The federal government’s successful incentive program for zero-emissions vehicle purchases is running out of money and not slated for renewal, much to the dismay of environmental and industry groups.
e-Bikes and e-Scooters are already significantly cheaper than even the cheapest new car.
And yet people are still choosing to buy cars.
It’s not the price of a e-bike that is the problem; it’s that you can’t get an e-bike that can haul around a family of 4 and all their “stuff” to grandma’s two cities over in a reasonable amount of time.
You can haul a family of four around town on an e-bike (it’s how I do the daycare run in the morning).
Intercity transit SHOULD be easily accessible by train, but we decided we don’t do that here.
People also choose cars because of marketing, the built environment which provides them few protected spaces, societal pressures, and decision inertia.
Many multicar families could easily swap a car put with an e-bike.
And the fact that cars are the only viable way to get to grannies 2 cities over, it a terrible indicator that our infrastructure prioritizes cars/car infrastructure/car related profits, through a massive pay wallet that somewhere around 20% of the population over 16 can’t even use no matter how much cash they have, and obviously the population under 16 can’t use at all.
It isn’t a fair choice when a province makes it illegal to build safe bike lanes.
I bet a lot less people would drive year round if it was illegal to have any windows or a roof on a car. A lot less people would drive if there wasn’t a road to their destination. A lot less people would drive if we got rid of all modern safety equipment like airbags. Yet we can’t encourage people to bike by making places where it is safe to do so without signifcant risk of an SUV running you over.
I put nearly 10 000 km on my e-bike back when I commuted to work; I’m very familiar with the issues around infrastructure, and am more than supportive of infrastructure improvements for cyclists.
But that still doesn’t negate the fact that people want cars. If they wanted an e-bike they’re already significantly cheaper than a car and they could just go out and buy one. Would more people ride them if we had better infrastructure? Maybe — but that’s an infrastructure problem, and not one of having an e-bike rebate.
e-Bikes and e-Scooters are already significantly cheaper than even the cheapest new car.
And yet people are still choosing to buy cars.
It’s not the price of a e-bike that is the problem; it’s that you can’t get an e-bike that can haul around a family of 4 and all their “stuff” to grandma’s two cities over in a reasonable amount of time.
You can haul a family of four around town on an e-bike (it’s how I do the daycare run in the morning).
Intercity transit SHOULD be easily accessible by train, but we decided we don’t do that here.
People also choose cars because of marketing, the built environment which provides them few protected spaces, societal pressures, and decision inertia.
Many multicar families could easily swap a car put with an e-bike.
And the fact that cars are the only viable way to get to grannies 2 cities over, it a terrible indicator that our infrastructure prioritizes cars/car infrastructure/car related profits, through a massive pay wallet that somewhere around 20% of the population over 16 can’t even use no matter how much cash they have, and obviously the population under 16 can’t use at all.
It isn’t a fair choice when a province makes it illegal to build safe bike lanes.
I bet a lot less people would drive year round if it was illegal to have any windows or a roof on a car. A lot less people would drive if there wasn’t a road to their destination. A lot less people would drive if we got rid of all modern safety equipment like airbags. Yet we can’t encourage people to bike by making places where it is safe to do so without signifcant risk of an SUV running you over.
I put nearly 10 000 km on my e-bike back when I commuted to work; I’m very familiar with the issues around infrastructure, and am more than supportive of infrastructure improvements for cyclists.
But that still doesn’t negate the fact that people want cars. If they wanted an e-bike they’re already significantly cheaper than a car and they could just go out and buy one. Would more people ride them if we had better infrastructure? Maybe — but that’s an infrastructure problem, and not one of having an e-bike rebate.
People know what they are getting when they buy a car, so there’s no leap of faith getting one.
That’s not true with ebikes or escooters when you’ve never used one before.
When e-mobility rebate programs come up (like in the states), the available rebates disappear faster than Taylor Swift concert tickets!