Much joy in owning electric bike

The world is flat! At least that’s how it feels when I ride my new electric bike home from work. We live on the West Bench, and while the hill is not large, it is still daunting after a long day in the office.

Electric bike technology is revolutionary. Not because it’s greener than a regular bike – nothing could be cleaner than pure, human power. An e-bike still needs a bit of electricity to charge. No, it’s because you can ride it farther, faster and more often. It doesn’t replace a bike, it replaces a car.

Before I had an e-bike, I would load my regular bike on the roof of the car, drive to a trailhead, and then go for a ride. Now I put the bike on maximum boost, zip across town in five minutes, and then dial it back and go for a leisurely ride once I’m off the road. My wife enjoys her e-bike so much she rides it to work year round.

The only real downside to e-bikes is the cost. Because they include a motor and fairly large battery, they generally start at a few thousand dollars. Thankfully subsidies are available. Mine was purchased through the provincial Scrap-it program, which provides vouchers toward an ebike or electric car when a fossil-fuel-burning car is retired from service.

With COVID-19 disrupting bus services, and people finding themselves with extra leisure time, 2020 has been a boom year for cycling. Sales of bicycles are up 60% across Canada, and local bike shops have been run off their feet. I’ve never seen more bikes around Penticton.

But while many cities around the world have been closing traffic lanes to make space for the shift to bikes, so far we have not seen any changes in Penticton. This week I watched two children ride down the sidewalk on Wade Avenue while their mother rode on the street, shielding them with her body. Although Wade Avenue was designated as a bicycle route in 2012, no physical improvements have been made.

When I ride my bike to work, I sometimes encounter aggressive behaviour from drivers. The irony is, I may be taking up the edge of one lane, but if I drove my car I’d be taking up the whole lane. Every adult on a bicycle is one car off the road, which means the remaining cars get to their destinations faster and more smoothly.

Some days that car is me. A low-carbon lifestyle requires variety, which means some trips make sense on foot, some on a bike, some in a car. An electric bike pushes the practical threshold for bicycle trips much further, meaning I get a bit more exercise, more fresh air, and produce far fewer carbon emissions.

All thanks to the flat earth.

Chris Allen is an architect and father of three teenagers. He lives in Penticton in a small house with a big yard.