How many people use their e-bike as their sole form of transport?

[Ultra Motor]

I have given back my keys for the company car and decided to use as much as possible my e-bike, the train and when required the City Car Club.

Does anyone else use mainly an e-bike? I am interested in your experiences?

 

[rosjen]

for the last 4 months my ebike has replaced my now sorn car. Still have the wife's car for those needy times.

 

[overlander]

Not much experience but only on my second week, using the Trek. Decided to lose weight hence cycle to work 40 miles return. So far i have not used the car once, i still need it with a 1 year and 8 year old to ferry about. But so far i have given in 4 times and took the train in or out on late working days. But surprisingly it is becoming the norm never thought it would be so easy to get into the routine. But it is tough when its howling down and you pass the car.

My advice is BE ORGANISED, the easiest way to spoil things is running late, you will curse not having the car. I get everything ready the night before, so that things are easy in the morning, leave plenty of time to spare, do not add pressure as you just cannot make the time up on a bike.

 

[Scimitar]

I'd love to shed the car and van, but living out in the sticks and doing the work I do, it's not really possible. Just now I'm going through the yearly ritual of getting ready for a vehicle test, tax and recently paid insurance.
This time around I really resented the overall cost of it.
Without a doubt, if I lived nearer to the major shopping centre, I'd be car free next year.

 

[z0mb13e]

I bought the Whisper with the sole pupose of replacing the car for my commute to work and apart from those times when the bike was out of action and a few days when I had to get to the dentist and didn't feel happy about leaving the bike locked up in town, I have found it very convenient.

I have been using the bike more and more for short trips to the local shops and even for light shopping trips.

As the Whisper is currently out of action, I am borrowing the wifes car and I had forgotten how stressful driving in rush hour is. The last few days the commute has been at a painful 20mph. Even slower than I remember. I want my bike back!

My 40 year old camper or the wifes car is now the backup transport or for carrying bulky items. Perhaps I should take a leaf from Fleccs book and get (or make) a bike trailor.

Overall I have traveled more miles by bike this past 12 months than I have driven - even given that I did a two week trip around the coast of wales in the campervan.

 

[lantus]

could'nt get rid of my car! 4-30am rain bouncing off the road,wind howling, totally wimped out ,then it dawned on me just take the car. try to keep to those
really lousy days apart from that its bike most days.

 

[Barnowl]

No shame there Lantus - I'm much the same. My car is very low cost and spends most of it's time on drive but invaluable when I need it.

 

[Old Timer]

Living very rural we need cars, we do use our E bikes to get out and about for some local shopping and PO (and also just the break that we all need away from the house now and then which would have been exclusively by car before)but where we are it wouldn`t be practical to get rid of our cars and besides we have kids that live over 100 miles away and local transport just doesn`t support us at all for those journeys.

I think one has to ask ones self "why would I give up using a car completely"

I`m afraid for us it certainly wouldn`t be to lead a greener life although I understand why others might choose for that reason. When the world gets it act together and we all are pulling together to cut down on gases then maybe then.

My take is, we recycle as much as we can, we don`t waste much and certainly wouldn`t dream of leaving taps running but do top up our fish pond now and then as needed.

I`m afraid that the big powerful companies and the government need to do a whole lot more before I would fall in line for the sake of the world rather than for our own savings.

Sounds selfish I suppose but when like yesterday Lotus announce their new sports car with a 5 litre V8 engine that is be limited more or less to a max of 70mph or there abouts like the rest of us, whats the point? and around here every other car is a massive 4 wheel drive monster that is doing something like 15 mpg!

No! I`m sorry, people can go on leading there life as green as possible and I`m afraid it won`t create anything like the results that they think it will mainly because the sun rules the world and I`m not convinced at all the global warming gumph. Next, the scientist will be telling us that the lowering of pollutants in the atmosphere is leaving the world vulnerable to cosmic rays or such like and we will all need to light fires in our gardens to lift the levels again

 

[Rab C Nesbitt]

Still have car as it's needed for wife to get to work and I use it at weekends for humphing band gear around.

However during the week I use bike only to get to & from work (probably 9-10 months of the year, 12 mile round trip) - the fitness aspect + not handing over £60 a month to the wasters at First Scotrail helps give me a glow on the colder mornings. I stop biking it when there's treacherous ice as it's the one thing that spooks me because of past experience.

I'm also lucky as my work has an underground car park where bikes can be stashed and also a small room for changing - I know that not everyone has this luxury and I really appreciate it

 

[overlander]

I certainly do not do it for a greener life, totally agree when its a combined effort i might join in. I am only doing it to get fit, would never get rid of my car well i mean my extremely large Nissan Patrol 4x4, yes it does only get about 15-20 to the gallon.

 

[Grizzly Bear]

It's been well over two years since we got shot of "Gary the golf", but we still have Steve our motorhome, he's just used for holidays though. We've got big miles on our bikes, I really don't enjoy driving any more.

 

[rosjen]

@oldtimer I know where your coming from its like turning up at a earthquake disaster with a dust pan and brush

 

[rustic]

@oldtimer I know where your coming from its like turning up at a earthquake disaster with a dust pan and brush

......or offering to help clear the floodwater in Pakistan with a bucket.

I'm not really in this for green reasons, though everyone I speak to about this 'interest' seems to assume I am. Issues such as population growth seem to pose far greater threat to our planet than me nipping to the shop in my turbo diesel camper van.

Having said that I am now selling my camper van and am planning to be dependent upon my ebike & public transport for a while. It wont be easy, I have a 6 year old daughter & live in relatively rural north Essex. If I lived in the fabulous City of Cambridge I think I would have been far easier persuaded to rely solely on my ebike.

 

[Old Timer]

@oldtimer I know where your coming from its like turning up at a earthquake disaster with a dust pan and brush

I like it

 

[onmebike]

My car will always be my first choice of transport although my yearly mileage has dropped dramatically since stopping work. My motorcycle and ebike's are only for a bit of fun.
I'm pretty much in agreement with Oldtimer Dave on the green issue and am not at all convinced on global warming or if true, our ability to reverse it even if done on a global scale.
It's a fact that one active volcano produce's more carbons than all other sources put together so human efforts to reduce carbons in the atmosphere seem pretty futile to me. Its also been shown that higher levels of carbons in the atmosphere, as around some highly industrial Chinese cities has led to a greater growth of oxygen producing plant life in lake's etc. Which in turn burn off much of the CO2.
I'm all for recycling for the purpose of re-using the various materials and reducing waste, but it does little for the enviroment regarding emission's.
More vehicle's on the road to collect it, more trucks and ships to transport it,
processing plants to process it and factories to remake the end product's and who use's most of it? The Chinese, the biggest coal fire powered industrial nation in the world. Even green waste that's mostly turned into compost produce's more greenhouse gases. So, what is the truth? Recycling is big business and does little if anything to help the enviroment. I still can't understand why they don't burn most of our waste to produce power like one local authority I know of? It supplies hot water to the local community.
Possibly the best way to reduce the use of fossil fuels would be to use them all up so they can't cause any more problems, but aren't fossil fuels lying untapped below ground producing greenhouse gases anyway? Coal almost certainly does.
Trying to save the planet for future generation's is all well and good if we could trust them to follow in our footsteps and not abuse the good we've done. We can't even be sure there will be a human race in another few hundred years, let alone several thousand.
This planet didn't always support human life, there will come a time when it no longer will, like the dinosaurs, something beyond our control may destroy us if we don't do it ourselve's or the sun will eventually burn out and that will be the end of us anyway.
Who will actually benefit from sacrifices we make today? Assuming future generations will also make the same sacrifices? Nobody.
We only get the one crack at life so should make the most of it, if only in celebration of those whom lost their own for us.

 

[eddieo]

Like most on here we still run a car and also have a Motorhome. Wife uses car for work and I use a bike for more or less all local journeys. it is my preferred transport as here in sarth London traffic is abysmal.

 

[Ultra Motor]

Not much experience but only on my second week, using the Trek. Decided to lose weight hence cycle to work 40 miles return. So far i have not used the car once, i still need it with a 1 year and 8 year old to ferry about. But so far i have given in 4 times and took the train in or out on late working days. But surprisingly it is becoming the norm never thought it would be so easy to get into the routine. But it is tough when its howling down and you pass the car.

My advice is BE ORGANISED, the easiest way to spoil things is running late, you will curse not having the car. I get everything ready the night before, so that things are easy in the morning, leave plenty of time to spare, do not add pressure as you just cannot make the time up on a bike.

WOW! 40 mile return, thats commitment! I had to pop to a family dinner last night which was 21 miles, and I think thats my limit for a regular journey (!). The roads round here aren't built for bikes...!

 

[Ultra Motor]

I bought the Whisper with the sole pupose of replacing the car for my commute to work and apart from those times when the bike was out of action and a few days when I had to get to the dentist and didn't feel happy about leaving the bike locked up in town, I have found it very convenient.

I have been using the bike more and more for short trips to the local shops and even for light shopping trips.

As the Whisper is currently out of action, I am borrowing the wifes car and I had forgotten how stressful driving in rush hour is. The last few days the commute has been at a painful 20mph. Even slower than I remember. I want my bike back!

My 40 year old camper or the wifes car is now the backup transport or for carrying bulky items. Perhaps I should take a leaf from Fleccs book and get (or make) a bike trailor.

Overall I have traveled more miles by bike this past 12 months than I have driven - even given that I did a two week trip around the coast of wales in the campervan.

Thats also an admirable commitment! I have just ordered a trailer in the hope of being able to do more with the bike!!

 

[Ultra Motor]

It's been well over two years since we got shot of "Gary the golf", but we still have Steve our motorhome, he's just used for holidays though. We've got big miles on our bikes, I really don't enjoy driving any more.

FAB! Thats great!!

 

[Ultra Motor]

......or offering to help clear the floodwater in Pakistan with a bucket.

I'm not really in this for green reasons, though everyone I speak to about this 'interest' seems to assume I am. Issues such as population growth seem to pose far greater threat to our planet than me nipping to the shop in my turbo diesel camper van.

Having said that I am now selling my camper van and am planning to be dependent upon my ebike & public transport for a while. It wont be easy, I have a 6 year old daughter & live in relatively rural north Essex. If I lived in the fabulous City of Cambridge I think I would have been far easier persuaded to rely solely on my ebike.

Good luck! We'll have to compare notes!