Pirate's Cove

You must do your part. Especially when you end up priced out of owning an EV

The incredible, Earth-saving electric bike is having a moment

The clean-transportation revolution won’t arrive by way of futuristic hyperloops, driverless taxi pods, or drones the size of minivans — not anytime soon, at least.

And while electric cars get all the hype, a game-changing solution to getting around without warming the planet has flourished right under our noses.

Electric bicycles of all shapes and sizes have whirred and zipped their way into the mainstream in recent years as the pandemic has supercharged an e-biking boom that was already well underway. And that’s a great thing, because while replacing gas-burning cars with electric ones is key to heading off global warming, research has found Americans also need to drive less altogether to avoid climate catastrophe.

Got that? They’re already telling government that you need to be forced to drive less, even in an EV

Transportation is the single biggest contributor to US greenhouse-gas emissions. And light-duty vehicles (cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs, not semis and airplanes) make up the largest chunk of that. Gains in vehicle efficiency are being dragged down by rising sales of large SUVs and trucks, while practically no progress has been made in reducing the number of miles people drive, Carter Rubin, a transportation lead at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told Insider.

All that makes enticing people to step out of the driver’s seat and onto a bike, bus, or sidewalk increasingly important for meeting climate goals.

“Cleaner cars are an important solution, but we can’t just focus on cars,” Katherine García, the director of the Clean Transportation for All Campaign at the Sierra Club, told Insider. “We need to make sure we are putting programs in place that really encourage people to take alternatives.”

If I still lived at the beach, I wouldn’t mind having one, though, I’d probably have a moped/scooter for zipping around, like I did even when I had my first car, a 1979 Trans Am. A lot easier to park it right at the beach entrance rather than trying to find a parking space. But, that was my choice. If I lived in a big city, I’d probably have a bike. It’s really difficult to do this in a Southern city, which is really, really spread out.

E-bikes have loads of potential to pry Americans away from their beloved automobiles, advocates told Insider, especially since short trips could easily be made on two wheels instead. According to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics, more than half of all trips in the US are under 3 miles.

It’s less than 3 miles to the Walmart supercenter, Lidl, may favorite Chinese place, and Bojangles, among others. And there is no way in hell I would bike. How do I carry that stuff back? Trying to deal with the traffic would be a nightmare. Would I want to do it in the heat of the summer? F no. If you Warmists want to do this, go for it. But, you can F right off if you try and force everyone to do this. Have fun with the hills.

The average cost is $2K, with ones as low as $1K. Awesome, eh?