I started bike commuting and paying attention to ebikes in 2021. They were a rarity then, maybe 5% if that of the bikes I saw on local trails/roads. They were so rare that I knew one guy at my university as ebike guy because he was one of two students I saw riding them around campus.
This year ebikes comprise about 15-30% of the bikes I see. Lots of families, old people, and commuters. For reference, the market in Colorado has reached the point where $500 buys you an entry level ebike and $1000 gets a reliable basic commuter. A functioning used car starts at $3000-5000 and you can bike here for like 340 days out of the year while taking the shitty bus otherwise.
It’s a super exciting trend to watch unfold. Each is a car off the road and someone now personally invested in expanding pedestrian infrastructure. This area is so hilly and windy that it sucks to ride a normal bike around, but ebikes make it such a pleasant experience that I’ve barely touched my car since getting one.
I love riding my electric unicycle in colorado
I’ve also noticed this in Florida where more than half the bikes I see are electric and many more people, though still not a lot, use the trails to commute. When school was in session almost every kid around here was riding an e-bike.
The last 6 months I’ve seen significantly more riders overall than in previous years.
Locally, I sometimes see other ebikes, but see far more regular bikes. Might be a specific to the trail I use for commuting, which attracts a lot of people jogging and biking purely for exercise. I know when I went by my old college campus, it had a ton of ebikes. It’s quite flat here, so that might also lead to fewer ebikes. But summer often gets too hot+humid for commuting to work by acoustic bike unless you can shower there or you have a job where coming in sweaty doesn’t matter. We also get rain fairly often, including severe thunderstorms.
The city of Denver has been offering ebike subsidies but means tested and in comically small quantities, like a few hundred at a time.
