The 21st Century Revolution: e-Bikes, Environmentalism, Capitalism, and More

E-bike technology, innovation, and global welfare

Photo by Makoto KASHIWABARA on Unsplash

Bicycles are over two-hundred years old and yet remain a staple mode of transportation across the world. And it makes sense: bicycles and other velocipedes are cheaper than automobiles or horses, easy to self-maintain (even with limited tools), and are capable of transporting their riders large distances in a relatively short amount of time.

But, in the United States, bicycles have yet to “take off.” Sure, plenty of people in dense urban areas bike, but the number is still minuscule when compared to the number of drivers. Out of the roughly 328 million people in the United States, 222 million drive cars while only about 47 million ride bikes (about 12 percent of the population). Compare this to the Netherlands where there are literally more bicycles than people.

In Portland, Oregon, about 6 percent of people who commute do so on a bike as of 2019 (this comes to around 22,000 people). This, according to the Portland Bureau of Transportation is an increase of 370 percent over the number of commuter cyclists in 2000. And yet, even as these numbers climb, they remain consistently below the numbers of bicycles on the road in other countries (in Germany about 44 percent of the population ride bikes and in China there’s roughly one bike per household — around half a billion — or almost a 10–1 ratio when compared to cars). Interestingly, Great Britain joins the United States in a low number of active cyclists — despite that up through the 1950s a massive number of Brits biked regularly.

People are beginning to bike more and, in the US, many cities are taking steps to ensure a safer biking environment to further encourage this ecologically friendly form of transportation. And yet the numbers remain incredibly low. Why?

By Tim Williams — originally posted to Flickr as Star Trek Motorcycle.2, CC BY 2.0

I have a few theories as to why bikes have yet to “override” the use of automobiles in the United States.

1. Recreational cyclists: have you ever watched the Triplets of Belleville? If so, you’ll remember the…