There is a perception that reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is expensive (e.g., buy a Tesla) or requires sacrifices (e.g., don’t fly or don’t eat that hamburger). In the case of e-bikes, this perception is resoundingly incorrect. I bought an e-bike several months ago and have put a couple hundred miles on it (displacing miles that I would have driven otherwise). As I discuss below, the financial and environmental return on investment are excellent. Plus e-bikes are a lot of fun, lower the barriers to riding, and have other benefits for the city and people’s health.
Financial ROI
So is my e-bike just a toy, or is it a tool with a valuable return on investment (ROI)? I am on track to ride about 700 miles this year, which I otherwise would have driven. Each mile that I’m not driving is saving me money. According to the IRS, it costs 62.5 cents per mile to own and operate a private automobile. This accounts for all the costs like financing, insurance, gasoline, depreciation, maintenance, registration, etc. In contrast, an e-bike costs about 5 cents per mile. Note that the cost to charge an e-bike is essentially negligible because e-bikes get between 1000 and 3000 MPGe. I bought the bike for $1050, and I expect it will save me about $400 per year in car costs. I’m on track to get a whopping 37% annual ROI and a payback period of under 3 years, as shown in the table below.
Table - Return on Investment and Payback Period
Some may claim that the IRS cost per mile is unrealistically high. Even if I only account for the gasoline cost, which definitely undercounts the cost of driving, my bike is still saving me about $100 per year, which comes out to 10% ROI. This calculation assumes $3.80/gal and 25 mpg.
For context, the American stock market has historically returned about 7% above inflation (with lots of volatility), whereas my e-bike is returning between 10% and 37% (without volatility). Buying and consistently riding an e-bike (or a traditional bike) may be the best financial move that an average American can make.
Environmental Benefits and Payback Period
If the financial benefits looks good, the environmental benefits are even better. When my e-bike was manufactured, there were some GHG emissions released in the process. All manufactured products have these emissions. However, riding a bike instead of driving a car can "pay back" these manufacturing-related emissions because driving cars emit GHG, whereas riding e-bikes emit essentially no GHG. Trek calculated that a bike needs to displace 430 car miles to pay back the GHG emissions from manufacturing. I’m on track to pay back these emissions in 8 months!
How does an e-bike compare to other forms of transportation? Interestingly, an e-bike actually has lower GHG emissions per mile than a traditional bike. When I ride my e-bike, there are GHG emissions associated with the electricity to charge the bike and with the food that I eat, which allows me to pedal. If I ride a traditional bike, I burn more calories, which increases the food-related GHG emissions more than the reduction in the GHG emissions associated with charging the bike. However, bike travel, either electric or traditional, has vastly lower GHG emissions than automobile travel. The life cycle cost of car travel is 0.96 pounds of CO2 per mile, an electric car is about half of that, a traditional bike is 0.03 lbs/mile, and an e-bike is 0.02 lbs/mile (People For Bikes). For all the talk about electric cars, bikes and e-bikes have less than one tenth the carbon emissions per mile. We need cars and trucks to be electric, but we also need fewer cars and trucks.
Closing Thoughts and Other Benefits
The financial and environmental benefits depend on how many miles are ridden per year, and they can be even better than discussed above if a person rides more. I am on track to ride 700 miles per year, but that's not a particularly high number. Two of my friends bought e-bikes after trying mine, and they are on track to double my annual milage, which would double the ROI (20%-74%) and half the payback period (1.3 - 5.1 years for the financial metric or 4 months to pay back the carbon emissions).
In addition to the environmental and financial benefits of e-bikes, there are other reasons to love e-bikes. As with any form of active travel, riding an e-bike has the health benefits associated with daily exercise. Riding instead of driving also reduces road congestion, improves air quality, and drastically reduces the chance of inadvertently killing someone with a vehicle.
Denver's Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency has an ongoing rebate program meant to electrify many aspects of the city, thereby reducing GHG emissions. These rebates subsidize the cost of solar panels, heat pumps, and electric bikes. This is an excellent program in my opinion because, like electric bikes, solar panels and heat pumps tend to have good environmental and financial ROIs. To make progress in reducing GHG emissions, I believe we ought to focus on these types of win-win technologies and behaviors first, and move on to more expensive or difficult solutions later. Even if climate change were not an existential threat, I’d continue to ride my bikes regularly for fun, savings, and exercise.
Ride1Up Roadster V2 Bike Review and Affiliate Link
If you’re curious about my bike, I bought the Ride1up Roadster V2. The company keeps costs down by shipping directly to the end user; the bike arrived in a box and was easy to put together. It’s a Class III e-bike, meaning that it is pedal assist and the motor will stop helping above 24 mph. At just over $1000, it is affordable without being unreliable. E-bikes can definitely cost more, but I wouldn’t recommend spending less on an e-bike.
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| The bike came in a box. It was easy to set up, especially with my canine helper. Simply attach the front wheel, handlebars, and connect the power. |
I like that it is lightweight for an e-bike (a bit over 30 lbs) so that I can carry it up and down stairs. It has a belt drive system that requires no maintenance and will last way longer than a traditional chain. There are 5 different assist levels, and a display to show speed, odometer, and the battery level. It is also discreet. It does not look like an e-bike from afar, which may reduce the risk of theft.
There are a few potential downsides. To keep it light, the battery is fairly small, and the range is "only" 20 to 30 miles. I haven’t run into a problem with the range, but maybe some would. I know someone that ordered the same bike and had to get the wheel trued at the local bike shop before riding it. That is the risk you take with a bike that is shipped in a box, but it seems worth it at this price point. There are no gears; instead, a rider can change the level of pedal assist. This has not been a problem riding around Denver but could make riding up really steep hills and mountains difficult.
If you order a Ride1Up bike (Roadster V2 or any other model) through this affiliate link, I’ll donate the proceeds to the advocacy group "Bicycle Colorado": https://ride1up.com/?wpam_id=769
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