What To Look For In An Electric Bike: The True Cost Of Driving an eBike

Look around you. Technology today is reinventing itself at an ever-increasing pace, but a lot of this change has come at a cost to the environment. As a result, we are now experiencing what has been coined as a much needed “green revolution”. Alternative fuels and energy efficiency are now in vogue. Perhaps the biggest hot button topic is our over reliance on gasoline as a means of feeding our transportation needs. Over the last decade however, we have made progress in the right direction . Gas/electric hybrids, all electric, flex fuel, natural gas, and biodiesel are now less expensive alternatives and slowly making their mark on the automobile market. But what if there were a way to truly affect change by getting you out of your car entirely, get exercise, and save money on fuel costs? Welcome to the world of electric bicycles, and the benefits of eBike technology.

The best electric bikes today have truly come of age. Here at Optibike, we proudly manufacture the world’s premier long-range electric bike, known also as the fastest electric bicycle available. In our continuing blog series based upon Jim Turner’s electric bike eBook, we share with readers more insight into our own “green revolution”; that of eBike ownership. In this latest installment, we emphasize the true cost of owning and driving your very own motorized bicycle. These innovative and highly efficient machines provide great incentive to make urban automobile use obsolete, help the environment, and get in shape while having fun.

The economic reality is that modern electric bicycles are durable, require little maintenance, and can now travel for up to 50 miles or more on literally pennies worth of electricity. The true cost of driving an electric bike has to be understood in terms of kilowatt-hours (kwh) of electricity use. A 100-watt light bulb that burns for 10 hours uses one kwh of electricity. In the US, one kwh of electricity typically costs 10 cents. So, if your eBike has a 500-watt motor, it will run for two hours on one kwh of electricity and cost you 10 cents. If you’re averaging 20 mph in terms of speed, you can travel for 40 miles on just 10 cents worth of electricity. Money is easier to understand than kwh. Most cars can travel 40 miles on two gallons of gasoline. At say $4.00 a gallon, that’s $8.00 in cost. Electric bikes, as we have shown, can travel the same 40 miles for just 10 cents. So for $8.00, you can travel about 3200 miles on an electric bicycle! It is also important to note that gas prices fluctuate, while the cost of electricity has remained far more stable.

Why fill up your tank, when you can charge up your eBike? It’s time to forgo your car, and choose a more health-oriented, environmentally more friendly, and economical way to commute, run errands, and recreate. Want to learn more about the Optibike advantage, and discover how you can ride the best electric bike almost for free? Contact Optibike today, and get on board the green revolution!