In a world where electric vehicles are becoming increasingly popular, it’s no surprise that the Tesla Model Y and Model…
A few years ago, I was actually surprised how many bikers convert their bikes into a electric bike. Easily 50% of daily bikers where I used to live (where it’s very hilly).
A bunch in Asia as well. It was pretty common to see them at the same price as regular bikes.
All this surprise about electric bikes from car heads is baffling.
We’re sorely tempted to convert our 2 old Specialized mountain bikes with the 100G Geeko rear wheels. Hear good things about them, and we can’t do more than 250W motors as we live in Europe. Still - €700 to make the €2000 bike electric and not noticeably so is tempting. Ebikes have meant no one looks to steal my stumpjumper e4 any more… yay(…?)
If you’re limited to 250w, it might be worthwhile to consider a mid drive instead: Letting the motor take advantage of the gears will let you get more out of the motor.
We’re pretty flat here in the Netherlands - 250w is fine, but thanks for the suggestion. I’m not racing and our ride through the heathers and up a few dunes aren’t tough even without an electric wheel, but it’s more to make much-needed exercise less onerous.
Congrats on liking bicycles and living in the Netherlands lol, I’ve heard that country is bicycle heaven
I stress-bought a lectric XP 2.0 to adapt to a change in living situation 3 years ago and I appreciate it. It’s heavy as fuck and doesn’t do good bike-work without its battery unless you REALLY WANT a workout, but it’s served me well for my purposes. Price at the time was a big factor, similar e-bikes were at least twice the cost (then approx $1000 USD).
I bought a similar bike (Engwe EP2 Pro) on sale for $700 and, yeah, it’s a shitty bike.
It’s an OK budget ebike, but if you can, save up and buy yourself a quality ebike or use a good conversion kit on an already good bicycle.
That said, that Lectric One is looking kinda good, we’ll have to see what the real reviews say once actual people get to ride it for an extended period of time.
Biggest thing for me was the fat tires for winter and it being foldable for taking on the local train system. Really have no complaints other than if the battery runs out (which it thankfully never has for me on a trip) you’re basically left with a brick. But I suppose that’s the case for any motorized vehicle that runs out of its power source.
Nah, some handle a lot better.
It’s a cool design, but I don’t know that it’s fair to group ~$1,000 pedal assist ebikes with, you know, passenger vehicles.
Electrek can’t take a shit without mentioning “Tesla” in the headline…
Such a bizarre comparison 🤔
I’m not sure the headline from the article has been independently verified. I don’t doubt it, but the only citation for Lectric’s sales figures are from their own press releases or from their own web page:
In 2023, Lectric helped electrify more Americans than Ford, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Rivian, Lucid, BMW, and Porsche combined. Most of this growth is powered by the success of Lectric’s most popular electric bike, the Lectric XP, which is the third most popular EV in America behind only the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y.
The article links to another article which breaks down EV automobile sales, indicating the 2nd best seller is the Telsa Model 3 at 220,910 units, and the 3rd best seller as the Chevy Bolt at 62,045.
Given this Business Insider report that 1.1 million ebikes across all brands were imported to the USA in 2022, it’s certainly very reasonable and actually quite likely that Lectric eBikes moved more than 62 thousand bikes in 2023 on their own. But I’m reluctant to use the company’s own statement as proof of that.
The graph from that report (showing ebike and EV automobile sales from 2018-2022) draws data from Kelly Blue Book and from the Light Electric Vehicle Association, which apparently is a trade group for ebike manufacturers and dealers. So those numbers should be taken with a grain of salt. Still, it does paint a rather compelling picture that, as whole markets, ebikes may be outstripping EV automobile sales in the USA.
IMO, with a suitable data source, that would have been a more compelling headline.
It’s Electrek. If they ever wanted to verify claims, they’d be out of the Tesla business years ago.
I’d rather have the Tesla (so I could sell it and buy a really nice ebike or five)
