E-Bikes + Car share

[Inund8]

My wife and I are looking to replace our car with a couple of E-Bikes, supplemented by a car share. I've been looking at the Surface 604 Shred for my 15km commute, and the Pedego Stretch for my wife, who has a shorter ride and needs a more laid back bike.
We also have a bike trailer, and we're planning on using the car share for visiting family.

I'm also wondering about:
-Charging considerations (a sales person said you can't leave them to charge unattended/overnight?)
-How do they handle winter? We live in a part of a where it gets to -20 C a couple times each winter. Our bikes will be kept indoors.

 

[ebikemom]

A simple outlet timer solves the charging overnight problem. Set the timer for the number of hours you think it will take to charge. Plenty of folks just leave the charger plugged in all night, but it makes sense to me to use a timer that shuts it all off.
Winter--do you plan to ride in the snow? My only winter concerns would be battery life (batteries want to be in a temp range comfortable for their human owners, from sweater-weather to swimsuit-weather). There are people who ride their bikes in snow (I know of a Minnesotan who doesn't have a car and rides her ebike all year round), but I'm not sure if I'm that brave.

I tried the Pedego Stretch and liked it alot, but was concerned about the weight of a cargo bike. The weight doesn't matter, though, if you don't need to lift it!!!

This summer we sure didn't need two cars--have been riding our bikes so much! Let us know what you buy, how you like them, and how you like the 1car+2ebikes+carshare life!

 

[Inund8]

In the past when I've had more reasonable commutes I've ridden my bike in the winter without any issues. Is it much different riding an e-bike in the winter?
Also, we'll be selling our car

 

[rich c]

If you go with a Bosch mid drive, their chargers completely shut off at full charge. But the sales person may have been talking about fire hazards during a normal charge. Quite a lot of warnings out there like that. Depending on the charger, charge time could be around 3-4 hours. Unless you work really late, should easily be recharged before bed. How do they handle in winter? Battery range will drop to nearly half in that bitter cold. I single trail ride down to 20 deg. F, but I'm too old so I run out of juice before the battery does. Otherwise it's like a normal bike in winter. You'll need studs to ride on ice and frozen snow. Salt and salty slush is hard on any bike, and I refuse to hose off my Haibikes. Likely that's okay, but I don't like to chance it. I bring out my beater Sondors Fat bikes in the winter when it gets sloppy. Lots of difference when abusing a $500 eBike compared to a $3500 eBike.