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E-bikes as a second or third car replacement quickly pay for them selves and would free family's of the hidden costs associated with vehicle ownership. I suspect people would be more receptive to e-bikes, and other forms of low cost micro-mobility, if they knew the true costs of vehicle transportation systems.

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By far the biggest problem with e-bikes is theft. Theft of regular bikes hurts but a regular bike costs $200-$600. A $2000 ebike is both more a target for theft and more painful to lose.

I’m not sure what we can do but people aren’t going to ebike to the supermarket when thieves carrying battery powered grinders are everywhere.

Yes, that's definitely a problem. Most home insurance products cover bikes (I've had my stolen road bike mostly replaced by insurance), but it's not an ideal solution given the hassle and time cost. I imagine theft prevention trackers would make this less of an issue over time, at least on the higher end models.

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