An Electric Boost for Bicyclists
SHANGHAI — Jiang Ruming, a marketing manager, owns a van, but for many errands, he hops on a futuristic-looking contraption that lets him weave rapidly through Shanghai’s messy traffic. He rides an electric bicycle.
Half a apple away, in San Francisco, the admiral of that city’s lath of supervisors, David Chiu, uses an electric bike to get to affairs after afraid through his suit.
And in the Netherlands, Jessy Wijzenbeek-Voet afresh rode an electric bike on a continued cruise that, at 71, she would not accept been able to accomplish on a accepted bike.
Detroit may be introducing electric car designs and China may be pushing forward with a big expansion of its highways and trains. But people like Mr. Jiang, Ms. Wijzenbeek-Voet and Mr. Chiu — as well as delivery workers in New York, postal employees in Germany and commuters from Canada to Japan — are among the millions taking part in a more accidental transportation upheaval.
It began in China, where an estimated 120 million electric bicycles now hum along the roads, up from a few thousand in the 1990s. They are replacing traditional bikes and motorcycles at a rapid clip and, in many cases, allowing people to put off the switch to cars.
In turn, the booming Chinese electric-bike industry is spurring worldwide interest and impressive sales in India, Europe and the United States. China is exporting abounding bikes, and Western manufacturers are additionally artful the Chinese trend to aftermath models of their own. From around annihilation a decade ago, electric bikes accept become an $11 billion all-around industry.
“It’s miraculous — it takes the hills out of riding,” said Roger Phillips, 78, who rides an electric bike around Manhattan. The sensation is akin to a moving walkway at the airport, he said.
Electric bikes accept been a “gift from God” for bike makers, said Edward Benjamin, an absolute industry consultant, not alone because they amount added — about $1,500 to $3,000 — but additionally because they accommodate added apparatus like batteries that charge approved replacement.
In the Netherlands, a third of the money spent on bicycles aftermost year went to electric-powered models. Industry experts adumbrate agnate advance abroad in Europe, abnormally in Germany, France and Italy, as ascent absorption in cycling coincides with an crumbling population. India had virtually no sales until two years ago, but its nascent market is fast expanding and could eclipse Europe’s in the next year.
“The advance has been amazing in the aftermost two years,” said Naveen Munjal, managing administrator of Hero Electric, a analysis of India’s better bike and motorcycle maker. He expects sales at Hero to increase to 250,000 electric bikes in 2012, from 100,000 in 2009.
While the American market has been modest — about 200,000 bikes sold last year, by some estimates — interest is rising, said Jay Townley, a bicycle industry consultant. Best Buy began selling electric bicycles in June at 19 stores in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Portland, Ore. Trek, a manufacturer based in Wisconsin, recently began selling a bike created by Gary Fisher, a prominent bicycle designer.
“Electric-assisted bicycles will change how people think about bikes in urban areas,” predicted Mr. Chiu of San Francisco, who has been riding a prototype of the Trek bike since the summer.
Improvements in technology are consistent in lighter designs that address to earlier cyclists. “Now you’ve got a product you can present to a baby boomer,” Mr. Townley said.
New York City’s largest electric bike store, NYCeWheels, opened in 2001, and in the last few years, business has been growing, said Bert Cebular, the owner. In Chinatown, electric bikes are assuming up on about every bend and several shops accept afresh appeared, affairs bikes alien from Chinese factories.
As the global market develops, two types of electric bikes are emerging. One is agnate to a accepted bike with pedals, but it has an electric motor that engages on command or back the cyclist pedals. These are the most popular type in the United States and Europe, with many people using the electric motor mainly for help in wind or on steep hills.
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