# Will electric/hybrid bicycles be the new thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 15, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-electric-hybrid-bicycles-be-the-new-thing/481441 "2009-01-15T16:09:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@No\_Wikipedia\_Cites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_Wikipedia_Cites)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-electric-hybrid-bicycles-be-the-new-thing/481441/1 "2009-01-15T16:09:54Z")
Seeing that walmart has an electric bicycle – a regular bicycle with an electric motor to assist or replace pedaling, I wondered if this method of transporation is going to catch on? I found out they sell much better quality bikes for just under $1000. Does anyone actually have one of these ‘hybrid’ bikes – are they worth it? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-electric-hybrid-bicycles-be-the-new-thing/481441/2 "2009-01-15T18:15:41Z")
This excites my interest. Can a headlight generator be hooked up, to help recharge the battery? ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-electric-hybrid-bicycles-be-the-new-thing/481441/3 "2009-01-15T18:53:33Z")
I can see them being popular with older, more sedentary people. I have an aunt and uncle who take one on the back of their mobile home when they tour and it works well for them. The closest competitor vehicle is probably a scooter, which is going to be more expensive and heavier. So I see a niche market for the electric bike but nothing beyond that - they’ve been knocking around mainland Europe for years AFAIK. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-electric-hybrid-bicycles-be-the-new-thing/481441/4 "2009-01-15T20:01:41Z")
I sure hope they don’t catch on! We already have an obesity problem, and now we want to make cycling even easier? Ha! ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-electric-hybrid-bicycles-be-the-new-thing/481441/5 "2009-01-15T20:23:09Z")
Electric bike? Neat! Do they come with a place to put the remote and the bag of chips? I might demand a recliner too. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-electric-hybrid-bicycles-be-the-new-thing/481441/6 "2009-01-15T21:15:24Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > Electric bike? Neat! Do they come with a place to put the remote and the bag of chips? > I might demand a recliner too. Well aren’t you a lazy bastard. Do they have cable? Oops. I mean satellite. ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-electric-hybrid-bicycles-be-the-new-thing/481441/7 "2009-01-15T21:23:04Z")
I have often tossed this idea around when I was without a vehicle. But, then is starts raining and being cold and I buy a car. :dubious: [edit] and there was some stink about 49cc limit too…and where I am there is no place safe to ride a bike other than a side walk…and any **real** distance that would require some electric motor has no sidewalks.[/edit] ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-electric-hybrid-bicycles-be-the-new-thing/481441/8 "2009-01-15T21:40:10Z")
My aunt rides her electric bike to work when it’s warm enough. I believe it is about 15 miles each way. I think she said the battery is good for about 20 miles. She unplugs her bike in the morning and zips off to work, where she plugs it back in. Over her shift, it gets recharged and she zips back home. It’s limited to 30 mph, so it’s considered a bike and you don’t need a license. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-electric-hybrid-bicycles-be-the-new-thing/481441/9 "2009-01-16T03:16:24Z")
On the one hand, we really don’t need this. I’m probably the physically weakest person I know, and I can handle riding a purely muscle-powered bike for my commute. It’s shorter than 15 miles, but I could bike that distance if I needed to. On the other hand, even if folks don’t pedal at all and let the electric motor do all the work, that’s no worse health-wise than letting a car engine do all the same work, and a heck of a lot less energy-intensive. In other words, people transitioning from muscle-powered bikes to these things would be bad, but (the more likely scenario) people transitioning from cars to these would be good. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-electric-hybrid-bicycles-be-the-new-thing/481441/10 "2009-01-16T18:02:44Z")
Actually, while they exist and some people like them, they have never really caught on. I think that they end up getting the worst of both worlds. The problem is that if the motor/battery is powerful enough to run the bike for any distance, the bike gets too heavy to realistically pedal unassisted for any distance. And, as **Chronos** said, pedaling a bike over most commuting terrain isn’t really difficult for most humans (particularly after a couple weeks of breaking in). The real barrier to riding for most people is psychological: looking funny up there in that strange position, and getting sweaty, and not liking the cold, and feeling inferior/scared. So with a power-assist bicycle, the people who actually want to pedal don’t really need it and are in fact worse off than with a plain bicycle because of the weight, and the ones who don’t really want to pedal are worse off than with a Vespa or other scooter because of the uncomfortable position and lack of style. Most mopeds are of course really just scooters with cosmetic pedals and not really electric bicycles. And, generally, I’d advise being wary of WalMart bicycles of any form. I don’t know what they’re selling now, but there’s a long history of big box stores selling really crappy bike-shaped objects, and not knowing anything about how to set them up. A good bike shop will not just sell you the bike, but they’ll make sure it’s set up to fit you, will be able to do yearly tune-ups, etc. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-electric-hybrid-bicycles-be-the-new-thing/481441/11 "2009-01-16T18:33:10Z")
This past summer I was pretty close thinking about starting my [El Chopper](http://www.21wheels.com/elchopper_ET.html) project. Someday I’ll get a round tuit. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2009, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-electric-hybrid-bicycles-be-the-new-thing/481441/12 "2009-01-17T12:05:41Z")
Electric PAS bikes have been pretty common here for about ten years or so. Despite the ads showing young adults using them, however, the main purchasers are far and away the elderly (most of whom have already been using bicycles for years) who need the extra help getting up some of the steep hills. From what I understand, the motor won’t do much if you’re not pedaling, but can be a significant help going uphill. Another down side is that if you use one, you’ll definitely need the motor when going uphill, as these bikes are much heavier than regular bikes; good luck pushing it back home if the battery dies on you. ETA: Basically, if you’re already even sort-of healthy or already ride a bike, they probably aren’t worth you’re time. ---
**Author:** ![HumanMonkeyGod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c67d28/32.png) [@HumanMonkeyGod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HumanMonkeyGod)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-electric-hybrid-bicycles-be-the-new-thing/481441/13 "2009-01-17T16:59:41Z")
I think so. Not too long ago I saw a video clip for a demo hybrid bike from Germany that went like a bomb. The motor assists the rider, so the faster you pedal the faster you go, up to about 80kph. I could go for that. But it looked to be way pricey, if it ever makes production. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-electric-hybrid-bicycles-be-the-new-thing/481441/14 "2009-01-17T17:13:50Z")
> [@Omegaman](#): > > Do they have cable? > > Oops. I mean satellite. This made me think of the Al Franken bit with the satellite dish on his head. Now add ‘riding a recumbent bike’. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-electric-hybrid-bicycles-be-the-new-thing/481441/15 "2009-01-17T21:21:55Z")
What’s the difference between that and a moped? ---
**Author:** ![edivincison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@edivincison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edivincison)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-electric-hybrid-bicycles-be-the-new-thing/481441/16 "2009-01-17T23:24:57Z")
Hybrid (rather than mere electric) bikes would indeed be the new thing – typically pulling a one-wheel trailer carrying a highly soundproofed propane or natural gas engine-electric motor-battery assembly in its basement. The advantage of this type of offset power generation/storage/drive system would be the possibility to be left with a completely independent bike after detaching the trailer (which makes sense because in summer you will preferably go to lake or river shores with mostly flat roads around). Once the trailer detached (and while you are trekking along the shore), the battery could be recharged either by having it plugged into a mains outlet or by the gas engine, or even by a solar panel on the trailer’s cover. This corresponds on the whole to the configuration of the solartaxi just back from its world tour (see [http://www.solartaxi.com](http://solartaxi.com), it’s fascinating). N.B. I’ve built 3 one-wheel trailers, one of which 3 m long (no problem with this length, just hook it up and forget, as the single wheel follows exactly the track… and just think of the 150 watts you get from a 3.0 x 0.5 m photovoltaic trailer cover!). P.S. I had a computer drawing of this project published in my local daily newspaper years before Louis Parkers’ world tour with the solartaxi – maybe he got inspired by my solar trailer idea. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-electric-hybrid-bicycles-be-the-new-thing/481441/17 "2009-01-22T03:19:48Z")
These bikes are huge in China, but then again those people have built cities around bicycles. (fenced-off bike lanes and special traffic light patterns for left turns from right lanes.) In China you’re also allowed to ride your bike on the sidewalk if there isn’t a special part for you on the road. With how unfavorable roads and laws in America are for bicycle traffic, I don’t really think they’ll become big. Btw, $1000 for one is a RIPOFF. That’s the price of a moped with an engine. The point of these battery bikes is they’re cheap.