The cycling dilemma — e-bikes versus push bikes

A bicycle may be one of the most environmentally friendly — as well as healthiest — ways of getting around but at some point, you’ll run out of steam. Enter e-bikes, the bicycle that comes equipped with an electric motor to assist in pedalling. Users can pedal faster and harder, and it helps make light work of hills — of which Ireland has many.

In terms of pure sustainability, e-bikes do not emit any direct CO2 while in use, but carbon emissions occur during the production of the e-bike and battery — the European Cyclists Federation has estimated there are 96kg of greenhouse gases created per regular bicycle and 134kg for an e-bike.

Brian Caulfield is a professor in transportation and head of discipline in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at Trinity College Dublin. He is a big fan of e-bikes, and their potential to change how we travel.

“The bottom line is that it’s not a car, but they really do increase the range people can travel,” he says. “In our models that we would do for transport, we see that, on average, people cycle 3km or 4km on a return trip, and an electric bike can double that so it is only a good thing. Plus the majority of people don’t want to get off their bikes sweaty and all the rest and go into a meeting or meet their friends. These bikes stop that from happening.”

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Caulfield notes their growing popularity around Ireland, particularly the success of the shared schemes of which there are a number. He is also leading Robust, a €1.35 million project offering e-cars, e-bikes and e-cargo bikes for shared use in four tourist hotspots — Dublin, Galway, Sligo and Donegal. The goal of the project is to assess the viability of a national rollout based on community buy-in and usage.

“Electric bikes have huge potential to change how people move and we are really starting to see that happen.”