Why Should We Subsidize the Electric Bicycle The Case For EBikes

i hope you all came ready today to

answer questions for me

and for yourself my name is quinn

griffith and i am a fourth year

political science major at uc merced

speaking of uc merced thank you to

tedxuc merced organizers for allowing me

to speak to you today

alright so my first question is for all

of you

in the virtual audience i really wish i

could see how

all of you are answering but you know

here we go

let’s assume that most of you if not all

of you own your own automobile

statistically speaking approximately 8

out of 10

of you own a car some of you may own

even

more than one in 2015 the average

american household owned 1.8

cars you probably know how many miles a

year you tend to drive

good well did you know that the average

american drives 13

476 miles or 21

687 kilometers per year

on the other hand the average european

drives about 7

456 miles per year or 12 000 kilometers

knowing all of this how many of you

would substitute nearly 10

of your average yearly mileage by car

for an alternative mode of

transportation

if you’re an average american that would

amount to around thirteen hundred miles

that’s about three and a half miles per

day of the year

well maybe you would maybe you wouldn’t

maybe if this was provided to you for

free or low cost you would consider it

last question would you substitute 10

percent of your yearly miles

by car for a free or low-cost electric

bicycle

not to mention a tax credit for every

year you manage to take ten percent of

your trips by ebite

in sweden for example the city of

golfenberg

has offered free bites to his citizens

for six months

who promised to get out of the car at

least three times a week

when the six months is over the city

offers to sell the bike to the citizens

at a discounted price

to me they both sound like a sweet deal

e-bike

or bike i’ve always wanted an e-bike but

i’ve never been able to afford it

let’s face it e-biking is expensive

a good e-bike starts at around one to

two thousand dollars and a high quality

luxury one starts at around five

thousand

but what if we could change that reality

we all face

every year the transportation sector

accounts for 28

of us greenhouse gas emissions and the

typical passenger vehicle emits about

4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide

per year imagine how many tons

of carbon dioxide our atmosphere is

choking on each year

well thankfully there is action we can

take to help change this

we can take to the streets a different

way and change the way

they look by riding e-bites

so what are some of the reasons you

should substitute

some trips for an e-bike number one

your health they are not cheating and

they still count as exercise in a way

you wouldn’t expect

when i lived in berlin i frequently

hailed e-bike sharing programs and rode

across the city

being a cold city i still rode in the

winter a lot and i could still break a

sweat if i pedaled hard enough and had a

need for speed

a recent study published by the

transportation research

interdisciplinary perspectives journal

found that electric

bike riders ended up slightly edging out

petal bite cyclists in terms of total

exercise

each week the study notes that the

health benefits of using e-bites

especially when replacing car trips

should be factored in when considering

subsidizing e-biking

along with the physical health benefits

we all know that spending more time

outdoors is good for our mental

physical and emotional well-being so

even if you don’t use a pedal assist

bite

you can still reap many of the health

benefits of e-biking

number two supporting e-bikes props up a

smaller sector of our economy and allows

it to grow

as of 2019 electric bicycle sales

accounted for four percent of nationwide

bicycle sales

however experts read it this number

could grow exponentially within the next

five years

hitting 23.8 billion in sales worldwide

by 2025. subsidizing the e-bike industry

would pave the way for expanding bicycle

infrastructure in the united states and

beyond

allowing the fight against climate

change to expand and progress to new

heights

in addition new demand for e-bites and

bicycle infrastructure would create

thousands of jobs

according to market research firm ndp

group

electric bike sales jumped in astounding

91

from 2016 to 2017.

and another 72 percent in the following

year

to reach 143 million nationwide

not only this but businesses across the

country in bid cities such as

dominos in several u.s cities have

expanded their pool of potential

applicants

by providing transportation to their

hires with e-bites

cutting down delivery times and giving

economic opportunities to those who

couldn’t afford a car

subsidizing e-bikes will give economic

opportunities to those who wouldn’t have

had them before

decreasing inequality and improving

people’s quality of life

additionally survey studies have

indicated that

bike lanes which would be part of

subsidizing the e-bike

have a positive impact on local

businesses

if not subsidizing individual purchase

of e-bikes

governments can continue or start to

invest in city-owned and operated bike

systems

which a study conducted by the

university of pittsburgh

has found helps to increase property

values around where the bytes are

stationed

critical in this implementation however

would be electrifying these bike systems

that aren’t already

so as to encourage the use of these

bikes for commuting

taking cars off of our streets and

helping the environment

that takes us to my proposal as

americans

we love tax credits and abhor tax

increases

imagine you’ve received your government

subsidized ebite

but you wonder how you can receive your

tax benefit after replacing 10

of your trips by car with your e-bike

well we all have odometers in our cars

so why not add them to e-bytes

the simple process of adding this

odometer would create more jobs in the

private

and public sector as oversight would be

needed

as taxes vary by state region and

country

the specifics of this tax benefit would

need to be sorted out by locality

but i believe it could be one of the

e-bike incentives of the future

to get people out of their cars and onto

e-bites

so are you convinced if not

let me give you two more reasons we

should subsidize e-bites

a third reason for us to support and

subsidize e-bikes is for our environment

and climate change

ebites are more sustainable than cars

because they don’t burn fuel

and take less resources to manufacture

and power

according to a study conducted by the

european cyclists federation

produce just 2.5 to 5 grams of carbon

dioxide

per mile compared to an astounding 150

grams per mile for an electric

car not only that but according to

national geographic

motor vehicles produce more than 30

percent of carbon dioxide

80 percent of carbon monoxide and 50

of nitrous oxide emissions every year in

the us

that essentially means if every american

living within five miles of their work

were to commute by e-bike at least once

a week

it would be the equivalent of taking a

million cars off of american roads

additionally bicycles not just e-bites

help to deplod cities and make them more

livable

number four you know you waste countless

hours of your life each year stuck in

traffic

and how it affects your health not only

that

but you’ve probably heard it time and

again

how much traffic congestion costs us

every year

in 2014 it cost the united states

160 billion dollars

in the eu it often costs around one

percent of its gdp

or comparable feeder of 100 billion

dollars

these figures come from lost

productivity sales and more

last but not least finding a parking

spot

won’t be a problem with e-bites making

you less stressed

while also making the case for more

green spaces in our cities by reducing

parking

so what can we do now learn more about

e-bikes

show corporations that consumers are

interested in e-bites by searching about

them

researching them and maybe even by

buying one if you’ve got the means

if there’s something we all know is that

money

talks additionally call or mail your

local

regional and nationwide representatives

to let them know that the people

want e-bikes if we can prove to our

governments

that investing in ebites is the future

then it

will be our future and maybe one day

your government will begin the e-biking

revolution