The power of ebikes
Ebike subsidy is a no brainer – why can’t the Government see that?
Blimey, do I love cycling. This week I’ve ridden 15 miles in my lunch break on a friend’s cargo bike, collecting second-hand garden furniture (I’m trying to cut my carbon footprint). I’ve also spent three hours after work riding off-road through Epping Forest with a women’s and gender-variant’s ‘gravel club’, laughing and weaving between the trees in the growing dusk. Add to that riding my cheap commuter bike across town with a heavy bag, leaving the bike at the station overnight and returning home the next day. Finally, I’ve also ridden my big pink ebike 20 miles back and forth across central London one day, running errands and social engagements in searing 30°C+heat.
Of all of these positive, practical and joyful experiences, the ebike is among the financially hardest for most people to access, with prices starting at around £1,000 - putting them out of reach of many. This includes the selfemployed, jobseekers and retired people, who aren’t eligible for tax-free bikes under the Cycle to Work scheme.
I also love my ebike, and how it takes me to places I wouldn’t otherwise cycle. With electric assist that activates when you pedal, ebikes have helped me ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats in nine days, and across hilly Cornwall laden with panniers. Crucially, though, ebikes enable everyday cycling trips. Research found with a national network of safe routes, one in five trips could be made by bike. With widespread ecycle access, it’s a whopping one in four. With 27% of UK greenhouse gas emissions from transport, 91% of that from roads, how much closer could ebikes take us to meeting our fastapproaching carbon-reduction targets?
We know dropping the barriers to ecycle ownership boosts uptake - and a purchase subsidy is a powerful way to do this. As things stand, ecycles are the only electric vehicle without a purchase subsidy, but they’re arguably the most effective – and cost-effective – at replacing car trips. A 2019 review of European ecycle purchase subsidies by the Bicycle Association found on average 40-60% of ebike trips generated by the scheme replaced car trips. In France, purchase subsidy recipients increased their cycling from an average 200km to 1,400km a year, and reduced their car trips by 660km. Many wouldn’t have ridden at all without an ebike. According to the Bicycle Association, ecycle grants would cut carbon at around half the cost of ecar subsidies.
The Government is now cutting e-car purchase subsidies and the cycling industry is, unsurprisingly, calling for money for ecycles instead. While there’s a national ecycle support scheme, with the Government funding ebike loans, and try-before-you-buy events, both powerful in boosting uptake, the scheme stops short of purchase subsidies.
Some believe such a move would just help wealthy people who’d buy an ebike anyway to save money, but surely the same could be said for electric vehicles? The current fuel crisis, and the cost-of-living crisis, show us how unsustainable our reliance on driving is, and how exclusionary – wealthy people own the most vehicles, and fuel subsidies disproportionately help them. By failing to provide cheap non-car transport, from decent public transport to a network of safe walking and cycling routes, we’re trapping people in transport poverty and preventing them from participating in society. During a pilot scheme in Cornwall offering free ecycle loans for rural jobseekers, one participant named their borrowed bike Gabriel for the almost biblical transformation it had on their life. I know where I’d rather my taxes went.
Not only do ecycles flatten hills and allow you to cycle without getting sweaty, they’re fun and practical tools. Anyone who claims ecycles are cheating frankly doesn’t understand them: you still pedal – and no-one says you’re cheating by driving or taking a bus. It’s simply the right tool for the job. If I hadn’t borrowed an ebike myself, and been able to keep it, I wouldn’t have one today. It’s changed my life for the better, expanded my horizons and given me immense joy. Imagine the impact it could have on someone who hasn’t cycled for years, who can suddenly get around by pedal power (or get around full stop) without the hassle and expense of driving. Ecycles are transformative – we just need to wake up to their power.