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