How much has your ebike replaced your car?

Ebikes won't change our car habits. It's brutal around here in the winter, no way will I use an eBike for transportation. Same for the heat and humidity today. Heat index of 103 F today. I have to wear so much gear to stay warm in the winter, it makes going into a store quite the strip down affair. Add in the issue of theft of my bike if I leave it outside and I really can't see a way it will work.
 
Chill factor on the bike is considerably more than walking around. It doesn't get brutal here, but Ive been there, -58.
All ya can do is suit-up & pretend you're going skiing I guess. Even being a little less dependent on big oil means a bit
more freedom.
 
Since the first day I got my first ebike in early February, the first thing I do ievery morning is look out the window and check the hour by hour forecast. If it isn't going to rain or snow, I ride everywhere, unless I have to carry the dog or something bulky or heavy.

After I run my daily errands, which puts on 12 miles or so, I almost always go for a fun ride of 10-20 miles in the afternoon.

While not my initial intent, I have ended up driving my car just two or three times per week and fueling up monthly instead of weekly...yet another unexpected and welcome benefit of ebiking.
 
I'm glad I live in a climate where cycling in winter is not that difficult. It gets down to 20-25 F in the winter, occasionally. Mostly we run from 32 lo to 45 hi in January. December is often shirt-sleeve weather. February is jacket weather.

Summers, on the other hand, are hot and humid. The tropical moisture flows up the coast from down around Cuba and the heat indexes soar above 100 throughout most of July and August. We've found clothing that manages the sweat pretty well -- doesn't stay soaked like a cotton T shirt -- and just plan a cool-down period as part of how long a ride will take. In August we had a week or two with unpredictable pop-up thunderstorms once or twice a day and that cut into our riding -- there's no good way to handle lightning on a bicycle. One day I had ridden in to a conference downtown on the waterfront. There was a pop-up out on the river (which is a mile wide here where we live), and it chased me all the way home. I put the CCS in Sport mode and rode 25-30 mph all the way home, something I rarely do.

Every climate has its challenges and every cyclist has their own risk assessment. We're all getting the most out of our ebikes, I'm pretty sure of that. Who wouldn't want to ride when we can?
 
Our ebikes are more for exercise and recreation. The it cools down a bit, I'll probably make a few runs to the store a week. 100 degrees here today in Central Texas.
 
I got into e-bikes as a partial car replacement, and have been relatively happy with how well they work for me. I'd say during the Spring, Summer, and Fall I only need to drive the car a couple of days per week. Which is quite satisfactory for my living situation on the Edge Of The World.
 
This month I'm trying to use a bit more gas cuz I've got a 60 cent discount per gallon from my grocer.
8/26, I still have 3/4 of at tank from July...darn!:confused:
 
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We spend the winter in Santa Cruz without a car, so 100% EBike. The rest of the year, since retired, we have gone from two cars to one. We still do our major shopping with the car.
 
Greatly reducing (let alone eliminating) my car usage wasn't a motivating factor when I decided to get an ebike earlier this year.
But, I did start out at the purchase decision, anticipating that I would commute to work whenever possible/practical (ie, when the morning temp is above freezing, and it is not raining heavier than a sprinkle at that time.)
In that regard, it has replaced 49 office commutes since starting in April, eliminating about 655 car miles so far. All the other ~1,600 biked miles I've accumulated this year are either for fun or for exercise riding -- they're not miles I would have otherwise covered in a car.
I'm still working on getting "organized" enough (ie, mostly advance planning and forethought) to start making more frequent, yet smaller, bike-limited grocery runs on the ride home from work (vs. making a bigger shopping load via car every 8-10 days.)
 
My bike was bought for commuting, a 20 mile round trip each day with an elevation gain of 817 ft. on the way to work and 1189 ft. on the way back. Yep, hilly and hence the e-bike. I have not driven to work since mid April - it is now almost end of August. According to Strava, with occasional cycling at the weekend, I have traveled 1,343 miles this year as of this posting. I typically stop around November as it gets too dark to be safe here in Seattle. I'm not looking forward to getting back in the car and sitting in traffic again come November.
 
I love a good zombie thread.
Regular cycling had already long replaced my commute car trips. New to e-bikes, I got one in late March this year after maybe a hundred workdays in a row of cycle commuting; it had been several months since I'd had to use the car due to perhaps a required distant meeting or when the snow was too deep. Even living in snowy mountains, I cycle commute most winter days. I got the e-bike out of curiosity and enthusiasm for all things cycling.

The main thing the e-bike changed from regular cycle-commuting was choice: I climb a steep canyon on the homeward commute it surprised me to notice I usually ride just as hard on the e-bike. Often I ride harder aerobically on the e-bike (hitting/sustaining higher heart rate, getting that ragged aerobic burn) because I don't feel I have to conserve my physical energy as much to make the climb. Or if I don't feel like it that day I can take it easy on the climb. One the e-bike, the climb commute home is shorter in duration (since faster) so maybe I'm not getting as much workout in quantity.
 
stw said:
for those of us without the NYT subscription, let us know what the best and worst cities are. thanks
Click to expand...
The info you are looking for is right there in plain sight on your own post in the graphic in the link box. Don't click on it, just zoom in.
 
Bicycling has always been recreation, exercise for me, except for a five-year period where I commuted to work on the bike otherwise the bike/e bike is recreation. So, no impact on my car or motor motorcycle riding.
 
My cars are on battery tenders so they don't go dead. I drove the car yesterday but only to put gas in it so I can take a long trip into the mountains today where friends are camping on a boat. Next month I'll drive again to take my camping gear and bike up to the Wishon Reservoir area, where I'll use it to carry campfire wood back, and do some riding - on a road I wouldn't drive on.

www.gribblenation.org

The Sierran Death Highway, Blackrock Road

Back in 2016 I was pursuing dangerousroads.org looking for a interesting paved road akin to Kaiser Pass Road and Mineral King Road both whic...
www.gribblenation.org www.gribblenation.org

I've always been a commuter/utility rider and not a recreational rider. Rain or shine. Supposed to be 106 fahrenheit today. I can work around that, and the winters here only get down into the 30's at worst. I try and keep from driving more than a day or two a month. If I'm riding, I'm exercising.
 
Alaskan said:
The info you are looking for is right there in plain sight on your own post in the graphic in the link box. Don't click on it, just zoom in.
Click to expand...
thanks--doesn't show on my desktop screen but if I open this EBR page on my phone I'm able to zoom it enough.

Interesting list. Guessing their criteria from the list but I'd guess they're weighting not just a city's positive cycle qualities but their miserableness of care use there. In other words, a city high on the list might only have average cycling advantages but if it makes using a car there miserable, that increases the relative value of carlessness.
 
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10,611 miles on my e-bike since 10-2020

3,890 miles on my car in the same time frame. 1,400 miles of that was 2 round trip drives from L.A. to Phoenix for family emergency’s
 
stw said:
thanks--doesn't show on my desktop screen but if I open this EBR page on my phone I'm able to zoom it enough.

Interesting list. Guessing their criteria from the list but I'd guess they're weighting not just a city's positive cycle qualities but their miserableness of care use there. In other words, a city high on the list might only have average cycling advantages but if it makes using a car there miserable, that increases the relative value of carlessness.
Click to expand...
One of the main criteria was actually the weather. Not much about the infrastructure which is of more interest to me.
 
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