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@Oliver Schick will have something useful to say about 'motor-dependence' here.
Well. That can come into it; there is some data emerging that rather than switching from driving to e-bikes, which would be a good thing, more people are switching to them from cycling. Not in this country, and that data is mostly based on the sales boom in the Netherlands (if you want to get any realistic understanding, you have to wait for that to settle down first) and, to a lesser extent, Germany.
Sales boom or not, there is evidence that e-bike use has so far contributed to increased cyclist casualties. I also saw a rider along the Walworth Road recently on my way to Cycle PS who had clearly 'opened' his e-bike, probably much like people used to tune limited mopeds. He was doing at least 40kph on it along the high street.
Part of the problem in London is that travel distances are increasing (a lot of Central London salaried workers are having to move out further and further), and I expect this is where a future market for these machines will lie. It's all still too new to say much with certainty, really.
Oliver Schick-
They are very easy to 'open' most of the time just set the wheel size differently and it feels it's going a legal 15.6mph on 16inch wheel when really it's going much faster on a 28inch wheel.
Would be interesting to see how the statistics are split between regular bikes and cargo bikes, having dhl add 1000s of ebikes to the fleet is a great way to fudge statistics.
It's not all bad, a fair amount of the cyclists who switch to using them it's for medical reasons when the only other option would have been a motorbike or car. All the people I have known in the last few years(in the uk) using ebikes daily it's been for medical reasons to prolong the time they can enjoy riding.
Yet to meet anyone who used it to take the edge off a long commute, I think ebike use is rather limited in that aspect as the cheaper ebikes aren't great quality and wouldn't withstand a long daily commute, when you jump up into the £2k+ ebikes you then can't realistically lock it anywhere. Also once you hit the outskirts of london and hills the motor on your 'opened' ebike is going to overheat and break. They might improve a little but at the moment buying an ebike that will be reliable enough to commute like that vs a cheap scooter, it's more practical and cheaper to just get a scooter.
Clockwise
@Oliver Schick will have something useful to say about 'motor-dependence' here.
Pity the fools.
I think for ancient people who can't manage fixed any more, in the country, with shopping etc etc, why the hell not? Otherwise, get in the sea.