Move to e-bikes gains momentum
‘‘I have a lot of older people buying these, and more people are using them.’’
Towards the end of last year, Gordon Chamley hopped on a bike for the first time in 25 years.
The retiree from Whitby, Porirua, was taking an electric bike, or e-bike, out for a test spin around Wellington.
After an hour he came back to the shop, hopped off and bought the bike.
‘‘I just had a big smile on my face.’’
An estimated 40,000 e-bikes are now in New Zealand, and as many as 20,000 were imported in the year to October 2017.
That’s up from about 14,000 in the year ending November 2016, according to Statistics New Zealand.
For Chamley, the decision to buy was simple: ‘‘[E-bikes] are something that just gives you all the best bits of cycling, and takes away some of the hard bits.’’
Wellington Electric Bikes owner Cliff Randall has been in the e-bike business for the past couple of years, but has been riding them for the past decade.
‘‘I actually got into [e-bikes] about 10 years ago ... and this is a result of it getting out of control,’’ he said, gesturing around his Petone-based shop.
His sales have been doubling or tripling every year since he picked up the business. E-bikes start at about $2000 and go up to more than $8000.
‘‘I have a lot of older people buying these, and more people are using them,’’ Randall said.
Chamley bought his e-bike when he retired, and rides three times a week. With an average speed of 17kmh, he regularly racks up rides of 75km.
E-bikes comes with a battery that can be removed, and plugged into a regular power socket to charge.
It’s hard to gauge how far a cyclist can get on a battery – batteries vary, and some people don’t use the motor as often as others – but most riders can make it about 40km on a 36-volt 13ah battery.
Wellingtonian Bron Thomson has been commuting with an e-bike for the past five years or so, ever since her ‘‘bike geek’’ husband fixed up her regular bike with a conversion kit.
‘‘It’s a little bit shameful how I started – I live at the top of Brooklyn Hill. At the end of a long day, you don’t want to be going up a big hill.’’
But she doesn’t buy the argument that e-bikes are a lazy way out. ‘‘I don’t think it’s a copout, I think it’s an enabler.’’
Thanks to her e-bike, she cycled more than she would with a regular bike, she said.
Regulations on e-bikes vary from country to country. In New Zealand, they fall under the banner of a ‘‘low-powered vehicle’’, according to the New Zealand Transport Agency.
That means they are not defined as motor vehicles, and can be ridden without a licence, unlike a motorcycle. However, the maximum power of the motor cannot exceed 300 watts.