Ditch the car and get on your e-bike!
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ATTITUDES to electric bikes are changing, with more and more of these battery-assisted vehicles being seen on Highland roads, cycle tracks and trails. I’ve come across urban commuter bikes, power-assisted tourers and even a top-of-the-range electric mountain bike on my travels this year.
I’ve also noticed an increase in the number of outlets hiring and selling e-bikes across the north of Scotland and I wanted to find out what was behind this growth in interest. Who is using these bikes and what sorts of journeys are they using them for?
One of the most prominent schemes to launch recently is Co-wheels e-bikes in Inverness, run as part of Highland Council’s CARBON Clever initiative, which aims to make the Highland capital carbon neutral by 2025. There are 12 bikes stored in two locations in the city, at Falcon Square in the city centre and at council headquarters in Glenurquhart Road, with more to be added if the scheme proves successful.
The project – which received the SCDI SEPA Award for Excellence in Environmental Sustainability for encouraging more sustainable travel and reducing emissions – targets local people and tourists, with residents getting a discounted rate and more flexibility for shorter hires.
Since its launch on August 18, around 80 cyclists have signed up to the scheme, clocking up more than 200 hours of cycling and covering well over 200km. Cameron Ross, who operates Happy Tours from his Inverness base, where he has been hiring and selling e-bikes for several years, says sales are growing.
He told me: "Once a customer has tried the bike then you’re 90 per cent of the way there. More people buy them than hire them in my opinion, because when a customer wants to hire a bike he’s not thinking about electric bikes, he’s thinking about normal push-bikes."
But in other places, hiring e-bikes is the main focus – particularly in popular tourist areas. An electric bike network was set up in the Cairngorms last year, with centres across the national park offering bike hire and charging points, while in Fort Augustus Jane Beaton has recently opened Ness e-bikes on the busy banks of the Caledonian Canal. Black Isle Bicycles, a new company operating on the peninsula north of Inverness, is also hiring out e-bikes and its enterprise manager Giles Makins says both tourists and locals have been using them.
"The communities we have are not spread too far apart, but the terrain is challenging enough to make the assistance of an e-bike very appealing," he said.
"We have had customers coming to hire from us specifically in order to test the idea of an electric bike on their home turf, because riding round the car park at the bike shop is one thing, but seeing if an e-bike will get you up that hill to your house is even better."
Mike Dennison, cycling development officer for the Cairngorms National Park, agrees. "For the terrain in the Highlands they are perfect, especially for someone who is not that fit," he suggests.
Those using the bikes in the Cairngorms have been mostly people who have left cycling and are using e-bikes to come back to it, or older people and those with mobility problems, according to Mr Dennison.
It’s a familiar tale. Mr Makins of Black Isle Bicycles explains: "Broadly speaking we have seen two types of people hire electric-assist bikes. The first group are keen cyclists who have had to restrict their riding due to injury or ill-health. For them, electric bikes allow them to indulge their passion for riding in a way that keeps their grumbling joints (and their doctor!) happy. The assistance from the bike helps to reduce the strain and ensures they are not overdoing it. The second category of users are not regular cyclists. They like the idea of cycling but they have – largely mental – barriers as to why they can’t cycle: ‘I’m not fit enough’, ‘I’ll never make it up that hill’, ‘I’ll not be able to keep up with the kids/grandchildren’. For these riders, electric bikes help to break down these barriers. They enable riders who would otherwise have dismissed cycling to give it a go, and as such provide a gateway into cycling."
For these reasons it seems that electric bikes still have a reputation as being something for older people, and the statistics and the stories would seem to bear that out. The majority of people using the Cairngorms e-bikes were over 45 and Ms Beaton of Ness e-bikes told me about some of her clients during a steady first summer season.
One elderly lady was persuaded by her husband to try out one of the e-bikes and went back every day for the rest of her holiday. She said it made her remember the fun of being on a bike when she was younger, which was something she never thought she would be able to do again.
Mr Ross admits: "Mostly it’s people 45-plus using them because the perception is that it’s an older person’s bike, but it’s not. They’re great fun.
"The popularity comes from the fact that an e-bike is the difference between a push-bike and a scooter. The e-bike has a throttle with a speed of 15mph (UK law) and a power assist top speed of 25mph. Batteries last from 40 to 65 miles, but they are still classed as bikes. The potential for tourists is that they’re cheap to hire and fun to ride, and for locals they are a great way to commute and a great way to keep up with your kids when you’re out for a cycle."
Mr Dennison has also witnessed the joy younger people can get from riding an e-bike. He said: "One of the key groups who were excited by the bikes when we took them to festivals to test was teenagers around 14 to 16, so one thing to look at is how to get those people to look at e-bikes as an alternative to a first car."
These power-assisted vehicles do offer a possible alternative way of getting about for people of all ages and, having tested a few of them out, I can agree that they are great fun to ride.
Mr Dennison added: "They are definitely appearing left, right and centre and people are beginning to see their potential. The Cairngorms project was exclusively aimed at tourists, but it is those people travelling six or seven-mile journeys where e-bikes can be a realistic alternative to a second car or using the bus. They need to be looked at as an affordable means of transport rather than an expensive bike."
Have you ridden an electric bike or do you own one? Tell us about your experience and send your photos to activeoutdoors@spp-group.com
