Are these things actually a net positive for the planet? Watch an extended cut of this video on Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/simonclarkCheck out Electroheads...
Actually mate, I know it sounds ridiculous, but it has been demonstrated that, statistically, because of the extra amount of calories burned and the pollution due to food production and transportation in modern times, ebikes are greener despite the higher impact of their production.
Of course the specific case can be different, maybe someone already grows their own organic food and buys an ebike without doing any distance that they couldnt cover easily with their acoustic bike, and then proceeds after only a few months to throw their ebike off a bridge (stupid example, but much more important when studying the impact of electric cars vs ICE cars, if an EV gets into a really bad accident or fire in the first ~20-30k kms of its life, then it would have been slightly better for everyone that it wasnt built, compared to an ICE car)
As far as exercise goes, it has also been shown that ebikes results on average in more exercise by more people, because people cover much bigger distances, and/ore use it more often, and because it allows you to smooth out the ride (making some roads, especially climbs, cyclable to people who wouldn’t have been able to do them with a normal bike), and to decide for yourself when you want to put more effort.
The person would still need to exercise by another method and still need to consume those calories…
All it’s doing is pushing it to some other metric to make theirs look better.
Sorry, it’s a shit take since people still need all of that exercise and food regardless the food still needs to be shipped, bike or ebike and supplemental exercise. You know what’s even better for the environment using this asinine logic, never leaving the house and having everything delivered, it’s someone else’s problem, just like using an ebike and claiming it’s better.
That doesn’t add up the way you think it does. An e-bike is still exercise. In fact, it’s pretty good exercise because for general health, time spent doing physical work means more than the actual exertion level of that exercise. For body building, you do need high intensity, but not for general health.
There are countless situations in which you can ride too much, or your cargo/baby passengers are too heavy, or the roads are very polluted and that extra breathing on that particular climb is better avoided…et cetera
Have you tried an ebike? My favorite bicycle is a 1980s road bike which weighs maybe 8kgs, but I know what it means to commute every single day more than 30kms with it, it stops being fun after a few weeks. My second favorite is my ebike.
Following your line of thinking we shouldn’t have lifts because people need the exercise. Do you know that a single flight of stairs with a lift uses as much energy as roughly 10km with an ebike/escooter? But you don’t see me or anyone else attacking lifts/elevators. Also to remember, the lithium mined or refined to make the battery, can be reused forever.
What does any of that have to do with people still needing to exercise and consume calories beyond what an ebike gives?
Putting the blame on something else is a wonderful way to make the point and statistics look like propaganda, which is exactly what this is bordering on, and your arguments are fallicous, nothing to do with the topic.
People still need exercise and calories, full stop, moving it elsewhere so one thing looks better, only shows your bias…:
Actually mate, I know it sounds ridiculous, but it has been demonstrated that, statistically, because of the extra amount of calories burned and the pollution due to food production and transportation in modern times, ebikes are greener despite the higher impact of their production.
Of course the specific case can be different, maybe someone already grows their own organic food and buys an ebike without doing any distance that they couldnt cover easily with their acoustic bike, and then proceeds after only a few months to throw their ebike off a bridge (stupid example, but much more important when studying the impact of electric cars vs ICE cars, if an EV gets into a really bad accident or fire in the first ~20-30k kms of its life, then it would have been slightly better for everyone that it wasnt built, compared to an ICE car)
As far as exercise goes, it has also been shown that ebikes results on average in more exercise by more people, because people cover much bigger distances, and/ore use it more often, and because it allows you to smooth out the ride (making some roads, especially climbs, cyclable to people who wouldn’t have been able to do them with a normal bike), and to decide for yourself when you want to put more effort.
The person would still need to exercise by another method and still need to consume those calories…
All it’s doing is pushing it to some other metric to make theirs look better.
Sorry, it’s a shit take since people still need all of that exercise and food regardless the food still needs to be shipped, bike or ebike and supplemental exercise. You know what’s even better for the environment using this asinine logic, never leaving the house and having everything delivered, it’s someone else’s problem, just like using an ebike and claiming it’s better.
That doesn’t add up the way you think it does. An e-bike is still exercise. In fact, it’s pretty good exercise because for general health, time spent doing physical work means more than the actual exertion level of that exercise. For body building, you do need high intensity, but not for general health.
What it adds up to is that e-bike riders tend to get more exercise because the motor lets them go longer distances. What you end up with is transportation and exercise being done together, and the extra calories don’t need to be spent on separate exercise time.
There are countless situations in which you can ride too much, or your cargo/baby passengers are too heavy, or the roads are very polluted and that extra breathing on that particular climb is better avoided…et cetera
Have you tried an ebike? My favorite bicycle is a 1980s road bike which weighs maybe 8kgs, but I know what it means to commute every single day more than 30kms with it, it stops being fun after a few weeks. My second favorite is my ebike.
Following your line of thinking we shouldn’t have lifts because people need the exercise. Do you know that a single flight of stairs with a lift uses as much energy as roughly 10km with an ebike/escooter? But you don’t see me or anyone else attacking lifts/elevators. Also to remember, the lithium mined or refined to make the battery, can be reused forever.
What does any of that have to do with people still needing to exercise and consume calories beyond what an ebike gives?
Putting the blame on something else is a wonderful way to make the point and statistics look like propaganda, which is exactly what this is bordering on, and your arguments are fallicous, nothing to do with the topic.
People still need exercise and calories, full stop, moving it elsewhere so one thing looks better, only shows your bias…: