policy brief

Electric Assisted Bikes (e-bikes) Show Promise in Getting People Out of Cars

Areas of Expertise

Travel Behavior, Land Use, & the Built Environment

Abstract

For over a decade, California has offered incentives towards the purchase of zero-emission vehicles as part of the state’s broader effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Expanding California’s incentive program for zero-emission vehicles to include electric assisted bikes (e-bikes) has been a point of recent discussion. The following summarizes the existing evidence on the effects e-bicycling has on car travel, characteristics of e-bike incentive programs, and opportunities for increasing e-bicycling in California.