You don't get any exercise with an e-scooter, and personally I go a fair bit faster than most of them on my bike. Cycling to the work saves me time on my commute and the need not to go to a gym. My commuting bike (a very basic mountain bike, cost < 300 euros) has paid for itself multiple times over in saved money on public transport. Its an efficient lifesytle choice for me.

I can't understand why so few people cycle.

There's more to a bike than just pure transport. There's the fact that you exercise at the same time as being one of the fastest ways around.

I think you're entirely wrong. You've got to realize how many people love crushing it on a road bike and getting all the fun and fitness that come along with that.

Batteries are still too inconvenient and costly. I still regularly ride a wonderful steel bike that's older than myself (a top of the line koga miyata). So with a battery lifetime of the order of ~1000 charge cycles, if you take into considerations the costs of regularly replacing the battery, then ebikes (and e-scooters) are in a different price segment altogether.

After a visit to SE Asia I'm in agreement. The transformation that will take place in those cities from IC motorbikes to eBikes will be a huge quality of life improvement in terms of pollution and noise.

Not sure about North America. So many fast moving heavy vehicles and poorer weather don't make eBikes for the masses as appealing.