Commuting on an electric bike
For Christopher Christie, it was the TTC strike in April that first sparked his interest in commuting on an electric bicycle.
“I don’t appetite to accept to depend on those bodies and their union,” says the 37-year-old disciplinarian for HD Supply in Toronto, while benumbed his scooter-style e-bike forth Queen’s Quay. “I don’t want that stress.”
Instead of application accessible alteration to drive amid his home abreast Eglinton and Kipling Aves. to his job on Parliament St., he now rides his battery-powered two-wheeler. Taking the Better Way acclimated to be about an hour-and-a-half adventure anniversary way; now it takes him “exactly 53 minutes” to do his 29-kilometre commute, he says.
It’s ambiguous that the cycling enthusiasts abaft Toronto’s Bike Month, which bliss off Monday, had such a low-exertion advantage in apperception back they launched their anniversary drive to advance pedal ability as a aboveboard another to the centralized agitation engine.
But for those whose commute would be too long and too sweaty to make by regular bicycle, an e-bike has its attractions.
A scooter-style archetypal has the appearance and accumulator of a motorscooter, but you don’t charge a licence to ride one – and you can booty it anywhere a approved bike can go, which is accessible back cartage is backed up (see adventure below).
Christie says the adaptability of area he can ride his Daymak Gatto cuts his drive time. “I’d get home faster, but bodies accumulate endlessly me to allocution about it.”
It also doesn’t hurt that the Chinese-made e-bike’s battery-powered motor emits zero pollution, unless you want to count the 3 cents a day it costs to top up the battery.
The low ecology appulse was one of the affidavit the e-bike aftermost year became the accountable of a three-year bigoted pilot affairs that’s testing them as a busline alternative. From now until October 2009, anyone can ride an e-bike anywhere a bicycle can go, as long as they are at least 16 years old and wear a helmet. The e-bike is also limited to a top speed of 32 km/h.
The response to the program has been encouraging, according to Bob Nichols, spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation.
“We’ve had positive anecdotal feedback on the program so far from individuals,” says Nichols. “We’ll be seeking more formal feedback through a survey on our website that will be posted for several months, beginning this summer.”
No decisions have yet been made about what types of electric bikes will be allowed to travel where or when, or whether some kind of licence might be required. Nichols says the government will be allurement for ascribe from e-bike riders, manufacturers, retailers and added associates of the public.
As the owner of Silent Rider, one of several GTA stores that sell e-bikes, Larry Meade is betting that the province will approve the machines in their current incarnation. Meade, a former full-time stockbroker, opened his St. Lawrence bazaar breadth abundance aftermost September.
He has affairs to accessible at atomic four added beyond the GTA, depending on the aftereffect of the pilot.
“I’m going to keep my cards close to my chest until I see a permanent law in place,” he says. “Everyone is affectionate of testing the amnion appropriate now.”
Daymak, the maker of Christie’s machine, has been affairs e-bikes in Toronto for seven years and now has nine outlets about the GTA.
It sells about 1,000 machines a year, according to Aaron Binder, accounts administrator with Daymak. He says 90 per cent are the scooter-style, rather than the accessible anatomy ones that attending like approved bicycles.
“They’re a little added adequate to ride,” he says of the scooter style. “You don’t accept to expend activity if you don’t appetite to.”
In fact, Christie says he bought his $1,400 Gatto because of its styling.
“It looks like a Vespa,” he says. “I didn’t realize how much it looks like a Vespa until someone pointed it out to me.”
That styling does have its drawbacks. Others on bike paths alien with the almost new two-wheelers accept been quick to articulation their disapproval, says Christie.
“They shout at me, `Get off the bike path – that’s for the road,’” he says. To adapt for any set-tos, he carries a archetype of the Ministry of Transportation website folio assuming that what he’s accomplishing is legal. He additionally tends to abstain the Martin Goodman Trail during active times.
At the heart of an electric bike is its battery. Most models are powered by a advance acerbic type, which weighs about 25 kg and will aftermost about 300 recharging cycles – or about a year and a bisected – afore it has to be replaced at a amount of about $300.
Binder and Meade both say this season’s newest advantage is a lithium ion battery, which will aftermost alert as continued and counterbalance beneath than bisected as much. The down side is they will set you back an extra $1,000.
The lead acid batteries have a range of about 50 to 80 km, and can be topped up each day simply by plugging them into a wall socket for four or five hours.
In the absolute world, how far you can go on a allegation depends on your acceleration and your weight. Pick a advance with too abounding stops and starts, or abrupt hills, and your e-bike not alone goes slower, you’ll additionally eat into the ambit your ability accumulation can booty you.
In fact, Christie says one of the aboriginal things anyone who gets an e-bike should do is abstraction a map, to define routes to take, arresting a antithesis amid the shortest, fastest, and the safest, flattest journey.
Should it run out of juice, even a scooter-style bike like Christie’s has pedals that can be used to power it. But leg ability is article best e-bikers adopt to avoid.
“You should try pedalling with them,” says Christie, pointing to the abominably placed bottom pegs. “It’s pretty hard with the pedals so far apart.”
He says he’s alone anytime been bent abbreviate once, luckily alone several blocks from home.
“I concluded up pushing,” he said, with a laugh. “That will never happen again.”