Like the commercial e-bikes for hire on the streets of Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast, London’s e-bikes are available for anyone to hire for journeys across the city.

The 2000 bikes are available at docking stations around London, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Transport for London says more than 750,000 e-bike trips have been taken since it offered the scheme in 2022.

The move is part of Mayor Sadiq Khan’s vision of “making active travel around the city as accessible as possible”. 

The expansion of the public e-bike fleet will be complemented by a new pricing structure, which will make it cheaper to use the scheme.

Transport for London is introducing a new £3 ($5.80) day pass that allows for unlimited journeys of 30 minutes or less all day. Longer trips will cost users an additional £1 (A$1.90) per half hour.

E-bike users in Australia pay $1 to unlock a bike and up to 54 cents a minute, costing around $17 for a 30-minute journey.

London’s initiative also comes in the midst of a bike boom in the city, where the number of trips completed by bike is increasing substantially.

“The e-bikes have proved hugely popular since they were introduced and help break down the barriers that stop some people from cycling,” says Khan. “The new day pass rate will also make Santander bikes one of the most affordable ways to travel in the capital.”

Transport for London has attributed this uptick in bike riding to the continued investment in infrastructure.

The city’s strategic cycle network has expanded from 90km in 2016 to 352km  today. Meanwhile, the proportion of Londoners living within 400 metres of the network has ballooned from an estimated 5% in 2016 to almost 25%.

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This week, Tasmania became the first Australian state to join them with a $1.2 million e-transport package.

Within this, Tasmanian e-bike buyers will get a helping hand after 17 November through a $200,000 e-bike and e-scooter rebate scheme that will cover up to 12% of the cost of a bike.

Tasmania’s Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Roger Jaensch, says the e-transport package is delivering on actions in the government’s Climate Change Action Plan.

“Transport is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions,” Minister Jaensch said.

“Tasmania’s Climate Change Action Plan includes actions to reduce emissions from our transport sector by increasing the uptake of electric vehicles, and public and active transport.

“Our government’s e-transport package will provide rebates on the purchase of electric vehicles and e-mobility devices such as e-bikes, as well as interest free loans for home chargers.”

To be eligible for a rebate you must be Tasmanian and have purchased an e-bike or cargo e-bike from a Tasmanian retailer after 17 November. The rebates are not available for businesses.

Rebates of up to $500 are available for standard e-bikes and up to $1000 for cargo e-bikes. This means on a $4000 e-bike a rebate of $480 would be available, or on a $8000 e-cargo bike it would be $960.

The rebates will be available in four rounds with $50,000 in rebates available in each round. Round 1 starts on 17 November, round 2 on 17 December, round 3 on 17 January and round 4 on 17 February.

The scheme requires an eligible e-bike to have been purchased before owners can apply for the rebate, which means people will have to take their chances on getting a rebate in one of the rounds.

To be eligible, e-bikes must meet current legal requirements of a 200-watt motor or 250-watt motor speed limited to 25km/h.

The Tasmanian government is the first in Australia to offer e-bike grants. Its decision was based on the success of similar programs in the US, Canada and European countries – and submissions from Bicycle Network.

As the scheme focuses on people swapping a car trip for an e-bike trip, retailers are being asked to point out e-bike models with useful transport features. These include:

• rear and front racks for baskets and panniers
• mud and chain guards
• a kickstand
• wired-in front and back lights
• sufficient battery range.

The $200,000 funding pool is also available to people buying e-scooters and e-skateboards, with rebates up to $250.

To measure the effectiveness of the rebate, recipients will be asked to fill out a survey once they buy a bike and again after six months.

The government has also launched a $750,000 rebate scheme for fully-electric vehicles. It is offering $2000 for new and second-hand electric cars brought into Tasmania for the first time.

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So can the opposite: over-braking on a grippy surface can lift the rear wheel and send a rider over the handlebars.

A new anti-lock braking system for e-bikes aims to take the worry and the risk of both crash scenarios out of the equation.

The latest Bosch eBike ABS senses when the speed of the front and rear wheels differ and intervenes to release or limit the braking pressure of the hydraulic disk system on the front wheel. The sensors measure the speed of the wheels in just a few milliseconds.

Different models are available for different types of bikes, including cargo bikes, mountain bikes and everyday city riding.

Bosch was a pioneer in ABS, first for cars, then motorcycles and now e-bikes. This new e-bike system is less than half the weight and size of its predecessor, making it more convenient for use by the bike industry.

A special feature for riders is the ability to tutor themselves on braking technique by using data collected by the ABS system.

If the front brake is used, the braking distance and braking time are recorded and can be displayed on the brake system display. This gives riders a sense of how a different surface can affect braking distance.

The Bosch eBike ABS is available for brake components from Magura, TRP and Tektro.

Incorrect braking is one of the main causes of bike crashes, according to Bosch research; “The front wheel brake on a bicycle is crucial for a short braking distance, But many people avoid using this because they are afraid of falling due to the high braking effect,” says CEO of Bosch eBike Systems Claus Fleischer.

“The Bosch eBike ABS specifically counteracts this by significantly reducing the risk of falling or being thrown over the handlebar.”

Up to 29 percent of all accidents involving pedelecs could be reduced, or completely prevented, each year if all pedelecs had reliable ABS, Bosch says.

The anti-lock feature is able to be switched on and off depending on rider preference.

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An e-bike can be key to cutting car use, especially for short, local trips.

And governments and other agencies are calculating that it is worth subsidising these purchases because of the benefits from lower emissions.

A new study from the United States has found that people can be induced to make the switch, even in car-dependent places like California.

The National Centre for Sustainable Transportation, a consortium of leading universities, investigated three rebate programs in northern California for the effects of e-bike ownership on travel behaviour, including changes in bike riding, driving, use of transit, and on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Rebate recipients reported an increase in bicycle use after acquiring an e-bike, which declined over time but remained above what it had been prior to getting an e-bike.

Two months after getting an e-bike, most recipients reported shifting from riding “never” or “1–3 times per month” to riding “1–3 times per week”, with a few increasing to “daily.”

This finding suggested that programs were successful in creating an increase in bike riding in the short-term. Daily bicycling rates were lower one year later, but “1–3 times per week” riding remained elevated with a more than 20% increase compared to bicycle use before the acquisition of an e-bike.

Most e-bike rebate recipients replaced driving with their e-bikes “1–3 times per week” or “1–3 times per month”.

A large share of respondents, 82%, reported having replaced at least one car trip with their e-bike.

Over time, fewer car trips were replaced by e-bike trips. Still, nearly 40% of respondents said they replaced at least one weekly trip, even though daily driving replacement fell by about 50%, one year after acquiring an e-bike.

In a departure from the findings of similar studies in Europe, Californian participants were more likely to use their e-bikes for recreation than commuting or destination-orientated travel.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions were estimated to be 12–44 kilograms of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) per rebate participant per month.

Based on self-reported car trip substitution with an e-bike and the distance of substituted trips, the researchers calculated that each program spent approximately $9.50–$18.00 per kg of CO2e reduced.

This result suggests that low fixed rebate amounts ($150–$300) are more cost-effective than large percentage rebates (50%–80% capped at $500–$800) at reducing GHGs.

However, because this study did not include a measurement of participants’ intent to purchase an e-bike regardless of the rebate, more research is needed to evaluate this possibility.

It is likely that some recipients of small rebates would have purchased their e-bikes even without a rebate, which would reduce the GHG reductions attributable to the program, the researchers reported.

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Fire-prone batteries, sub-standard chargers, and bikes and scooters with inadequate safety and construction quality are being intercepted at ports and refused entry.

In the last two years, 13,000 e-bikes and e-scooters with safety shortcomings have been seized at Felixstowe, the UK’s busiest port. 

Another 9000 scooters were seized because markings on controls, and information in instruction manuals failed to meet safety requirements.

Safety authorities and the bike industry are repeating calls for consumers to avoid buying online and to purchase only from reputable e-bike retailers.

Graham Crisp, Head of Suffolk Trading Standards, which seized the bikes at Felixstowe, says that stopping the sale of thousands of unsafe e-scooters is a fantastic achievement.

“Whilst buying cheaper batteries or battery converter kits for e-scooters and e-bikes can be tempting for those looking to save money, they could end up paying the ultimate price.”

Fire services across the UK are seeing an increase in incidents caused by e-scooters and e-bikes. A fatality following a fire in London at the beginning of the year is believed to have been started by a faulty e-bike battery that burst into flames.

“Care should be taken even when using legitimate batteries and chargers; batteries should be allowed time to cool down before being charged and chargers should be unplugged immediately after use to help reduce the risk of fire,” says Crisp.

“E-scooter and e-bike users should also avoid charging the vehicles in residential buildings overnight as this is when the majority of fires have happened due to people being asleep and unaware of chargers starting to overheat before igniting.”

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The Australian Government has released its first National Electric Vehicle Strategy, a road map to tackle emissions in the transport sector by promoting a shift toward electric transport.

Bicycle Network believes this road map lacks a route with massive potential – the emissions reduction being carved out by our growing national contingent of e-bikes.

National e-bike sales ballooned from 9000 in 2017 to around 75,000 in 2021 as more Australians became acquainted with their benefits.

Owners enjoy not just a fun way of getting around town, but often a more efficient one, too. More than half the trips made by private vehicles are less than 5km, and e-bikes can cover these distances while avoiding traffic and saving a hunt for a car park. 

In 2022, the transport sector made up 19% of Australia’s emissions and is projected to become our largest source of emissions by 2030 (it is currently third).

Electric vehicles powered by renewable energy will help reverse this trend, according to the strategy, and “contribute to achieving our economy-wide emissions reduction target of 43% below 2005 levels by 2030 – and net zero emissions by 2050”.

The National Electric Vehicle Strategy looks to help these efforts along with new fuel efficiency standards, bringing Australia into line with much of the world. It also aims to increase the supply of affordable EVs, build the infrastructure to support their uptake and encourage an increase in their demand.

“The government has already cut taxes on EVs through the Electric Car Discount, saving up to $11,000 a year on a $50,000 electric vehicle,” says Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen. “Thanks to the Albanese Government’s leadership, two and half times more EVs are being sold this year than they were at this time last year.”

Similar federal incentives for e-bikes could make a difference to their uptake, where the initial cost continues to be a big barrier. And they could also be a sound investment in terms of emissions reduction.

A Tesla Model S electric vehicle, charged on the Victorian grid emits 209.1 grams of CO2 per kilometre travelled (PKT), whereas an e-bike emits only 6 grams of CO2 PKT.

For these reasons and more, Bicycle Network last year joined other organisations across Australia in calling for e-bikes to be included in the National Electric Vehicle Strategy.

Governments around the world are recognising their environmental potential and introducing financial incentives to encourage their uptake.

Subsidies, rebates, vouchers and loan programs have been introduced in some states and provinces across the US and Canada, while a bill to give Americans a $1500 e-bike credit was introduced in US congress earlier this year. 

In France, a scheme introduced last year offers up to €4,000 for people to swap their older cars for e-bikes if they meet a certain criteria.

Australia’s National Electric Vehicle Strategy in its current form includes no explicit measures to promote e-bikes, but we see this as a detour rather than a missed opportunity. 

The strategy will undergo a major review in 2026 and there will be more opportunities for Australia to tap into the massive potential of e-bikes and expedite its shift to a cleaner transport system. The planet will thank us if we do. 

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Cooked up by a pair of electrical engineers at the Delft University of Technology, the Tiler paving tiles can charge e-bikes parked on top – no cables or plugs required.  

The tile can be installed as regular paving, and once connected to the grid, serve as an induction charging pad for e-bikes with depleted batteries. It does so via an embedded coil that responds to an antenna built into a purpose-made, two-legged kickstand. 

This bespoke charging mechanism does limit how widely the Tiler technology can be rolled out, but the company is making inroads by targeting unsupervised shared e-bike schemes where charging and battery maintenance can be neglected.  

It has conducted pilots with Dutch mobility hub operator Mobian, at a hotel in the town of Noordwijkerhout, the Rotterdam Ahoy convention centre, Delft University of Technology and at a bicycle sharing hub at Arnhem Central.  

In late February, the company was announced as a winner of the Municipality of The Hague’s startup programme.  

It will now collaborate with the city over the coming six months to further test and develop the concept. The wireless charging tiles will be installed at “Park and Ride” locations around the city’s Binckhorst district, where workers park their cars and pedal the last leg of their journey to the office.  

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The lithium batteries that power these highly efficient vehicles don’t last forever, so as more e-bikes hit the streets over the coming years, how can we make sure these batteries are being disposed of responsibly at the end of their lives? 

Why battery recycling matters

Lithium batteries tossed into landfill can leach toxic elements into soil to contaminate the terrestrial environment, as well as groundwater supplies. Their contents can also readily mix with other flammable waste to spark fires that spread rapidly and generate clouds of dangerous air pollution.

In addition, by throwing away lithium batteries we are throwing away valuable resources. Materials like zinc, lithium, cobalt and graphite can be recovered and repurposed for use in everything from tools, to computer parts, to new batteries. Doing so reduces our reliance on mining for these materials (operations that carry environmental issues of their own), and in turn contributes to a circular economy. 

A looming dilemma 

According to a 2021 CSIRO report on battery recycling, the global battery market nearly doubled in size between 2014 and 2019, increasing from US$62 billion to US$108 billion. This trend is only expected to continue as electric vehicles take on a bigger role in the transportation mix. 

As a result, battery recycling is becoming serious business.

With an intimate knowledge of electric transportation and an eye to the future, Tesla’s chief technology officer left the company in 2019 to start a battery recycling company, which has since raised over US$1 billion in funding. Other automakers like Nissan have moved to repurpose end-of-life EV batteries as energy storage systems for the home and even railway crossings. 

And this type of thinking is beginning to filter through to the world of e-bikes. In the US, a nationwide coalition of 33 e-bike manufacturers came together to fund recycling of e-bike batteries at the end of their lives. 

“Electric Bicycle Batteries Wanted,” reads the consortium’s website. “Recycle Your Miles. It’s Easy.”

Can a maturing e-bike industry in Australia follow a similar route?

Staying a step ahead

E-bike batteries can be expected to last anywhere from 3 to 10 years depending on how they are used and maintained. Founder of Dyson Bikes David Metzke, who began making and selling e-bikes in Melbourne in 2013, says that for the most part, even the company’s older batteries are still getting the job done today. 

“Even after ten years we are seeing very few batteries being replaced, they are almost ‘life of the bike,” he explained. “While they will have reduced in capacity and range, they are still going strong … The few we do see that have reached ‘end of life’ we will take to local council-run facilities for recycling.”

E-bike sales in Australia ballooned from 9,000 in 2017 to 75,000 in 2021, according to The New Daily. So whatever their lifespan might be, there will at some point be a big need for battery recycling infrastructure that wasn’t there before. Thankfully, there are early and important steps being taken to prepare for this future and mitigate the strain of aging e-bikes on the environment. 

Launched in February 2022, Australia’s government-backed battery recycling scheme, called B-cycle, kicked into gear to offer thousands of collection locations across the country. It has since come to include dedicated drop-off points for e-bike batteries, and offers a handy online search tool so folks can find their closest options.

“B-cycle is shaping how we deal with Australia’s fastest growing waste stream and in just six months we’ve doubled the national battery collection rate,” said B-Cycle CEO Libby Chaplin. “We are currently growing our capability to recycle e-bike batteries and already have over 200 drop-off points across the country to help with this demand. We encourage all Bicycle Network members to B-cycle their e-bike batteries at their nearest drop-off points and support the brands which support us.”

Chaplin recommends taking battery recycling into consideration at the point of purchase. E-bike customers can ask if a manufacturer is B-Cycle accredited. If they aren’t, Chaplin suggests encouraging them to hop onboard. Giant Group, which sells e-bikes in Australia under the Giant, Liv and Momentum brands, is one example of an early adopter of the B-Cycle scheme. 

“We are committed to reducing our environmental impact and giving our customers the confidence that Giant supports Australia’s transition to a circular economy,” the company said in a statement. “E-bikes are here to stay and so having a plan for their end of life is crucial. This is why we are proud to be aligned with B-cycle as their rigorous standards assure consumers that every end-of-life battery they recycle is remanufactured into new materials, actively helping to improve the environment for future generations.”

To learn more about the scheme and access the online search tool for battery drop-off points, you can head over to the B-Cycle website. 

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