E-Bike ownership and usage took off during the Covid pandemic as commuters became concerned about close contact and so stopped using public transportation.
Yet E-bike sales have not stopped since Covid slowed. Ed Mantaring, the long-time manager of Danny’s Cycles in Noroton Heights, says, “Before Covid, we sold two or three E-bikes per year. Now, we sell 30-40 per year.”
Photo from Uplplash.com and Getty Images
A rider with her e-bike.
There are many positives to E-bikes, yet one negative threatens to destroy their popularity just as they are gaining traction in the marketplace.
In order to help educate the public about E-bikes, Danny’s Cycles is offered an E-Bike Tech Day on Sunday, Sept. 15, at its shop in Noroton Heights. The primary purpose of the event was to educate the public about all the positives and show them how to avoid some of the negatives.
E-bikes offer an alternative for persons with reduced mobility, or those who want to get fit or stay fit, especially as riders go up hills. The bikes also offer a “non-workout” workout to commuters or shoppers who incorporate a bike ride into their daily errands.
Parents rejoice that they no longer have to drive their 15+ year olds (Connecticut Law requires a Driver’s Permit to ride an E-Bike) to soccer practice, school, or other events. They also appreciate that getting an E-bike for their teen is less stress-inducing than handing him or her the keys to a car.
And E-biking teens themselves have said they don’t necessarily want the responsibility of driving a car either. (This new generation — crazy, right?)
Perhaps most importantly, e-bikes are climate change-reversing. A study at MIT found that E-bikes are 18 times more efficient than an SUV; 13 times more efficient than a sedan; and six times more efficient than rail transit. Yet e-bikes are only about 12% less efficient than a traditional bicycle.
So what’s not to like?
Well, e-bike batteries, for one thing. Or so media reports tell us.
There seems to be a story almost every day about an apartment destroyed or lives lost in New York City by catastrophic fires caused by lithium-ion battery explosions.
In Fairfield and Westchester, parents and teens who shy away from the $2,000-to-$3,000 price tag on an E-bike will sometimes buy a bike under $1,000. Many such e-bikes are equipped with uncertified batteries. These are the batteries that cause the horrific fires in the deliverista community in New York.
Bicycle shops and Fire Departments in lower Fairfield County and throughout Connecticut are on the front lines of efforts to educate e-bike users in purchasing and using bikes with certified batteries.
More on their efforts next week.
Danny’s Cycles Darien is located at 1950 Boston Post Road in Darien, CT 06820