I hate these methods of grants. I only get $500 for a bike but if I want an electric car suddenly the government hands me $4000? So stupid. $500 buys you half of an entry level e bike. $4000 buys you four of them. If they want to actually make a dent in emissions, just give everyone the $4000.
It's certainly more complicated but I think it's better overall. I bought myself an Ebike without a grant as a substitute for my gas car for runs around the neighborhood. Because of the high gas prices in the US it's possible that i've paid off a significant amount of that bike just in the last four months.
I started just using in for just errands that are maybe less than 3-5 miles around my house but I sat down the other day and realized that I've only used my car once in the last two months. I imagine though in the winter my car usage will increase (seattle so rain, gloom, early sunsets, etc.)
Indeed. A shitload simpler just to drop the VAT on E-bikes to zero for the first $1000 of value. But that wouldn't "create jobs" -- in the bureaucracy.
Just a quibble: the only available $1000 ebikes are cheap junk. In the US, Rad Power are the cheapest decent ebikes and you're looking at 1500-2000 for them.
I'm more peeved about the regulation preventing higher power faster ebikes from being used.
25 kph pedelec with 250W engine. Yeah, except I can go faster than that on a standard bike. (But ebike is somewhat heavier.)
Mostly because that's almost indistinguishable from an electric scooter, just slower.
My Rad Power Bike seems very decent for 2k. It's heavy as all hell etc. But for your average user it looks like a nice price/quality tradeoff. Regarding power, my understanding is that in many place that is regulated. My Rad is 750w and has pedal assist. 750w seems a little underpowered in hilly seattle but I could also afford to lose more than a few pounds so hopefully down the line it will be perfectly fine (It can get me up all but the steepest grades).
