Power-assisted bicycles have existed for more than a century. While gasoline-powered bicycles are no longer mainstream, today, battery-powered electric bicycles are more popular than ever. Sales figures for e-bikes are significantly outpacing all other electric vehicles.
The results of the Can Do Colorado e-bike pilot, as outlined in an NREL-authored summary document, show that e-bikes can serve unmet transportation needs while providing a cost-effective and energy-efficient alternative to other modes of transportations. Figure by Besiki Kazaishvili, NREL In the pilot, participants chose to use e-bikes for 28% of all trips, many of which were made for access to employment. The energy savings achieved by using e-bikes instead of single-occupancy vehicles were close to 40 megawatt-hours across the program. The program-wide energy savings is nearly equivalent to the energy use of 1,000 average-sized homes for an entire day.