they would have otherwise driven, it would have been much worse, but if they went from a car to a normal bike, the planet would be better off than going from a car to an e bike.
Whether or not you notice it, you are burning calories by being on a bike. Either you're losing weight, or you're eating more food, but those calories are coming from somewhere. My watch's stats (which are definitely a bit inaccurate) suggest that for a 5k cycle I burned around 150 calories from the cycle itself, plus 35 calories from general life needs. Given the figure he quoted about the carbon footprint of a single steak (≈100kg_CO2/kg_steak), a 5km cycle ride powered entirely on steak would need (using the USDA's 271cal/100g stat) about 55.4g of food, or 5.58kg_CO2. Obviously you aren't 100% powered by steak, but it's a lot more believable how someone who eats a lot of meat would be less efficient than an ebike.
Couldn’t agree more. I think e-bikes have their place but as with anything, you need to question what kind of modal shift exactly they are achieving. If they’re replacing a car that’s great, if they’re replacing a pedal cycle just because it’s more convenient that’s not ideal. They are being pushed hard by industry right now and it shows.
@@oliviaaaaaah1002 Problem here is assuming people would not burn those calories elsewhere without the bicycle ride. Which is pretty nonsensical to assume. I'd need some serious proof for that. Certainly for 100% as is suggested in the video.
The other issue here is assuming someone would eat more lets say steak. Thats not really how meat portions work. it is very unlikely the average person would add 55g of steak to their dinner. They are much more likely to eat say a bigger breakfast or snack.
@@XMysticHeroxno, people would not burn those extra calories elsewhere because what else would they be doing? The scenario assumes you have a commute, and we are ONLY taking into account that commute, and counterintuitively the average person is more efficient on an electric bike than a regular pedal bike. Like he said in the video vegans may be an exception but the average westerner incorporates a lot of animal and animal derived food products into their diets, so that standardized/homogenized European diet used in the video is probably mostly accurate on a population scale
I just wish the US had more dedicated cycling infrastructure. Instead we just keep zoning out single family housing suburban hellscapes
@@XMysticHerox agree, I've seen evidence that it you exercise hard you will take less steps in a day afterwards. The body is very good at keeping daily energy use relatively consistent, hence why it's hard to out run a bad diet
Given this video was produced in collaboration with a company that sells ebikes, you'll have to forgive my skepticism about the claim they're more carbon efficient than a normal bike.
Yeah, I was thinking of making that devils advocate argument. Would almost be like asking Volkswagen how green their cars are...
The reason it is a devils advocate argument is because it clearly is better as it doesn't have 1500kg of useless steel to accelerate.
Well it's easy to work out. A human producing 250W on a bike is only 30% efficient, so they radiate 500W of energy as heat at the same time. Electric motors are more like 85% efficient.
And the production (and consumption) of food has many losses in terms of energy, more than that produced by energy generation.
I'm a cyclist (very much *non* ebike!), and I also use an electric scooter. It's very obvious to me that I actually use more energy (NOT including the extra food I eat after cycling) in the shower I take after cycling, than in the energy used in my electric scooter to get somewhere.
So they are massively more energy saving.
Besides the fact that most people in say the U.S. could bicycle a good 30-50km per day without eating ANY more calories (they would just be thinner/healthier/save CO2 in the form of vastly reduced health care costs), when you do need to add a few extra calories to your diet to compensate for the travel, most people will add more of the things that have the very lowest greenhouse gas emissions. The amount of GHG emissions per food calorie varies by a factor of more than 100X. When you add an apple or a banana or a bit more oil to your diet to compensate for a bit more energy expended during that day, those are all things very much on the low end of that GHG emission spectrum.
If you absolutely insist on eating every one of those extra calories as shrimp or beef, OK. Most people won't do that, though, simply because of the expense.
I guess it is mildly interesting (and definitely clickbait) to get all wound up about which of two very good alternatives is 0.001% better than the other for some esoteric and very debatable reason. But it seems far more profitable to spend time comparing either of them to the massive gas-guzzling energy-wasting uses that form the vast bulk of global energy expenditure and GHG emissions.
Source for GHG per calorie info: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590123023001810
@@bhugh I really appreciate you for this comment. This was more or less what my gut told me, but I fully hold my hands up and say I was far too lazy/busy to put in the effort to research and put together a long-form comment.
I sold my mountain bike before Christmas 2023, as I’d only ridden it 20 miles in 2 years, it was just clutter in my flat.
I’m physically disabled, and wanted a bike to increase my strength, and exercise more to reduce weight as that reduces pain.
I bought a MiRider GB3 on the 8th March 2024, the weather has been atrocious up here in the North West, but I’ve still managed 4 rides totalling 20 miles in the last 3 weeks. I’m getting out more even in poor weather, and slowly I’m getting better.
Today I went for a leisurely 2 miles down to Preston docks, and rode back up the killer Penwortham hill, when I got home, I decided I still had more in me, so did a further 3 miles circuit including the hill again.
I can see me riding this little bike a lot, especially as it neatly fits in my car boot without removing seats. It’s the best bike over ever bought.
I bought it through my company’s cycle2work scheme, and I’ve done the commute once already in pouring rain.
Good on you man!
Keep going. I did the same just as society reopened after pandemic shutdown, and picked up an e-bike during COVID. I was a public transit user prior. By September 2023 I cycled the Earth's circumference - 40005kms. I'm currently at 45 000kms+ travelled and my new goal is to cycle Neptune's circumference (156 000kms). Projections indicate reaching that goal sometime in 2032. I am/will do everything in my power to see that I accomplish this with the initial bike.
Also, if not evident, I ride in all conditions.
That's good to hear about ebooks. I am a very low energy person, but maybe I could deal with an ebike. I'm not sure how to deal with the busy street that turns into a freeway right outside my neighborhood. Cyclists die on that road.
Great that you are getting out. but please don't brag about how far you can ride with a motor pushing you along.
@@lostvisitor Referring to my comment as bragging says more about you than me.
Think about that instead.
You should make a similar video on electric cars and comparing the effect on the environment to petrol and diesel cars. A lot of people seem to claim that EV's are worse for the environment because the batteries need to be mined, but also because electricity comes from burning fossil fuels anyway.
Note: I dont think like this, i just hear this as another way for people to hate on EV's.
Over a decade late to the party, pal
Funny enough, EVs are still better than ICEs even if you power them 100% from fossil fuels, the only one that compares is diesel because of how efficient diesel ICEs are. The only problem is that if you are powering them entirely through fossil fuels it may take most of the lifetime of the car for the savings to pay for the production emissions, but in countries powered mostly by clean sources it can be as short as 2 years.
Just tell them that while you can run an EV on coal or solar power, it's pretty hard to run a diesel engine on either. Hence EVs.
The big problem with EVs in my experience is that people insist on fast charging.
We do have big circuits available in most houses already that can be used for fast-er charging.
Why your 30A drier or 50A oven or, heck, even your 20A bathroom circuit can't transfer between doing what it normally does and charging your EV is beyond me.
But we do not need to fast charge everyone all the time.
Our infrastructure in general functions according to 60 year old paradigms, and so do our brains.
Other options like zoning reform and public transport would eliminate the need for car sized EVs entirely in many situations. So it shouldn't even be a matter of transitioning every last gas car and residence to lightening fast charging EVs.
@@toyotaprius79 i think the real people that are a decade late to the party are those that think this way.
The thing with EVs is that whether they are better than ICE really depends on how much you use them. If you drive 25,000 miles a year then the construction cost of the EV will quickly be overtaken by the environmental benefits of running off the grid - but if you only drive 2,500 miles a year then it's doubtful that the gains will outweigh the costs within the lifetime of the vehicle. Obviously as we move to more green energy generation and more battery recycling then there that threshold will get lower and lower over time.
It's also hard to quantify the costs and benefits, because they are not always on the same axis - eg, the damage caused by lithium mining has some impacts, while the damage caused by fossil fuels has different impacts, so you need to determine some way to equate them, and that will inevitably a level of subjectivity.
I bought an E-cargo bike two years ago. Sold the second family car a couple of months later. I take the kids to school, do the family shopping. Lots of trips to the beach in the summer. Ive even taken a full size oven to the dump. Its the best thing ive bought in years.
That's absolutely awesome man!
I'm really looking forward to getting one myself. :)
How on earth did you take an oven to the dump in an ebike LOL
@DAMfoxygrampa He specified an e-cargo bike, which is a good deal more sturdy and has space for transport. You can look them up if you want to see how they can look. :)
@@HenrythePaleoGuy That's exactly why I'm asking, because I did look it up and it looks like you'd go all of 0km if you tried carrying an oven LOL.
@@DAMfoxygrampa Riese and Muller Load 75. Amazing bike 👍🏼
I liked the idea of talking about the impact of e-bikes on climate when you did this in a short.
It's obvious that ebikes are one of the best ways to commute when considering the climate.
Awesome, I always wanted a comprehensive look at this question! Thanks :D
I'm an Earth scientist and I love all of Simon Clark's videos. This one is no exception. I hope he makes it through this trial period and can continue making great videos long into the future!!
Hey, I worked on greenhouse gas Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for electric cars over the summer. I'm not an expert, but I can chip in some information here. In general these analyses look at total lifecycle emissions: Total Emissions = Manufacturing emissions + Usage emissions - Emissions saved by recycling. Electric vehicles have less usage emissions (because the power grid is generally cleaner than petroleum). However, because of the battery they tend to have higher manufacturing emissions (which is why battery recycling is so important).
There are a lot of potential pitfalls with lifetime carbon estimation. Keep in mind that the manufacturing emissions should include the emissions used to transport the goods throughout the supply chain. Additionally, there are a huge variety of different types of emissions which we need to normalize for the sake of comparison. For that reason we tend to use GHG100 or the equivalent carbon emissions after 100 years. However, there are a lot of assumptions in these models. What is the equivalent emissions of groundwater pollution? What is the offal fraction of metal stampings? How do you model the human cost of cobalt mining in the DRC? Depending on the models you use and how you run the numbers it's possible to get these models to say things that are not true. Because of this, you have to be careful about how you phrase your questions. These models are not crystal balls and cannot answer questions they were not designed to answer.
In general you do a great job of presenting this information. However, you seem to have hit one pitfall with the comparison of normal biking and electric biking. This is a very contentious topic, and I don't think you realized the ethical minefield that you stumbled into. For example: "If humans produce carbon emissions and we want to reduce emissions, should we kill humans as a part of public policy?" The answer is obviously no, but when you blindly follow these data without looking at the broader picture you can come to these conclusions.
Life Cycle Assessment is interesting because it falls at the boundary between hard science and ethics. It is absolutely possible to make mistakes on either side of that line. Just because an assessment is mathematically correct does not mean it is ethically correct.
yeah, like are we proposing than people stop doing any physical activity because they will, potentially, eat more and thus "pollute" more ?
It's not even clear if we are, actually, eating more when we use bike a mode of transportation
You can nickle and dime any subject, but when you consider that being in the United States and one of the biggest emitters of carbon, any reduction in co2 would be welcome. The people driving need to ask one simple question, what do I really need to function in this life, if you only take what you need, we will all have enough. Greed is not good!
This is an awesome video, Simon! Thanks!
Was hoping for a deep dive like this after watching the short
Awesome video!
I LOVE your new video format man. You are effortlessly funny, and very informative, this style suits you perfectly. Keep up the good work Simon, much love!
3:22 really summarises what I love about bikes compared to cars, you bump in to people you know so much more often when you're out and about. It's great socializing
Another great video Simon! I live on the North Downs (for those outside the UK, that's the hilly bit of countryside to the south of London) and I'm getting on a bit. So having an e-bike makes getting up those hills a lot easier for me! I primarily bought a fat-e-bike to ride off-road but also use it for trips to the shops and visiting friends. I've also used it to go to the garden-centre and builders' merchants (for the lighter items). So although I bought it mostly for recreational reasons there has been a degree of 'creep' where it's displaced the car as it's just as convenient.
I've been gunning for an ebike for a few years now and would get one as soon as I could, but I live in a city that's too hostile towards bikes. The lack of riding and storage infrastructure makes the risk of riding here too high.
move to a more liveable city. vote with your feet.
@@tomo1168 Trying to! But moving is expensive and finding new work or even somewhere affordable to live is difficult.
Advocate for more bike lanes in your city! My city has seen a huge increase in bike lanes this past 5 years because of advocates.
That's really sad though. Having an e-bike in a city that's at least somewhat optimized for cycling is absolutely awesome. I live in Munich, Germany, and can cross most of the city by mainly cycling through parks and taking other shortcuts that aren't allowed for street vehicles. It's far from perfect (we look envious to the Netherlands), but it's soooo good!
Ride like you own the road, I ride a FACARE E-bike it has almost 2K on it. It will do 28 mph and I ride the street as well as the bike lanes. You will kick yourself for not getting one sooner. Your bank account will thank you. You can reconnect with you fellow human beings. I laugh every time I hear someone complain about the price of gas. It gives me a warm smile inside.
Very well made video, you ask and answer all the right questions. I wish more RUclipsrs approached videos the way you did
im happy to see the stats on your latest videos:) and obviously loving the content of the videos!
Correction for 6:08: There's no Cadmium in Li-Ion batteries! There's some _Cobalt_ (in the most common NMC and NCA battery chemistries) but no Cadmium.
Last fall I bought an e bike to commute to work. It replaced public transportation in the winter (I live in Canada). I must say the thing is a blast to ride in the snow (I have got fat tire bike). It can really replace a car. I commute faster with the bike than any mode available.
Great video, it's really nice to see how these fit it! I already commute by bike, but my partner has been thinking of getting one. We've been talking about getting a cargo ebike at some point too.
Really love these style of videos from you, they give you a little bit more hope and feeling you actually can do something which will make a change
I was watching on Nebula but wanted to comment here.
I love, love, love my cargo e-bike. So much. My partner tells me that as I'm falling asleep I sleepily murmer "I love my bike..." 🚲 ❤
And I have to admit I've only had the bike for 20 days. But here's the thing, I rode it home from the shop on March 5th and it is March 25th today and in that time, I've ridden 98 miles. In the last 5 YEARS, I maybe biked 20 miles combined? And having the assist enables me to have some challenge by choice and get stronger incrementally, which motivates me to bike further and more frequently. Yesterday I rode 15 miles for errands and another day I rode 24 between errands and recreation, that I would have otherwise used my car for or not gone out at all! I'm also planning on trying out bike delivery because I'd ride my bike around anyway and this way I could get paid a bit. It's already made an incredible impact on my mental and physical health. It's cheesy to say but having an e-bike in a city with decent bike infrastructure is changing my life.
If an ebike gets someone out of a car, then the difference to a non-ebike is literally negligible. The emissions to produce and run any kind of car is so massive by comparison that it's barely worth talking about (though still worth thinking about).
Thank you so much for the informative video. You’re always my go to for learning about these things.
My sweetie and I cycled 4000kms tbrough Europe last summer. Most people are on E-bikes but at 58 and 70 we're not "old enough."😊
I don't often comment on videos but this is exactly the video which earns you a subscriber.
I unfortunately have never heard of you but will be following closely now. Pacing is amazing, information and sources are on point, build up is nice and I really dig the, sort of 'amateur' style, like bumping into your wife or just standing in the projector image.
For me my fiance and I bought electric bikes last year and I changed my commute from car to bike, been loving it! Living in the Netherlands, 14-15km single trip. We even sold our second car last weekend!
I love these "boot on the ground" style videos
keep up the good work!! great video explanation :)
I'm really glad that two of Simon's last 3 vids have done quite well (each over 400k views)
The biggest issue with ebikes is the proprietary nature of them, as it leads them to become ewaste relatively fast. They can't readily be repaired and are black boxes. (Bosch, Shimano, Yamaha, Brose etc) The DIY ebikes are great, but they are slowly being outlawed.
Great video Simon!
I've got over 2500km on my e-bike, half of that was in the Canadian winter, for commuting and I regret absolutely nothing!
I bought mine new, and it is still cheaper than a bus pass and twice as fast!
What kind of glove do you use?. I got almost 2K on my bike and have rode in some pretty cold weather but keeping my hands warm can be a real problem. If I had my way I would never own a car, they are such a waste of money.
@@user-rr3gj4nf9o for warmth, mittens are better then gloves, and I use snowboarding ones, because they are made for high windspeed
Great format and infos!
There's also the possibility for an electric cargo bike or electric eutch bakfiets (those with the long basket on the front) that are perfect for replacing car if you are alone and in need to go grocery shopping. They can usually load up to 100kg of cargo, so if you need to go shop *big* groceries you can avoid taking your car with one of those.
They're admittely pricey, but I think also pretty much worthwile.
Last summer I i went car-free with just an acoustic bike (and no public transit to speak of). I enjoyed it but it was rough, ngl. 😅 Got an e-bike just as the weather was turning colder and it's been a game-changer.
I still like to take the acoustic bike as often as possible; it's healthy for me, and I actually prefer the slower, more deliberate pace. But the e-bike allows me to get places more quickly (esp. bc I live in a very hilly area). It keeps me from getting all sweaty. Lets me take heavier things home from the store (or even bring a vacuum cleaner to a house cleaning client's house!).
Additionally, I know so many people who want to stay active, but just aren't comfortable riding a bike anymore (did I mention my city is ALL HILLS ALL THE TIME). Love that they can get out on the e-bike!
I bought mine used. I know that still doesn't completely side-step the problem of ethical materials, but given what I could afford, it was either going to be a quality-but-used e-bike or a cheaply-made-sketchy-materials one.
E-bikes are a relatively new market; I hope we can be wise about how we purchase them going forward. ❤
Thank you for the videos!
If you replace walking with a bicycle you will probably travel quite a bit farther than you would otherwise walk. Similarly, if you replace your conventional bike with an electric you may consume a similar level of food, but the miles you travel may be extended greatly. You may bike the same number of hours but still be replacing car trips
Wow did not think the ghg pollution of making an ebike battery would be the about the same as a steak.
I think it's misleading to include carbon emission from burning calories, as a person probably doesn't change their diet after switching to an e-bike. Those calories will be burned in other activities as people need to stay active to stay healthy.
And when you get fit, you dont burn those extra calories. As proven by all weight loss studies where people started running and the training intensity stayed the same. You get used to it and its nothing to you.
I believe the inclusion of the calories into the calculation is relevant for ebikes since if you went from driving a car or taking a bus or a train to riding an ebike, you are going to use an additional amount of your own energy compared to riding on the other vehicles, which will make you lose weight in the long run if you don't change how much you eat alongside changing to an ebike. And thus to not continually lose weight, you'll have to eat a bit more.
Also speaking anecdotally, when I started commuting on a bike/ebike, the amount of exercise I did outside of the commute was more or less the same as the amount of excerise I did before.
@@TheLaxOne I find it very unlikely that people will eat more if they start cycling, since the majority of people eat too much and are overweight already. Taking up cycling will likely just increase their health while the amount of food consumed stays the same.
@@TheLaxOne Yes, but my point is more about comparing regular bikes to e-bikes. I think the video praises the e-bike too much for it's climate impact, and it doesn't highlight the advantages of regular bikes enough. The conclusion feels to me as if Simon argues that e-bikes are the best mode of transport, even if you're coming from a regular bike. However, regular bikes have the advantage of not requiring a battery and making the person on it healthier, which I think outweighs the positives of e-bikes.
Side note: I also believe that in any climate comparison, the emission of breathing should be ignored as it is something that can't be prevented. Of course the diet plays a role in climate change, but this should not be included in a comparison on transport.
Side side note: it's a great thing that you switched to an e-bike for your commute, as it is still a far better option than anything else. (except the regular bike :) )
@@freddyjl Right, I do agree and think the framing here feels dismissive of regular bikes, but I also think that this framing also can allow anyone concerned about the added complications of adding a battery and motor to a bicycle to feel less conflicted about using an ebike if they feel that a normal bike is not a great fit for their needs, seeing that it's not significantly worse than a regular bike by these measures. I think many people are already aware of the advantages of regular bikes over ebikes, but I do think that Simon could have emphasized that if you're able to and are fine with it, do definitely use a regular bike for its additional health benefits and it not needing to use costly materials like lithium.
Side note: I actually only have a regular bike since I haven't felt like I needed my own ebike for my commutes and also because of the additional exercise, especially when I find it difficult to find time to do exercise outside of that. But I do very occasionally ride an ebike using my city's bikeshare if I'm not feeling quite up for a regular bike ride
Excellent, fascinating video. Thank you for your efforts at making well produced, truly informative science content.
Good work and interest about battery recycling. It's an area I've not been happy about till now. Keep it up Simon your efforts ar much appreciated.
Great video! 👏👏
Found you from your video about you potentially quitting and am so glad I did, hope everything is going well as this is such good content
Really nice to see you go into detail from different perspectives. Was really interesting to see you go in to lifetime emmisions
Lovely video, Simon.
I'd be really interested to understand the state of energy storage technology and whether it will actually help in the energy transition to renewable sources
This is gonna do well, I can feel it. Best of luck
Not to mention, with battery tech getting better and better every year, ebikes will become an even better mode of transport.
Yup or maybe even supercapacitors? For cars their power density just won't cut it yet, but I could see some interesting use cases for ebikes there. They don't wear out nearly as fast during charge/discharge cycles and can take much higher currents. So at the cost of for example 30% of the normal range you get the option to fully charge it from 0 in a brief period (10-15 minutes?).
Could even see some value in a hybrid system with some supercapacitor storage and a normal battery, instead of taking hours to fully charge a battery at a quick stop you could plug it in briefly letting the battery charge normally and the capacitor getting fully charged as it's parked outside a store you're visiting briefly for a few minutes. I guess it might be less valuable for personal ebikes but more useful for rideshare applications where you're encouraged/rewarded for putting them in a dock that charges them? The owners of more intensively used vehicles could value the reduced capacity loss from cycles as well.
Something that I run into daily, yet I have never thought about in detail. Again, another educational and thought-provoking video, thank you Simon!
this is really intresting and the kinda content I'm interested in great job simon keep up the bonza work
I just love my Specialized Gravelbike - puts a smile on my face every second i ride it. Would never switch to an electric bike. Not just for the environment but also for the fun of driving and feeling the speed produced by your own body etc... Rather carry a backpack to change my clothes at my destination then missing the feeling of having been active and in motion
Never say never. One day you will be old. In an aging population ebikes keep people mobile and active for longer.
@@julianskinner3697 Haha good point had the same thought couple minutes after I hid the "comment" button ;-)
me, a vegan, at 5:19 😄
.................at 5:33 😞
As a thirty year non-car retired builder, I'm holding onto my pushbike because I'm guaranteed putting it on trains. I use electric for hilly holidays in Wales nowadays though. Also, charging is an issue.
At a time where cars are on pedestrian pavements, I would still keep Ebikes and especially scooters off pavements, completely. They are very intimidating.
An eBike changed my life. I live in a very hilly area and I have two small kids. Before I had an eBike we just had to drive everywhere as the thought of pulling two kids in a bike trailer up the hills was daunting at best. With the eBike, we can make small trips around town (to parks, to the store, just out for a ride) that we never ever would have attempted before. Hell, even if the kids don't come with, I can hookup the bike trailer and do the big grocery shopping trip without starting the car. I love it and recommend it for everyone.
Bravo!!! you have the spirit. Take the car as a last resort. E-bike is a lot more fun.
After years of food delivery in my car, I'm giving it up; both car and poopy job. I'm hunting for an e-bike now. It's intimidating and I've no idea what I'm looking for, but exciting too.
I'd recommend looking up major manufacturers of normal bikes, and looking at their ranges of e-bikes, rather than dedicated manufacturers of e-bikes.
They'll have a longer term reputation, so for the most part will be using tried and tested components, and a bike geometry that works well as a normal bike...just with the added bonus of a motor.
And as I recommend to anyone wanting a practical bike electric or otherwise, get *long* well-fitted mudguards.
Basically a 20 minute ad for some bike shop in London.
I'm chronically ill and tend to have times where I can't manage my 9 km commute on an acoustic bike, which meant driving more than I liked (bus takes 3x the time and is not reliable). My light E-bike has been a game changer for me, as it reduces strain and exhaustion, but still lets me work out. After 1/2 year I'm so much fitter again, and the car is only used an very bad days. The E-bike has also helped me ride with myuch stronger friends without completely blowing myself away.
Battery manufacturing and lifetime is a valid ecological concern, but if e-bikes replace cars, it's more than worth it. Our town subsidizes cargo e-bikes, and many families are opting for one instead of a second car, which is awesome.
great video ! really apprecuarte the effort
Just the fact that one EV car battery could be used as ebike for somewhere between 50 and 150 ppl makes it insaly resources efficient
also ebike journeys displacing or rather converting whether public transport or car journeys is also good because for 1) fewer cars always good 2) fewer people in public transport makes space for other new ppl using it whether it's current cars users or just in general ppl making more different journeys
And even for people building and selling them, considering how many bikes you can build instead of one car, and how much profit you make on each, aside the crazy high end expensive cars, it makes a lot more sense to build bikes, i think this is going to help that transition a lot, there is money to be made!
We have some big channels saying we can't stop using oil. To quote Economics Explained, "It's too good."
Unless he's done the algorithimic play of changing his title and thumbnail by now.
Look up Gary's economics.
We can't. We can't totally and surely not at the present moment but that doesn't mean, by any chance, we shouldn't be trying.
We can reduce our use of oil a lot. An awful lot.
@@TheAllMightyGodofCodthe thing that bugged me about that economics explained video is it's titled "we can't just stop oil".
If he'd bothered to look in to the aims of the campaign group, he would have found that their actual demand is for the UK government to stop giving out new oil and gas licences, something that very much is feasible right now. Instead EE just lazily takes their name at face value and assumes they demand we all stop using oil immediately.
@@Boopop1024 thanks for using my comment as a way to express your views of the world and to pursue your agenda, without really adding anything to what I have said.
@@TheAllMightyGodofCod Whether we can or cannot is purely acadamic: in 60 years most easily reachable oil resources will have dried up, at which point we will be forced to stop anyway.
Love the vid man, the quality you create is just next level, big ups 🎉😂❤
Would love love love to ride an e-bike (called electric mountain bike in the Philippines), but my country’s bike infrastructure is basically non-existent, especially outside of the National Capital Region in the north. I live in the south island of the country and if I bike here I’m more likely to get in an accident compared to using my car for a commute.
One of the downsides of E-bikes is that there is currently very little enforcement in terms of the 25 kph speed-limiter. They are working on it in the Netherlands but for now there is a lack of enforcement. Especially for those heavier bikes such as fat-bikes, does this pose a risk to other road users, especially pedestrians.
since when are pedestrians road user? cars are allowed to move with 50 kmph, but bikes should be limited to 25 kmph? why? I ride my road-bike with 40 kmph on the road, not on the sidewalk. and my brakeing distance is much shorter than that of a 2-ton car. not to mention I see everything much better.
@@tomo1168Sorry, English is not my first language. I'm not talking about a speed limitation in the traditional sense of lorries and such. I'm talking about how e-bikes stop providing pedal assistance above 25 kmph. There is quite a difference between a human on a road-bike going 40 kmph and a fat-bike (3x heavier than a regular bike) going that speed or faster. In a collision, that's going to have 3x the energy. A light sportsbike going 40 kmph is not going to nearly do as much damage in such an accident. Finally, in comparison with cars, bikes tend to mix with pedestrians way more frequently in mixed use environments where mopeds and such *are* often banned, so there is a risk here.
@@2001Pieps my road bike is 9 kilos. my ebike wighs 29 kilos. but the energy on impact is calculated with the whole mass including me. 80 vs 100 is only 20% more. my ebike has bigger tires and better brakes, the braking lenght of my ebike is even shorter than on the road bike.
I know the problem with hacked ebikes riding 70 kmph, but that is braking the law and thus to be punished.
the insurance firm will not cover your costs if your ebike is hacked. here there are regular police controls in this regard and I see only occasionally ppl with hacked ebikes.
and yes, the police will halt you, if you're riding on the sidewalk here and you will pay a nice amount (~70 USD) so you will consider it next time.
@2001Pieps This is a good point which Simon didn't bring up. He may have been embarrassed to bring it up, seeing as how the bike shop that sponsored the video is currently advertising 500W "e-bikes" with throttles, which are basically just electric motorcycles. These clearly do not belong in the same areas as pedestrians and are a danger to society. They should be banned from normal bike infrastructure.
@@radishpineapple74 I think there is some nuance to be had in your final point. There is also an in between of electric scooters / mopeds, which may be able to partially use bicycle infrastructure in the same way as gas-scooters do now (at least where I live, scooters are allowed to use *some* amount of bicycle infrastructure). However, riders of these types of e-bikes should then be subject to the same rules and laws as scooters such as possible licensing and speed limiters, etc. For electric motorcycles, the same rules should apply as regular motorcycles, of course and these high-power e-bikes should be regulated appropriately.
the ethics around how the resources are extracted is really the main thing keeping me from really wanting one, much rather wait for more effective recycling systems to be in place before considering. but this is still absolutely something ive been thinking about and a very interesting video, thanks simon!
While the resource extraction methods are absolutely problematic, I’d argue that the ethical issues with buying and using any other form of transport are as bad as for e-bikes (especially for anything fossil-fuel powered).
It’s a choice between a lesser of two evils, but given the environmental and health benefits of e-bikes, I’d definitely encourage you to use one.
don't be so cruel with yourself.
Remember that Cobalt (the one that has association with human rights abuse) is used for removing Sulphur from Petrol and Diesel.
So if you have an issue with the ethics then using an e-bike is actually no different to using a car.
You can also get batteries that contain no Cobalt and are actually safer than traditional e-bike batteries. (Lithium Iron Phosphate - LiFePo4)
Plus not all Cobalt is extracted in the Democratic Republic of Congo by exploited workers. A lot comes from places like Australia and even the stuff from DRC can be traced to mines that are ethical in their treatment of workers, and that is being improved all the time.
@@tiepup yea LFP batteries are really good and use no cobalt or nickle
I've almost never subscribed to a channel after just 1 vid - much less in the first 3 or 4 mins. (I'm not an electric bike owner, or even a viewer of e-bike vids..! 🤷♂️)
This vid ticks a swag of key elements, for communicating relevant topical info in an engaging way. Not dumbed-down - not _excessively_ granular - not tediously indulgent. Great work, Simon! 👍🙂
Bumping into the rest of Family Clark was pretty damn cool too. 😄
Great stuff, thanks.
Hm, i don't think the math adds up. I most definitly do NOT eat 1600 kcal extra a day because of my daily two hours commute. I lost weight though...
And you will continue to lose weight until your diet roughly catches up to your output. The fact that you lost weight means you went into your energy reserves because you were at a net caloric deficit. As you lose weight, your energy needs will drop *slightly* due to the reduction in energy needed to shift your mass around, but metabolically your needs will be similar and you will keep losing weight.
Eventually your daily output is going to drop or your input is going to (slowly maybe, but still) rise to meet the new demands. Just because energy runs through a biological system, doesn't mean it's any less beholden to the 1st law of thermodynamics. Are bodies are very good at storing energy, these big buffers mean that you won't be able to measure or feel much different over short time intervals of a treatment. Over time, net effects become obvious.
@@Sprosbold sure, your maths make sense, but practically speaking for most people, losing weight is such a large health advantage that if you also consider the CO2 impact of the healthcare sector, you might end up better with regular bikes again. And that's even ignoring quality of life improvements. (only looking at CO2)
@@Simon-nx1sc that sums it up nicely. I am overweight and I tried to change that for a long time with now real progress. I simply like to eat to much. So rising my output changes my balance. And considering a VERY huge portion of the people in developed countries are (numbers rising), I'm guessing I am not the only one. Sure, an E-Bike has a positive effect in that regard to, but not as big and also in kind of a bad way as well. Less pedealed -> less emitions -> less health benefits. I simply think this should be considered in the calculation as an E-Bike might not always be the most CO2 effectiv bike. Also, an E-Scooter would be even better. 100% electric movement. 😇
Seeing the Boost fella take apart the motor makes me really want to learn more about the mechanics of motors. Oh no. Down the rabbit hole I go.
Definitely recommend it, they're really cool!! And not super complicated, if you can get your head around the link between electricity and magnetism. Bonus is that once you understand the basics of motors you also understand the basics of turbines!
Great vidéo! Looking forward to biking
Top notch video! Makes me even want to put more effort in changing my commute to my non-eBike
There are NO rare earth minerals in a Lithium Ion battery!
Really surprised by your error.
(and there is NO Cadmium in a LiIon battery 6:09)
Yeah, the C in NMC is Cobalt (Nickel, Manganese, Cobalt). I suspect he just mis-spoke, although electric cars don't all use 18650 cells either so maybe he's just mis-informed.
Older e-bikes from the 1990's did use Ni-Cad (Nickel Cadmium) batteries though.
There's no reason you couldn't use LiFePo4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) and avoid the Cobalt that is still associated with the human abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
What might be good to clarify is that while batteries don’t, some electric motors absolutely require rare earths
@@javonfair Some, but as far as I know the vast majority that are used don't (AC motors are very popular).
@@OmegaF77 Most of the EV motors are AC. Better to tell: I don't know even one that uses a DC motor. What you mean is induction motor, those are the ones not using magnets. However, ebike motors are much smaller and need to be power dense, they do. But I hear even the efficiency of induction motors are through the roof nowadays with new improvements.
@@tiepup The problem with LiFePO4 in ebikes is the power density. They lack. NMC is way more powerful that's why it's used in power applications. I won't go into C rates and these things now, but you could look it up.
I'm confused by 14:25: don't most ebikes still need to be charged? That still comes from (mostly) traditional energy sources like oil and natural gas?
Theoretically they can be hydro/solar/wind powered, but still, the efficiency of the power grid charging a battery to run your e-bike is still more efficient than the efficiency of a combustion engine.
@@sirjmo For electric engines you can do the math on which percentage of the energy is from renewable sources. For combustion engines it‘s always 100% not renewable.
@@Alina_Schmidt just because it's not renewable doesn't mean it's not efficient.
How much energy is lost between the potential energy and delivered energy? combustion engines lose about 50-60% of their energy to heat AT peak thermal efficiency. Meanwhile the powergrid loses a little energy from moving it, has inefficiencies in the mix of producing it.
But as I said before it's still better to drive an e-bike than a petrol/diesel scooter.
Excellent video, didn't expect the conclusion beating a regular bike at all
Thanks, Simon. Your content is some of my favorite on RUclips
If you want to get an ebike, go for it, but please don't get one where you don't have to pedal. Riding one on the highways would require it to be registered, insured, taxed (although the cost would be zero), have a numberplate, and you'd have to have an appropriate licence. You would also be prohibited from using designated cycle areas.
If you don't satisfy these requirements, your bike could be seized and you could end up with a fine and points on your licence.
Most ebikes allow you not to pedal. My first ebikes had that and it's max speed was about 20 mph.
@@stealthxg5045 Unless you rode it on privite land with the owner's permission, you were breaking the law. Also, the maximum power-assisted speed of an ebike is 25 km/h, so it sounds like you bike might have gone quicker than this. This basically means your bike would have fallen in the same category as mopeds/scooters, so all the same rules would apply (licence, CBT, insurance, registration, etc...). I also doubt your claim that 'most' ebikes are like this. From my experience, most ebikes are UK highways legal.
I'm an advocate for active transport, and we have to comply with the law. Mr Clark really should have done his due dilligence and checked all this out before uploading a video of himself committing various motoring offenses. I think it was a mistake to collaborate with Electro Heads as they're well known for not complying with highways laws.
That's why they need to be regulated, like they are in many EU countries. Motor can't go above 250 W, won't support you over 25 km/h (that's 15.5 mph), and no separate throttle, will only run if you're actually pedaling yourself. If it doesn't comply with that, it counts as a motorcycle where I live (which also has different classifications and various rules depending on type).
Of course, this is going to make it infeasible for lots of people who are looking to replace their car with an ebike, because trips would take too long (this needs to be solved in other ways). But that's the thing with ebikes, they're not intended as a more environmentally friendly replacement for cars, they're intended as a more convenient replacement for regular bikes. And you may also go a bit faster because there's no way you're averaging 25 km/h on a bike on just leg power (especially uphill).
@@ExtantThylacine I have an even faster one now that goes 40 mph, and I ride it in bike lanes on 50 mph roads. Cops don't care as long as you're in the bike lane. They don't need regulation, people just need to be smart with them.
@@stealthxg5045 Hahaha! I agree with you, but as history shows people are NOT smart enough. Like, we have a law to not kill. :D
Bit silly that everyone everywhere misses the fact that if someone replaces cycling with a more carbon efficient mode of transport (say 100% assist electric bike), then they'll probably have to start exercising more. There is a bare minimum that one must eat and cycling/walking is often the way (at least for me) to actually use up those calories. If I got an ebike I would both emit carbon for the electricity to power it and then I'd have to expend the saved energy anyways through some form of exercise.
exactly my thoughts
Super interesting! Thank you!
Awesome video Simon! Super duper underrated😮
I must say i hate the bike you tested in the video, not your regular one, the large tire one. There are more and more like these in Amsterdam as well, and they are just motorbikes, people barely pedal on them, they just push the gas, and go dangerously fast (and i mean, commonly significantly faster than the ~25km/h i can push with my legs on my "push" bike) on the bike lane, and the reason people don't even pedal on them is that it's really uncomfortable to do so, the saddle is way too low, your knees are bent way more than they should, and it's just plain easier to rely on the motor… until you get out of energy, and then good luck pushing that monster with your legs, you don't have a bike, you have an electric motorbike.
Good video, though.
as a vegan who rides an electric bike, i'll take my W, thanks
I hope you enjoy wasting significantly more water. Carbon for shipping you out of season produce around the planet. Millions of animals killed when fields are tilled and mono cultures destroying local eco systems.
Really doing a big W for the planet. All for your feelings we know.
What a great format, I really enjoy this style.
i loved the commutes in your vlogs and am now invested in public transit and altternate personal transport! video def hits the mark
I have an electric scooter, which has been a huge change in my experience commuting to work when public transit is spotty.
Love the interview while cycling! Great sound quality which is impressive
Outstanding video. Loved it. 🎉
Solid video Simon! I had no idea that ebikes would be so efficient, even compared to push bikes. I think the graph-y bits would be better with a green screen or side by side with a graphic added in post, rather than projected on your face