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China's New Craze: E-bikes
lawrencekhoo writes "I was in Shanghai recently, and found to my surprise that bicycle crazy China is now electric bicycle crazy. Electric bikes were everywhere, and outnumbered normal bikes on the road. You could even buy them in the department stores.
Basic
models sell for about 1200 Yuan (about US$150), and more
elaborate
scooter-like
models
for up to 5000 Yuan. Apparently, this craze has been
building up for a few years.
Something like it is even
happening in parts of the US.
According to one user, electric bikes are popular because they're cheap, and can take you all around town on one charge. Who would have guessed that China would lead the way in green transportation?"
Those look really good, especially for older people with reduced mobility (which seems to be one of their major target demographics). But what I would love to be able to buy would be some kind of hybrid model. The motor would reduce the exertion required, while being able to pedal would extend the distance you could go on a single charge.
I didn't see anything in the posted links that said whether they were electric-only bikes or hybrid, but it does look like you can already get electric hybrid bikes: Electric Bikes Northwest. I would happily buy something like that over a car, assuming I could afford either, which isn't the case anyway...
Of course China is paving the way for green transportation. Having enormous populations in congested cities with low average incomes is a great motivation to produce cheap transportation.
in China it's RED transportation.
Who would have guessed that China would lead the way in green transportation?"
Trading in pedal bikes for motor bikes, regardless of power source is not as green as a regular pedal bike. Also, since this is "green" I guess, I would imagine countries like China would adopt them first as there isn't any room for American style SUV's, right?
"If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer
Unlike most places in the US, many Chinese cities do not have streets made for large amounts of vehicular traffic, so bicycles have become important to them. Then, when you consider the cost of gasoline compared to the average Chinese person's salary, what's so bad about electric bikes? Besides, in a country of a billion people, if only 10% of people use this technology, that's more electric bikes sold than all the cars sold in the US. (Plus no required age to use one).
Green transportation? These things definitly aren't designed to replace cars. Look at the min/max speeds! And the comparison was made with bikes, not cars.
What's greener, a bike powered by human-power, or a bike powered by electricity (which has to come from somewhere....fossil fuels, anyone)? I vote human-powered bikes.
--
http://nemilar.net - Not your grandmother's soup kitchen
When I first came across this technology years ago I wondered why it didn't seem to very popular. I soon realized that here in America nobody would ride one of these because of the social implications. Your either such a lazy fat bastard that you need a motor on your bike or your too weak and pathetic to just ride a normal bike or your a broke looser who can't afford a motorcycle or car. Who is gonna ride even a good electric bike (which even now there are few of) with these sort of implications attached.
vampirical
Yes, finally China is making strides towards more pollutive transportation.
After many long years of primarily using bikes, they are now charging these bikes with power from coal power plants. Once a billion or so people have these, our green goals will finally be completed and mother nature will be thoroughly defeated.
Who would have guessed that China would lead the way in green transportation?
Not surprising. Now I would have definitely been surprised if the United States were the one leading the way in green transportation.
As electric bicycles aren't exactly what China needs at the moment, seeing as they need, you know, electricity. Most of China's electrical power is generated from coal in factories which have pollution controls making the U.S. coal factories look impeccably clean. Along with this the Chinese are becoming just as car crazy as us wacky Americans only once again to fuel their 8% annual economic increase they have instituted almost zero pollution control laws. Those shiny cars they drive may look modern but most are 20+ years behind when it comes to emissions; just take a look at the haze over Shanghai, it's like Los Angeles circa 1990. At their current rate China will overtake the U.S. as the World's leading emitter of greenhouse gases in a relatively short amount of time.
So like I said, not exactly leading the green revolution.
is ranked in 2003:
1. Japan
2. China
3. Europe
Gross rank is:
1. China (incl. Taiwan?) (500,000)
2. Japan (200,000)
3. Europe (10,000 and over)
according to this US dealer.
That electricity has to come from someplace... in China, that means mostly oil and coal powerplants with none of the pollution controls found in the west, or hydroelectric dams, like Three Gorges, that displace and literally enslave hundreds of thousands of people while destroying archaeological and historical sites. The most lethal dam disaster in history was a Chinese hydoelectric project gone wrong.
Electric vehicles by themselves are not enviornmentally friendly. In conjunction with strict pollution controls and smart energy infrastructures, they can be. That's not the case in China. They'd be better off with a reliable fleet of diesel busses and subways.
SoupIsGood Food
China was leading the green revolution for a long time .... With a lot of traditional bycicles....
It's hardly green transportation, not when the source of the electricity is coal and gas burning plants. All you've done is relocate the pollution out to wherever the power plant is.
It seems as if many self-styled environmentalists (who wear their badge in the form of an all-electric vehicle) are the personification of shortsighted NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard). They either don't understand that electricity comes from SOMEWHERE, or they don't care about the pollution, only that it doesn't happen where they live.
The e-bike has pedals so the rider can add power. Scooters do not have pedals, be they for children with roller blade wheels, or electric/gas models. The definition of moped: http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=mopeda ys it has pedals and is powered by a gas engine.
s
So they're either electric bikes or electric mopeds. I think the design and appearance would be the deciding factor of what to call them.
Giant LaFree. Does exactly what you want.
I test rode one, and personally, I don't like them, except if you really need it.
They're heavy (80lbs), slow, expensive.
I can go farther, faster on a regular bike.
Shanghai is (as of Dec 2003) restricting bikes on its major streets.
"Bicycles have gone from carrying more than 70 percent of travelers in Shanghai as recently as 1990 to from 15 to 17 percent now, according to the Shanghai Urban Planning Bureau."
Upward mobility indeed.
Generating electricity is not green. Once again this is a demonstration of euphoric environmentalists not knowing how things work.
You're right, riding 30 pounds of bicycle isn't any more "green" than driving around 2000 pounds of car.
We'll try to keep such crazy thoughts out of our head from now on.
-Teckla
Don't these little motorcycles we have now get 60+mpg? And they are tuned for speed/acceleration, not fuel economy. So we should be able to get even more than that if tuned properly. The extra weight would drop it down some, but the addition of better aerodynamics and lower resistance tires will up it some as well.
I can't see how this would be anymore dangerous to the driver than a motorcycle is, and those are allowed everywhere. Plus you could drive it in the rain, and feasibly have some storage space inside.
I've been envisioning this for about a year now, and would buy one if it were under $6000, went at least 65mph getting 55-60mpg, were legal on the highway, and had a 7-9 gallon tank (400-550 miles per tank).
My question is if there is anything like this out there, of if I should go ahead and start building one?
This is kinda on the topic, so please don't mod me down to hard!
That electricity has to come from someplace... in China, that means mostly oil and coal powerplants with none of the pollution controls found in the west
Stationary power plants produce more energy and less pollution than a sea of small movable engines consuming the same amount of fuel. Chinese power plants may pollute more than American power plants, but they both pollute less than mini power plants (automobile/motorcycle engines) designed for size and weight instead of efficiency.
You can eliminate more pollution with $1,000,000 worth of pollution control equipment on one power plant, then you can with a $100 worth of pollution control equipment on each of ten thousand automobiles.
does anyone else find it hillarious that everyone is chiming in, "oh, green transportation! no surprise it's not the US doing it!"? what bullshit.
Hello! These a) are electric bikes, b) are replacing non-powered bikes, and c) would not even be viable in an industrialized country where the infrastructure is dependent on massive transportation systems.
So please just stop. This isn't even "green", when you compare it to the human-powered bikes that they're replacing, ffs. There's no need to be so zealotrously anti-American; you're simply illustrating your ignorance.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
That meme, that these bikes aren't green because they aren't as good for the environment as regular bikes, is really screwed up coming from this crowd. The Athlon or P4 you're writing these comments on probably use as much electricity as these e-bikes do. Not to mention that being mostly westerners we almost all drive cars. But everyone complains that these e-bikes are a bad developement because they aren't as green as regular bikes! What should the chinese do? Never advance? Live in the dark because any electricity they use has to come from somewhere? Why are we slamming them for their comparitivly small energy use instead of slamming ourselves for writting these comments on energy guzzling computers?
--HC
So I'm jump'n up and down screaming show me the money.
Don't assume that these electric bikes are gaining ground because of environmental or even traffic concerns. They're cheap, and the vast majority of Chinese people cannot afford a car. I'd bet that once they can afford them, they will happily trade in their e-bike for a big, emissions-producing vehicle. The growing middle class is already doing this, contributing to the world-wide upsurge in oil demand and price hikes at the pumps.
That's not a soda... it's a caffeine delivery device!
I drive an e-bike to work.
I'm quite happy with it.
I find it to be a marked improvement on the pedal only model - appropriate for my less energetic mid-life self.
Proper paths in which biking were safe combined with access to mass transportation would i think may transportation a community event (think train station as the quientessential town hall of the industrial revolution)
Details - Good bike in the States will set you back $1100. Giant Lite is (a) leader stateside.
There are two modes (Throttle and Pedal assist)
Throttled is less appropriate for kids and pedestrian places.
Pedal Assist is impossibly easy to control since it only amplifies the pedal movements.
Mine is the latter.
Here's wishing for a little more speed allowance - not for me - butto reduce the impatience of the cars behind me on narrow roads.
At this gas crunch time - we should encourage our local law to embrace this option by:
1. Granting higher speeds (-30 MPH perhaps) -
2. special rights of way -
3. efforts to keep the roadside clear of glass, potholes, manhole covers, and gravel from gravel drives.
I suggest we name them Vbikes as a means of resisting the influence of the middle east crowd.
AIK
These bikes can carry a rider weighing up to 75-100 kg (about 200 lbs.) Thus, majority of potential users here will be excluded. They would simply break the bike :-)
When are you people at Slashdot going to realize that electric vehicles do not stop air pollution, they only move the place it gets made?
You have to charge up the battery. That takes electricity from the wall. Which comes from a power plant. Which BURNS something, usually coal in China. Really gawdawful brown coal too, not the nice hard stuff we get in the USA and Canada.
Smokestack or exhaust pipe, take your pick. You want to be green, you better pedal it yourself. True, you will be burning sugar and making CO2 while you pedal, but unless you plan on going "back to the land" by stopping breathing on a permanent basis, you'll be doing that anyway.