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What Is an E-Bike? Here’s Everything You Need to Know
The first thing you should know about electric bicycle is that they’re here to stay. Electric bike sales jumped by an incredible 145 percent from 2019 to 2020 alone, according to the market research firm NPD Group. It’s a nearly $244 billion industry as of last year, and there’s no sign of a slowdown.
Some view the rise of e-bikes as a threat, as though standard bikes will go the way of the penny-farthing once everyone goes electric. But fear not: E-bikes aren’t here to rob us of our human-powered way of life. In fact, they may very well enhance it—especially as travel and commuting habits change following the global pandemic and shift of work commuting. So as we roll our way into peak riding season, here’s everything you need to know about the electric revolution.
1. E-bikes make pedaling easier.
Generally speaking, e-bikes are bicycles with a battery-powered “assist” that comes via pedaling and, in some cases, a throttle. When you push the pedals on a pedal-assist e-bike, a small motor engages and gives you a boost, so you can zip up hills and cruise over tough terrain without gassing yourself. Called “pedelecs,” they feel just like conventional bikes—but better, says Ed Benjamin, senior managing director at the consulting firm eCycleElectric. “You control your speed with your feet, like with a regular bike,” he says. “You just feel really powerful and accelerate easily.”
In addition to the pedal-assist feature, some e-bikes come with a throttle that engages the motor with the press of a button. These belong to a separate class of e-bike that, obviously, doesn’t offer a pure cycling experience; they’re also illegal in some municipalities. Interestingly, Benjamin says, people who aren’t already “cyclists” tend to gravitate toward throttle bikes at first, but then turn around and choose a pedal-assist for their next purchase.
2. They go pretty fast… to a point.
The harder you pedal, the bigger the boost, the faster you’ll ride—to a point. Electric city bike lets you hum along at a brisk clip, but they aren’t motorcycles. You’ll never hammer down the road at 45 mph. The motor is governed to stop propelling you further when you hit 20 to 28 miles per hour, depending on the bike. So you’ll save time on your commute (I shave about three minutes off a five-mile trip) but still enjoy the scenery.
That’s because, like it or not, e-bikes are fun to ride. Long, slow climbs become quicker. Lunchtime rides become more interesting because you can ride farther and see trails that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible in such a short time. And whole new trail systems are accessible as the assist opens up terrain that would be too steep, loose, rocky, or brutal on a standard pedal bike. In short, rather than be afraid of e-mountain bikes, we should see them for what they are: a new tool. In the same way you’d choose an enduro bike for shredding supergnar descents or a cross-country bike for all-day endurance epics, an e-mountain bike is simply another arrow in the quiver for situations when standard pedal bikes might not be as much fun.
For clarity, the electric mountain bike in this review are electric-motor-equipped bicycles that only go forward if you pedal them. Officially, they are categorized as Class 1 e-bikes, which means they have no throttle and a top-assisted speed of 20 miles per hour. (Class 2 and Class 3 varieties have throttles and/or different top-assist speeds. We’re limiting our coverage to Class 1 because most of the advocacy for trail use is currently for these models.) Though critics like to try and characterize all e-bikes as motorcycles, this couldn’t be further from reality. All of these bikes generate less than one horsepower, and they do it only when you are pedaling, akin to riding with a strong tailwind.
The first thing you should know about electric bicycle is that they’re here to stay. Electric bike sales jumped by an incredible 145 percent from 2019 to 2020 alone, according to the market research firm NPD Group. It’s a nearly $244 billion industry as of last year, and there’s no sign of a slowdown.
Some view the rise of e-bikes as a threat, as though standard bikes will go the way of the penny-farthing once everyone goes electric. But fear not: E-bikes aren’t here to rob us of our human-powered way of life. In fact, they may very well enhance it—especially as travel and commuting habits change following the global pandemic and shift of work commuting. So as we roll our way into peak riding season, here’s everything you need to know about the electric revolution.
1. E-bikes make pedaling easier.
Generally speaking, e-bikes are bicycles with a battery-powered “assist” that comes via pedaling and, in some cases, a throttle. When you push the pedals on a pedal-assist e-bike, a small motor engages and gives you a boost, so you can zip up hills and cruise over tough terrain without gassing yourself. Called “pedelecs,” they feel just like conventional bikes—but better, says Ed Benjamin, senior managing director at the consulting firm eCycleElectric. “You control your speed with your feet, like with a regular bike,” he says. “You just feel really powerful and accelerate easily.”
In addition to the pedal-assist feature, some e-bikes come with a throttle that engages the motor with the press of a button. These belong to a separate class of e-bike that, obviously, doesn’t offer a pure cycling experience; they’re also illegal in some municipalities. Interestingly, Benjamin says, people who aren’t already “cyclists” tend to gravitate toward throttle bikes at first, but then turn around and choose a pedal-assist for their next purchase.
2. They go pretty fast… to a point.
The harder you pedal, the bigger the boost, the faster you’ll ride—to a point. Electric city bike lets you hum along at a brisk clip, but they aren’t motorcycles. You’ll never hammer down the road at 45 mph. The motor is governed to stop propelling you further when you hit 20 to 28 miles per hour, depending on the bike. So you’ll save time on your commute (I shave about three minutes off a five-mile trip) but still enjoy the scenery.
That’s because, like it or not, e-bikes are fun to ride. Long, slow climbs become quicker. Lunchtime rides become more interesting because you can ride farther and see trails that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible in such a short time. And whole new trail systems are accessible as the assist opens up terrain that would be too steep, loose, rocky, or brutal on a standard pedal bike. In short, rather than be afraid of e-mountain bikes, we should see them for what they are: a new tool. In the same way you’d choose an enduro bike for shredding supergnar descents or a cross-country bike for all-day endurance epics, an e-mountain bike is simply another arrow in the quiver for situations when standard pedal bikes might not be as much fun.
For clarity, the electric mountain bike in this review are electric-motor-equipped bicycles that only go forward if you pedal them. Officially, they are categorized as Class 1 e-bikes, which means they have no throttle and a top-assisted speed of 20 miles per hour. (Class 2 and Class 3 varieties have throttles and/or different top-assist speeds. We’re limiting our coverage to Class 1 because most of the advocacy for trail use is currently for these models.) Though critics like to try and characterize all e-bikes as motorcycles, this couldn’t be further from reality. All of these bikes generate less than one horsepower, and they do it only when you are pedaling, akin to riding with a strong tailwind.