E-bikes! They're amazing. Bicycle with small assist engine.
You start pedaling, and the bike engine helps you, so going up hills is easy.
Riding one feels like you have super-strength.
You start pedaling, and the bike engine helps you, so going up hills is easy.
Riding one feels like you have super-strength.
I think the price will come down but I don't think they're a great solution yet.
Fortunately they don't need to be a great solution. In all but the hilliest places plenty of people will bike if the cycle lanes are there. Loads of people cycle in Bristol despite it being quite hilly and not really cycle friendly (but they are very slowly improving).
Flatness definitely helps but it isn't the only thing that matters. The Netherlands was completely car based until the 70s for example, and it was just as flat then.
Decathlon (giant French sports chain) sell an ebike for £650.
The market for ebikes has overtaken that for regular bikes in the Netherlands. It was a billion euro market last year and the average price is around 2K euros. There are a lot of company sponsored programs & tax benefits as well. Cheaper bikes are available but they generally have less range, comfort, and build quality.
I'm currently in Athens for a short vacation and what strikes me here is the insane number of petrol run scooters that are loud, take up lots of space, and pollute the city. Most of these could be replaced e-bikes easily and it would probably transform cities like this (this is a thing all over southern Europe). This is more or less exactly what's already well underway in Asia and these things are being mass produced by the millions already. Of course, Greece is a lot poorer and it will probably take quite long for them to catch up. A lot of the scooters here are obviously very old and I imagine their second hand value is very low. Of course fuel cost is a thing but they run quite far for just a few euros.