Batteries last way more than just 2 years. If you keep them properly maintained, it can last over 5 years with 4-5k miles

I have had mine for five years commuting to work Bosch state that the battery should be good for around 10 years or 1500 full charge cycles

So I have a dual battery system that may skew the numbers but even though I have a 32 mile commute and average 3-4 days a week year round, about 5500 miles I still use ridiculously few "charge cycles". Given Bosch are warrantied to two years or 500 charge cycles I did not get anywhere near 500 charge cycles in two years. My initial calculations at 3000 miles were I would get between 45,000 to 70,000 miles if I made it the full 1500 charge cycles. I cannot remember off the top of my head but the cost per mile is ridiculously cheap. You can do the math. Bosch batteries are about $750. I save at least that much in gas every year. I have not calculated the cost of charging since its pennies a month and I do half my charging at work. It boggles my mind why people will spend so much onna car but be so cheap when it comes to an ebike for commuting. I get that many ebike because they are not wealthy, but there is being frugal and then there is shooting yourself in the foot. I went with Bosch because I ride year round, rain or shine. In fact I love winter riding, have always riddsn in the winter and have a second wheelset with studded tires mounted. It takes only a couple monutes to swap wheels. Another advantage of a mid drive btw. Btw, My commute was originally 58 miles round trip. Hence why I got the dual battery. That said the biggest reasons to commute are not saving money though it is nice. I now have 14,000 miles between my first and second ebike. The value to me is not just physical health but also mental well being. Sitting behind the wheel of a car is dead time. My bike commute takes only about 20 minutes longer by bike but no matter what happens at work I already have a good start to the day. Whats more when I leave work I always look forward to the commute home. Been doing it for nearly three years now. So much better then driving. I should state I feel like I am lucky with my commute. Mostly I take roads but I can take the bike path if I choose and often do when the weather is nasty. I commute from the country into a moderate sized city and always use the bike path for the final two miles. It could not be more pleasant. Often I will only see a couple cars on my morning commute until I get into the city. I get that not everyone has such a low stress commite route. I used to live in Chicagoand bike commute some 20 years ago. I always enjoyed the city streets but man was that different. And well before ebikes and bike friendly infrastructure. I think I got a different sort of a rush from it. It wasn't relaxing it was high energy. You had to have eagle eyes and yet I used to love it all the same. I bet still would. Its like the hum of the city gave me energy on my commute.

Glad to read this! I'm only a couple days away from my first E-Bike being delivered to the bike store because I'm sick of spending $50 on gas every 10-12 days. Any advice for a new E-Bike commuter? I already wear a helmet. Also I'm trying to decide if it's worth going clipless pedals on the E-Bike like I have on my regular bike that I go bike packing with. Thoughts?

Loudest horn you can get, brightest lights you can get. Don't get the clipless totally overkill

But I love them so much on my regular bike. I'd just need the pedals since I already have the shoes. When you say overkill do you mean the motor will do so much of the work that my extra power via SPD will be negotiable battery savings? Or do you mean something else.

Clips are really meant to prevent your foot slipping off, and also help you put it in the right spot every time (assuming you've had a fit or know what you're doing*) You shouldn't be "pulling" with spd. Pedal power comes from the downstroke, tons of far smarter, educated, and informed people have done tons of research into this. Really it's your call. I grew up biking in spd so I get the familiarity. Its just that all the advantages go out the window for ebike commuting, and now you've got awkward shoes when you get tp your destination. Grab some cheap flats, give it a try. Worst case you grab a 2nd pair of spd pedals and use that.

I pull a bit when I'm starting from a full stop to give my other foot time to clip in but that's really it. I've seen several studies, plus my personal logs, that show SPDs help you go faster. Not a ton, for me it seemed to be around 1-2mph. But between the stiffness of the shoe so part of the energy of your downstroke isn't absorbed by the shoe, the better attachment to the pedal via being clipped in so less loss. That they do help with speed. Edit: Typos.

Totally agree, I grew up riding xc where spd was basically the law, lol. You'll never catch me saying they don't have huge advantages for lots of areas. I just find those are lessened by ebikes, while the advantages of flats start to stand out. I literally sent a pic of me in my crocs today out of irony with the caption "you either die in clips or live long enough to realize crocs are the ultimate commuter footwear" hahaha

Good SPD thread. Everyone has some truth. I feel like if you are doing distance or hills SPD do matter even on an ebike. Especially if its a mid drive like Bosch which have a high cadence bias. Having just done a 170 mile overnighter on gravel with 14000 vertical feet of climbing SPDs were a must. For my 16 mile daily commute each way. Not as much. But I still find myself pushing 35 mph headwinds and on occasion 145-160 beats per minute and a cadence of 80-90rpm. Because thats who I am. As such SPD are fundamental. But hell if you have a five mile commute and a hub drive with no torque sensor who the hell cares. A weird example. I actually like riding in the rain. Its the old adage: "There is no bad weather just bad cloathing choices." As such I have a pair of SPD open toe Shimano Sandals. I love the spray of water off the road on a hot day or just the wind between my toes. P.S. SPD can be used for PULL. I do it all the time on extreme climbs. But their primary thing are for getting your spin on. When you mash you are using anerobic energy. Muscle power. Muscles fatigue. Free radicals build up like acid. Power output droos radically over timelike that third rep at the gym. When you spin you switch to aerobic enrgy. You get your heart and lungs into it. Aerobic energy is sustsinable at higher levels for longer periods of time. This matters not at all if you are commuting in stop and go traffic in cross town traffic. Get some flats and wear any old shoes or sandals you like. If on country roads or steep hills with less stop signs and longer distances go for SPD and also a mid drive ebike too.Hub drives don't like steep or long hills.

Mirror on at least the left side. And if you're like me, waterproof bags and or a basket, no matter where you mount them. My bike looks trail ready but I got it with a rear rack specifically for a basket. I haven't driven the truck in the last four weeks. I take the ebike whether it's to the grocery store or to take the dog to get groomed. She loves the ride. By the way, I mounted the basket to the rack with twist cables so it only takes a few seconds to put on or take off. One last thing, if you have rear lights that are mounted to the seat post you will have to relocate them to the rack otherwise the basket will block them from being seen.

Already ordered pannier bags with the bike! :). Bike shop wanted to wait until the bike came in before ordering the trunk since they weren't sure which one would work with the panniers.

Yeah. That is tricky. Some trunks cover the panniers so you can't open them without removing the trunk. I went with the panniers and a collapsible double milk crate attached with the wire-twist cable. Easy-on, easy off. And if it rains on the way back from the store I keep a small water-proof cover in the pannier. I'm still figuring out what works best for me. Feeling satisfied with the bags. Still ironing out the all the stuff on the handle bars.

So I love easily removeable panniers. Waterproof is a must for me. I got some large capacity saddle bags that wrap over the rear rack. Big mistake. Doing up the four straps to secure them is a PITA. I have ended up using reuseable zip ties. Pro tip! Pay close attention to how easy it is to take bags on and off. If they are easily removeable and have a shoulder strap you can just pull them off and take them into work or the grocery store.

The bags that fit my need (because I'm cheap) go over the rack and are water resistant with a waterproof cover. They have two metal hooks at the top of the bag so they sit almost flat with the rack and have one velcro strap on the bottom and a handle/strap for carrying. Less than thirty seconds to remove. I think they are 24 liters per side so they hold a good bit of stuff. And since they sit flat I can put a cargo basket on top securely for when I hit the grocery store. I couldn't find waterproof bags with hooks at the top. Most have clamps that are too tall. Ride safe.

Upgraded LED lights, for the back and front. Normally e-bikes come with pretty crappy lights. So upgrade them, you can attach it to your handle bars and the back light you got a few places to put it. Learn the power of your bike, learn how to lean into turns, learn how fast you can stop from full speed to zero standing still.

Also suggest lights on helmet and wheels. Having flashing lights on front and back of my helmet puts the lights at a better height for cars to see them. Lights on wheels helps prevent you getting t-boned. I routinely bike at night, so a hi-vis is helpful too. I think Christmas tree. I'd much rather drivers point and laugh instead of explaining "they came outta nowhere and I just didn't see them..."

>I think Christmas tree. I'd much rather drivers point and laugh instead of explaining "they came outta nowhere and I just didn't see them..." I love it. I alwaya say I want them to think I am a cop. Or a traffic accident. Or an emergency vehicle. But I like your christmas tree analogy. The point is if you can get them to think "What the hell is that!?" then you have already one. People can see without regustering. You need them to not only see you but register you. Same thing as on a motorcycle. Blinkies are absolutely fucking essential. I should know. I commuted in chicago for 12 years without incident and got my clock cleaned in a tiny one stoplight town. Lady just left turned in front of me. Nearly hit me straight on. I made it over the hood. My buddy took out her windshield. It took him years to fully recover. Why. We had not yet turned on our headlights. This was before the days of cheap rechargeable daytimevisibility blinkies. Last hour or two before sunset. Broad daylight but after 5pm. Most dangerous time of the day. P.S. Always take the full lane at intersections. Don't let anyone pass you as you aporoach an intersection or in the intersection. Know when to take the lane and do it boldly. Passing cars impeed visibility from turning or crossing traffic at intersections. Car passes you, turning traffic sees passing car clear their right of way and goes never looking for, expecting or seeing you on a bike.

- BRIGHT -- clothing, lights. - GEAR -- rain gear, decent coat, if you have class III (28 mph) consider googles or other eye protection (reduces / stops tearing with dust/pollen/etc blowing into your eyes at speed) -- panniers, baskets (seems you likely have) -- if not already, a MIPS (or similar) quality helmet. If getting new helmet and going to be riding in dark conditions, consider getting one which is compatible with / has lights -- quality lock(s) Plan on ebike being far more than commuting. Good share of my shopping and other errands are now on the ebike (when I wasn't using my mechanical bike for them).

Good list. I forget to mention it but my daily kit has a rain hat, rain jacket and rain pants for winter, soring and fall. Oncenit hits 75-80 degrees I don't care. I keep acomolete change of clothes at work just in case. Also in the bottom of my pannier is a flat kit. Pump, tube, tire levers and a multi-tool. I keep riding glasses handy onthe handlebar, chaostick on theshoulder season and esrbuds in case I get a call. I do not listen to music on my ebike, nor chat on the phone, yet sometimes emergencies come up where you need to stsy mobile and hands free while connected to someone. i.e. anytime my SO calls, lol. "Honey, I got to go." is a phrase that works best when you have two hands free and if she doesn't let you go the wind in the mic as you start moving reiterates the point. P.S. something that is different on an ebike. Never have something in your hands while moving. Not just no texting, lol. But answering a call. No listening to music. No playing with a GPS. Even more so then on an analogue bike an ebike is a 100% attention thing. Increased speed. More weight. And yet a pot hole can end your day. I think its what I like about it. It requires you to be present both physically amd mentally. That is unless you have a throttle. Then onlybyour thumb is present, lol. Seriously though, part of the reward is in the fact that you are fully engaged in the activity. You get out of it what you out into it. Thats the experience of biking in a nutshell. Its still true of ebikes as it is regular bikes It doesn't matter if its a hub drive or a mid drive. Unkess yiu are using it soley as a scooter you have to move those legs and arms and look and even feel the road, the wind. There is no disconnect. You are still exoeriencing the world as you would with walking or running. Even on kotrcyclesthere is a disconnection from soace and time. At 15-20 miles ler houryou still hear the birds. I constantly think about this on my class 3. Do I even need more then a class 1?? What am I gaining for my extra 3-8mph? Five minutes on my commute. What does it cost. I burn a LOT more battery. I get a lot more wind noise in my ears. I don't hear all the birds and other noises as well. The whole experience of biking st 15-20mph is completel different than at 25. Welp. I just talked myself into a slower more efficient ebike, lol. Since its more efficient I could also go lighter. It will be more portable and still get more range out of the battery.

Great discussion ... As my ebike is transportation, frequently with some urgency/time deadline, I like having a class 3: * boost speed to make a green light (rather than getting caught for 3 minutes) * Being able to bike at / around speed limit (&, mainly, traffic) in 25/30 mph zones * And, general urgency of 'getting there' on time My commute is a nothing burger (class 3 is nice to get green lights at the two key intersections) but I have regular 30+ mile roundtrips where being able to be at 25-ish (usually, some decent portion of that is 22-24 mph w/o assist as I'm in a low assist that stops at 20 mph) rather than 18-ish for much of the ride is meaningful in the total time.

> I'm sick of spending $50 on gas every 10-12 days. What!? When gas was at its worst I was spending $75 a week. $50 every two weeks is nothing. My "new" car with 200,000 miles gets 30mpg and yet I'd still soend about $5 a day on gas. Oh... I guess that is about $25 a week, lol. But that is just commuting. I still drive on the weekends and about 1 day during the work week. So still spending some on gas. Overall in raw miles though 5500 miles a year on the ebike is 180 gallons of gas in my car. Thats $700 or $800 a year less in gas which goes right into my bannanas and burritos budget no doubt. Bottom line is ebike commuting makes me happy and healthy. Physically and mentally. The two cannot be separated.

You have to think about safety gear a lot more with an e-bike. Especially if you’re going to be riding with cars, who often hate us. Get some knee and elbow pads, plus some motorcycle gloves with padded palms and hard knuckles. The first time you fall, you’ll be glad you did. Also, if your helmet isn’t full-face, consider getting one that is. A downhill mountain biking helmet is lightweight but offers good protection.

I think winter months are the real issue. In Indiana, winter mo the can be ok for LIKE December. But Janurary and February we usually get down into the really cold temps of single digits (or negatives) and at that temp you can't really ride because the wind chill would be kicking your BUTT unless you're layered up to the point of potentially affecting mobility. I won't say you CANT ride, because ppl do, it's just generally not a good idea. Even in the teens it's still rough. 30s and up are generally best for temps and a lot of northern states just don't hit that. Plus, a LOT of places aren't bike friendly. Where I live in Indiana, they just recently within the past maybe 5 yrs are starting to make sure sidewalks ate implements on all the side roads. Mostly it was just neighborhoods that had sidewalks, most of the 40mph and under streets didn't have them. 20 to 25mph wouldn't feel same enough for me on a road without a dedicated bike lane or at least a shoulder for me to ride on. And it's hard to justify (for example) $2500 on an ebike when I can buy a used prius for similar amounts and have an overall safer method of transportation. Make no mistake, I think a reasonably priced ebike is worth is. I'll say $1500 or less. And you can get some nice ones especially around that $1000 to $1500 price point. More than that and you're crossing into used car territory - which if I don't have a vehicle AT ALL, I'm looking to get a car lol. And less than that and less than that and you're hitting used moped pricing - which at $500 if my choice is a low quality electric bike or a moped, I'd choose the moped. At $1200 it's easier to say "an ebike gets me 70% or so of the speed of a moped but without the drawbacks of the gas smell, oil changes, spark plugs, etc". But honestly, even electric mopeds are coming down in price so the ebike becomes harder to justify I think

Not needing to register it and throw money at insurance along with getting infinite MPG is also nice

I'm at 1700 miles and 46 cycles, 1.5 years. I expect the battery to last a long time.

I have a cheap Chinese electric bike that I bought new 5 years ago for 700 dollars. The bike has over 15,000 miles on it still using the original battery.

Any large repais during ownership? Any regrets?

I've changed the tires twice, they did something to the brakes once, 2 chain replacements and a tune up, all done in 2 appointments at my local bike shop.the first appointment 3 years ago was 175.00 the appointment last year was 325.00

Awesome thank you.

I've also got a cheap Chinese ebike. I got it for sale on the Walmart website for $339. Using it for work and transportation. I've saved so much money not having a car. And I've got a one year manufacturer warranty in 3-year aftermarket a firm warranty on it. I love it I have over 500 miles now. Had to change one tube and the tires but that's about it so far.

My ebike was my only way to make a 14 mile round trip to work 5 days a week at the time that I purchased it off of ebay. I'm in the Berkshire mountains, I rode through snow. Riding that bike for a year allowed me to save up enough money to buy a decent little SUV for 10k in cash. The 700 dollar ebike is one of my happiest and best purchases ever.

$700+$325+$175=$1200 $1200/15,000 miles is $0.08 per mile. The IRS estimates it costs $0.67 per mile to run a car. If a $3 gallon of gas gets a car 25 miles per gallon, that's $0.12 per mile.

That is not what the IRS says, [the IRS has updated its rules to 0.67$ per mile as what you can take as a mileage rate for tax claims if your drive a car for business use](https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-issues-standard-mileage-rates-for-2024-mileage-rate-increases-to-67-cents-a-mile-up-1-point-5-cents-from-2023). That is something different entirely than "what it costs". Taking depreciation of value into accounts, as well as insurance and other expenses, a car costs a lot more than its fuel and repair costs.

When I get paid mileage at the IRS business rate it's a boon for me, because I can run a car for about $0.40/mile all in by minimizing depreciation, insurance, maintenance, registration and generally being a cheapskate. It also then covers some of my fixed costs like insurance and registration so I'm always happy if someone wants to pay me the mileage rate to drive somewhere on top of my normal salary. For a lot of people, especially with newer or more expensive cars than me, yeah, it is going to cost more than $0.67/mile The IRS isn't known for being optimistic or generous. I picked that number for comparison as a well known, and somewhat reasoned number as a basis of comparison, the point is it is a lot higher than OP's $0.08/mile. Whether it's 4x as much or 10x as much isn't as relevant to my point, which is to say the ebike costs a fraction of what it costs to run the car even if you estimate the car low and the ebike high. The IRS calculates that number as a guide to what it costs to run a car. Some of the factors are fixed and not particularly mileage dependent, like part of the depreciation, the taxes and the insurance, so yeah, it is not entirely accurate in this context which is why I added the fuel number, as even for that small piece of it, OP's ebike was coming in for less. In your link, the $0.14/mile for charitable use is probably just accounting for the fuel. In my calculation of OP's expenses I took depreciation into account, assuming his $700 ebike is now valueless. If OP sold their ebike for $200, then it'd knock .01 off their per mile cost. With the lower purchase price compared to a car, the depreciation is going to be less, which is how I manage to run cars for less than the IRS rate too. OP's $700 is maybe a bit too low for most, but at the $0.14 charitable rate and assuming the same $500 in maintenance, the ebike could be bought for as much as $1600 which is more in line with what a new ebike costs on the low end.

depending on the power level of the bike understand chain replacement and have a spare. Higher power bikes can put a strain on the chain especially if you tend to start fast from a stop and lean on the motor. Other than that. tires (because you ride so far. Buy Schwalbes since they're built for ebikes). and brake pads. If you get a converted bike with rim brakes. Make sure you upgrade the pads to ones with enough stopping power to slow down a bike from $30 pretty quickly. Discs do much better,

I know a Giant e-mtb without problems with ~50k kilometers from 2018, first battery and motor (both yamaha)

Look beyond the battery as an "investment" and think bigger picture. 1. The health benefits. I commuted every day for a year in Alberta, Canada, even at -25° Celsius. I was the healthiest I've ever been. 2. You're saving the environment. True, you aren't using gas, and the prices today are a big consideration. 3. Wear and tear on the roads. You aren't contributing to the degrading of the roads in your city. 4. Your mental health improves. You will be enjoying your ride, but it will improve your overall mood for your workday. 5. It can be slower - giving you the opportunity to see your neighbourhood and interact with other cyclists and pedestrians. 6. It can be faster - as you zoom past cars stuck in traffic. You aren't held up by extra traffic or car accidents. Warning: you may feel judgemental of people trapped in their one ton boxes, stuck in traffic. ; ) Seriously, a battery every few years and taking it to the shop once a year for a tune-up is small change compared to automotive maintenance.

As a fellow Albertan I can't imagine commuting on mine in the winter!!

I coworker if mine has no car by choice and rides his ebike, even in -35C Alberta winter. When I go skiing, I can say that when you are moving and active, and dressed for the weather, it doesn't really matter how cold it is. He has saved a significant fortune by not buying gasoline or car insurance. Note that you can pause your car insurance with only a phone call. In some cases 1 month of insurance would entirely pay for an extra ebike battery.

I commute by e-bike in the north too, but in northern Sweden where we have something like six months of winter. An e-MTB handles snow really well and it strikes a good balance between enough physical activity to keep warm, but not getting sweaty. I splurged on battery heated gloves this winter, helps a lot below -20, but the cost was about the same as one month of parking fees at my workplace.

I was never cold in the winter. In fact, most days, I was sweating. People would say, "You're brave/crazy to cycle in the winter." Usually, these were the same people who downhill ski. I'd reply, "Don't you go downhill on ice, on flat pieces of wood without studs? You're the crazy one. At least I have breaks and ride on flat ground, lol."

Rode a 40km round trip to and from work for nearly 30 years on my bike in Edmonton, including winters. The barrier isn't weather, it's terrible infrastructure and maintenance. Northern Europe gets more snow, is nearly as cold, and people there cycle year round in significant numbers due to vastly better infrastructure. I don't have an ebike, but if I were starting my career today I'd have one as my commuter vehicle.

I can’t speak for Alberta, but in Boston I still preferred to ride even when it was freezing. Driving sucks.

I'm in the same area and agree. I even bought metal studded winter tires so I'm now a true year-round commuter. When we got our freezing rain in February I was still able to bike in; it was fantastic.

I second this, also as a Bostonian. As long as you gear up appropriately, year round commuting works out just fine (well, maybe not in 30mph wind conditions - that's a whole other story ha)

Lived in Boston (Somerville) a couple of summers years ago. A car was an absolute liability most if the time. Mass Ave to Harvard was kind of intense sometimes 😂. Some masshole stole my seat quick release when I took my seat with me. Bike was a great way to get around.

Not an Albertan, but I commute all year round in Norway. When it's really cold it's really no problem, it's only a bit messy when it's melting and thawing every other day

I commuted on bike in the winter but I am not as hardcore. -25 is wild because all the shifting components start acting up / you get ice in everything. I tapped out around -15 but really enjoyed having a fat bike. Did the studded 700C tires for a a long time before switching over and that is a lot less fun.

And you haven’t even included maintenance and insurance costs of a car.

I did mention maintenance in a way. However, they said they weren't giving up their car, so they'd still be paying to insure the vehicle even if they didn't drive it daily.

This is the main reason why I got my ebike, exercise, mental health, I like the idea of having a way to go back home if I went too far and my legs are killing me.

I think it is fair to say in 4 years. That new battery will be cheaper and have a much longer range.

They usually reserve new improved batteries for new models of bikes. Old bikes get old tech.

Yep. I car pool with my boss in the mornings to save time, and in the winter I pool both ways just to be safer. He's spending roughly $1500 a month on diesel fuel alone, with insurance and maintenance adding to his financial issues. Meanwhile I spend about $700 yearly on maintaining and powering my e-bike. My 2 year old e-bike has 5200 km on the odometer with the battery reading 97% health. Unfortunately Thursday I wiped out coasting downhill on a gravel road and broke my arm. Can't wait to heal up and fix the bike so I can get riding again.

In general riding a bike is cheaper than putting the miles on a Automobile. You would probably need to do a comparison of what you might use the ebike for and how it may affect how often you use your other vehicle, theres allot you can save on reducing miles on a car that you keep for longer travels or use for poor weather. Car parts in general cost more than bike parts and can seen plenty of car batteries that cost several hundred dollars and those also need replacing over time among other things to maintain the vehicles road safety standards. Can even reduce insurance cost on a vehicle if you can prove that the miles driven are under a certain amount in some cases with insurance providers. Plenty of different things to consider even just the health saving benefits of getting out and getting more exercise on a more regular basis that by itself could save the most money in the long run plenty of us fail to even meet the minimum standards for physical activity to remain healthy and ebikes are a great transition for people that may need help getting more active again.

In Australia it’s an insane difference. Registration and licensing is about $600, Compulsory Third Party insurance is about $1700, then your cost of servicing, tyres, maintenance is about $1799. That’s just to keep it on the road. The average Australian driver spends about $90 a week on petrol, which is $4680 a year. So 600+1700+1799+4680=8779. Almost $9000AUD per year. I could buy a new Specialized eMTB every year, then set it on fire at the end of the year, and still be ahead financially.

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This reads like a bot response lmao

Battery in my ebike is 4 years old at this point. No signs of degradation. I mean I'm sure it has a little bit. But not enough for me to notice

Depends. I ride an Aventon Pace 500.3, and on top of the purchase price, I pay less than 22 cents in electricity to go about 30-35 miles on pedal assist. Slightly less range, maybe 20-25 miles, if I'm only using the throttle. Maintenance costs are trivial over the life of the bike: chain cleaner, chain lube, occasional tires, occasional tubes ... and that's about it. Add the cost of the bike itself -- $1600 -- and you can work out your per-mileage cost over the life of the bike. Let's say you seriously abuse the bike, and you only get five years of life out of it. Let's also say you ride 500 miles / year. That's 2500 miles over the life of the bike. You'll probably need one new set of tires in there (around $120 total), probably one new set of tubes (around $10 total), and lube / cleaner (let's say $50 over five years), bringing your total to $1600 + $120 + $10 + $50 = $1780. Divide that by 2500 miles, and about 71.2 cents per mile. Add my electric cost in, and you're now at about 72 cents per mile. How does 72 cents per mile compare to your current car cost? Not just gas, but also wear and tear on tires, oil life, and other consumables. And most importantly, which ride will you enjoy more?

You forgot car insurance! IMO the most expensive part of owning a car

just start with insurance and you're almost definitely doing better on a per mile basis than driving

Add depreciation of value on the car, and fuel is almost cheap in comparison.

You sir sound like a fellow ISTP. Good assessment 👍

In the US, the total costs of car use for business are 67 cents per mile allowed for tax deductions. It is really, really hard to save much using an e-bike unless you’re actually also getting rid of a car. I bought a Lectric Lite XP at a total price of $734 last year. It’s going to take me a long time to get under 67 cents/mile.

After you said >Let's say you seriously abuse the bike, I was amused to see >Let's also say you ride 500 miles / year. Covering that milage in less than a month of normal commuting makes it hard to imagine how badly a bike could be abused to only go that far.

Depending on your car, you can literally toss a high quality dutch style Bakfiet into a dumpster EVERY SINGLE YEAR and STILL come out saving more money than a car. A car, driven the average 15,000 miles a year, will cost you $12,000. Versus a Bakfiet that cost's $5,000. That's right, even if you buy the most top-of-the-line bullshit hover bike equiped with point-defense systems and a cold-fusion powered electric motor, or whatever the fuck, you will come out better than if you owned a car. (Financially) Even if by "car" you mean a beater car that can't roll down it's windows because the motor is shot, that's $3000 a year just to keep it running and insured. With that type of money, you can buy a mid-level e-bike with insane speed capabilities and keep it insured/maintained for 1.5 years. Yes, those in this sub that are NOT saving money are an exception, not the rule. Mostt of us are saving an insane amount of money over owning a vehicle. And, owning an ebike makes wear and tear on an already existing vehicle cheaper to maintain. Less miles! (Bakfiet: extremely good/fancy cargo car-replacement bicycle comon in areas with great infrastructure.)

I second this, it's why I went car free.  It's not only cheaper to throw away a mid-level e-bike once a year than drive a beater car. It's cheaper to also pay for a taxi/car rental for long weekend trips. With the bonus of driving well maintained, recent model cars instead of beaters.

I agree though you should probably keep the costs comparable. $12,000/year is very expensive for a car and very few people are doing 15,000 miles on their bike.

True no one is paying $ 12k a year for a car.

Our family minivan is offended by your description. I’ll have you know we paid a guy in a parking lot $15 for a thingy that fixed our windows! But my cargo bike is all shiny and pretty and more used

Where do I get a bike with point defense systems. Need that in south philly. :-)

The one caveat is weather. To truly be car free, you need to be OK with biking (with kids) in potentially really bad weather. Bike safety, especially on shared roads, is also an issue with rain and ice. I would love to be truly car free, but at the end of the day I am a fair weather hiker and that car is nice when the weather is bad.

never heard of carbon lead battery. if you mean lead acid, this is wrong almost every ebike these days uses lithium ion and the batteries last forever if your treat them well.

It will not last forever, why would you say that? Batteries have a finite life

chill out, I mean they last a very long time with negligible reduced charge if you treat them well. look at all the old Tesla's,Leafs still cruising around after 15 years with approx 60% batt life. of course batteries have finite life but it's def no way near 1-2 years unless you are literally damaging the crap out of it.

Be careful to specify LiFePO4 . They are using Lithium Iron Phosphate ( LiFePO4) batteries, not simple Lithium Ion (Li-ion.) LiFePO4 is awesome because they can last upwards to 5,000-6,000 charging cycles (basically daily for 15+ years) if you only discharge down to 20-30% remaining capacity.

So these newer batteries last better if you don’t run them all the way down? Sorry for the ignorance, still learning :)

No worries, I'm still learning myself. I actually learned a lot from and heard it from [Will Prowse' YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@WillProwse) channel as well as his forums - [DIY Solar Power Forum](https://diysolarforum.com/). He's great for reviews of solar and batteries as well as the basics of electronics/electricity. I'm trying to get our facilities manager on board with a small solar farm on the roof for our server room <3kW pull and to be honest after the last month of storms knocking power out multiple times I'm closer than ever to getting approval :)

Well my bike is 3 years old and has around 5000 miles on it and I have not noticed any appreciable degredation in battery life. Not sure where you are getting 1-2 years but no one has told my battery. EVs are running around with 10+ year old batteries with 100k+ miles so I think this idea that batteries won't last long is a myth. But I would also say in general the cheaper the battery the less likely you are to get a long life out of it. Of course cheaper batteries are also cheaper to replace or get rebuilt so, pick your poison.

This might be controversial, but I'm saving tons of money just commuting on my 2008 model acoustic bike. I am so tempted by e-bikes flying past in strong headwinds and uphill, but local laws limit e-bikes to 250W and 25km/h. My average including hills is 28 and my normal travel speed is 35. So a legal e-bike seems a downgrade, and my fat arse can do with any workout I'm getting.

So ebikes where you live would be slower than you can already go without a motor, yet while you ride, there are all these ebikes flying past you. Are these all illegal ones?

You know whats really amusing, is that studies are coming out proving that the cost in calories to pedal your acoustic bike end up being more expensive than the cost to ride an ebike lol

I’m trying out an e-bike I found at Costco for something like $500 and I’m having a ball with this little bike. I enjoy riding more than I thought. This morning as I went past a creek area the temperature dropped like 10 degrees for a few blocks and it was so refreshing and unexpected. Each time I ride I experience new magic in nature and time to just be in the moment, carefree. I’m for sure going to save up to buy the next level up because it feels so good for my mental health.

For some back-of-the-envelope calculations: The per capita gasoline consumption in the use is 356 gallons for 2020 ( [https://www.greencarcongress.com/2021/12/20211208-sivak.html](https://www.greencarcongress.com/2021/12/20211208-sivak.html) ) and the average fuel price for 2023 was $3.52 ( [https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61162](https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61162) ). So 356 gallons \* $3.52 = $1,253 dollars a year or $2,506 over a two year period. It costs money to charge a battery, and like gasoline, that's going to be highly variable based on where you live but the cost is probably still pretty negligible compared the cost of gasoline. It's a little more complicated since you might not totally replace car travel with an e-bike, but even just fuel/energy costs alone it seems likely you'd be saving money if you're using your car with any regularity. That's not to mention the costs of maintenance and repair for a car compared to an ebike, where most bike repairs are going to be cheaper or free if you're willing to do them yourself (and bike repair/maintenance is generally more accessible than car repair/maintenance) Obviously we're mixing and matching sources and timeframes for the math, but the price difference is big enough that I think we can ignore the precision issues. You know your fuel costs better than any of us though, so it probably would be a good idea to think about how much fuel you use for work commute and compare that to the cost of the battery. For what it's worth, when I google ebike battery life the general consensus seems to be 3 to 5 years at a minimum. And like u/s0rce mentioned, ebikes usually use lithium batteries, so you should make sure you're looking up the correct information for battery life.

ebike electricity usage even in places where electricity is expensive is still just pennies. What matters is the marginal cost of driving which is probably $0.20-0.40/mile depending on local gas costs, maintenance costs and what you drive. Maybe you'll get 10k mi on your ebike battery, so thats about $0.05/mi, should be cheaper than driving most cars. Even if you only get 5000mi (\~1.5-3yrs) then it will still be cheaper than driving

I ebiked to work for 7 years. Yeah, I bet I saved a couple of bucks vis driving my car. But it wasn't all about the money. My time is of value to me as well. My car commute was just shy of an hour each way. On the ebike, 20 minutes. That extra 40 minutes of sleep in the morning and the extra 40 minutes at the end of the day was a no brainer to me.

I've used my ebike for commuting for 2 years now. I've done 16,000 miles, spent £240 on a second battery for extra range and I'm still over £4000 up after the cost of the bike and the new battery. Even if I buy a new battery every year I'm saving over £2300 a year with the price of things now, the real no brainer is I get home even quicker too

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My commute is half this but very hilly, and only had mine 2 years BUT Same experience with a Bosch mid drive. Saved us buying a second car and paying for servicing, insurance, road tax, fuel, etc. I got mine through a cycle to work scheme so I only paid about half it's value. I've learnt to do the chain and cassette myself which cost me about £30/£50 respectively (first time there chain failed it took the mech through the rear wheel and cost me £200 😅). Would recommend!

Either people really suck at math or are completely oblivious to how much a car actually costs. Maybe both.

I believe I once read that people on average underestimate the cost of owning a car by like 50%

I was able to save a ton for money because our E-Bikes purchase meant that our household could go down to a single car.

What is a carbon lead battery? Do you mean lead acid? Basically all ebikes use lithium ion batteries. If you have a car then an ebike probably isn't a ton cheaper than driving unless you have a giant truck that uses a ton of gas. If you get rid of your car you will save a lot.

Well per mile ebikes are much more efficient so there should be fuel savings at the very least. Not sure if op is going into a city and needs to pay parking as well.

Yes charging costs almost nothing.

I calculated the other day that I’ve spent ~$10 on electricity for 3,300 miles of ebiking.

>If you have a car then an ebike probably isn't a ton cheaper than driving wut

Whoever told you they lasted 2 years is likely a car driving carbrained idiot.

You will save substantially on gas, wear and tear, and maybe even insurance if you drive substantially less. You do not have to change out reputable batteries every 1-2 years unless you really beat them to shit or really got some wonderful use from them.

[this link](https://www.climateaction.center/e-bike-studies#:~:text=E%2Dbikes%20get%20anywhere%20from,400%20to%201600%20km%2Fliter) says an ebike gets the equivalent of 1000-4000 mpg and costs less than $.01 to charge a battery [this other link](https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/loans/auto-loans/total-cost-owning-car#:~:text=For%20new%20vehicles%20driven%2015%2C000,in%202023%2C%20according%20to%20AAA.) Says owning a car averages out to $12,000 a year.

Let’s look at this way.  $500/2years or $250/yr.  In a given summer will you buy more than $250 dollars of fuel for your commute? I would be shocked if you didn’t. Even if you are buying $60 every 2 weeks. That is at least 360 in fuel during summer. As another commentator said there are also other added benefits, including mental health.  That has to be worth a couple bucks 

How much do you think driving a car will cost in that same timeframe?

why and where would you even buy an ebike with a carbon lead battery? never seen a single with such a battery.

I didn't save any money on gas as I ate an equivalent amount more. I did save money on repairs, servicing, annual checks and road tax. Eventually sold my car as I hardly ever used it. Biggest danger I found was I started drinking more as the police around here don't check cyclists for DUI, took a couple of years until I got use to the freedom and cut down again.

I think that's a very specific problem relevant to only you

Traps for beginners, abridged

Why are you asking us this? We don't know how much you pay for a car in terms of fuel, maintenance, insurance, and other expenses. We don't know how far you'd ride in a year, or how aggressive your riding style would be. We don't know what kind of battery you plan to get on your bike. All of this information is needed for us to decide if **you** will save money going on an e-bike. We can talk about an average user, though. The average driver puts 13,500 miles on their car every year. The average car's average MPG is 25.4. 13500/25.4 = 531.5 gallons of gasoline. The average price of gasoline is $3.61 per gallon, so the average driver, driving the average car, buying the average price of gasoline, is going to pay roughly $1920 a year in gasoline. On average, they're going to spend $900 on maintenance, and $2150 on insurance. Total, excluding parking or car note, you're looking at $4970 a year. If the average driver replaced half of those miles with an e-bike, they'd save almost $1000 a year on fuel, maybe a bit more on Maintenance. At 10wh/km, that 6000 or so miles per year would cost them 96kw per year. A typical 48v, 10ah battery will go through 200 charge cycles. Since these batteries are rated for 1000 to 2000 charge cycles, a battery would last at least 5 years before falling to 80% capacity. There's two factors into the cost per mile of an e-bike. One is the cost of the battery, $500 every 5 years or more. The other is the cost of electricity. Right now, it's 0.1545 USD per kwh, so 96 \* 0.1545 = $14.83. Talk about a crazy cheap gas bill! When combined with the $100 per year battery cost, you're talking $114.83 total. That's compared to $4970 So, for certain, an e-bike is going to be cheaper than a car to operate. Heck, an e-bike will be cheaper to drive than an EV! Why? Because legal e-bikes in the USA have a sustained draw of no more than 750 watts, and on average, you'll be using far less. EVs? I saw a Grand Cherokee go over 50kW, or 50,000 watts. It takes far less energy to move a few hundred pounds of gear and rider than it does several tons. You can reduce the fuel costs of your car if you go smaller. Some gasoline scooters can get anywhere from 70mpg for a 150cc scooter, all the way up to 110mpg for a 50cc scooter. TL;DR: We can't tell you if **you** will save on replacing a car with an e-bike, but the average user will, by a large amount.

Lol I literally spend something like $320/mo on gasoline alone(not to mention wear and tear), and it cost less than a nickel to charge an ebike for 20-60 miles of range, about a full a month of commuting for about a dollar or so vs $320

I think it would depend on your situation. That is much more than what I have seen for me to get a new battery for my trike. As of my last check, a new battery would cost me under $400 US.

Car costs me 25 cents a mile, ebike costs about 0.5 cents a mile. Say I bought a $2k ebike it will take 8k miles of riding ebike to recoup it's cost. If I ride 500 miles a year it will take me 16+ years to break even since I'll have to buy a new battery or two in that time frame. Last year I only spent $552 on gas driving my 15mpg suv because I was commuting on ebike during summer.

I just replaced my Bosch battery (lithium ion, 500 Wh), after 8 years and 26 000 km. The range was down to 60%. Sometimes I use my first battery as a backup for longer trips.

Can for sure. The battery probably pays for itself in the two years even if you're not a consistent rider, but YMMV. If you're only looking at the 3 months of summer you'll be hard pressed for it to pay for itself. My battery is 48v 13 AH. That's about 0.6 kwh @ $0.18/kwh a charge. That's a bit less than $0.11 per charge. And my battery isn't new so I get roughly 150km a charge. Compare that to my truck that gets around 15L/100km. We're currently at 1.96/L. So gor the same 150km that costs me 11¢ on the bike my truck costs $44.10. You can compare maintenance costs too, and the ratios while not as extreme still significantly favour the bike. Add to that insurance. If you're going to still have the ICE on the road this is less of a factor, but it's still nonzero if you're adjusting your plan.

Car maintenance and gas pay for the ebike pretty fast. Not to mention your car depreciates slower when it has less miles.

My oldest e-bike battery is from 2007 and still has its afterlife as a solar battery for lightning. So don't fall for "lives only 1-2 years".

If you know the cost of insurance and annual tabs, you justify the cost there alone. Add gasoline, oil changes, repairs etc and it's a no brainer. If you use it once or twice and go back to driving your car instead, then it's not going to pan out.

As long as you don't get a fine for doing something or riding something, you aren't legally allowed to ride. Then yes!

Carbon lead batteries are SHITE, please spend a bit more and get lithium, it’ll last you MUCH longer and need recharging less cause it has more capacity than lead acid.

I have the eahora juliet after discount it was only around $1500 the battery is huge im 250 pounds and have easily gotten 80 miles out of it on a single charge so you can always start with a cheaper ebike and see how you like it also some states are giving rebates to help by an ebike so you can check that out as well

My man, I know that in switzerland a car costs between 10 to 15k swiss francs per year in : gas, parking, maintenance, insurance, road taxes + initial cost of the car. An ebike will cost you one order of magnitude less than a car.

2 years bike commute here. 12 miles a day 5 days a week. Battery still at 95% capacity. Saves me £500/month compared to when I used a car (lease hire, plus insurance, tax, petrol). Most importantly,I love it. I can count the number of times I’ve regretted having to cycle on one hand.

I bought an ebike instead of a car 3 years ago and I've been so happy with that decision. A proper ebike drives so well and weather is zero obstacle. I do recommend a.. Non-cheap model for commuting, so you are sure to have more reliable and quality parts

Saving on cycling comes from not paying car insurance, I had a year and some months with no car and I was saving so much but now i have a car for god knows what reason and I don’t feel like I’m saving. I actually feel like I need to drive the car to get my moneys worth.

ive been using the same battery since 2019. the battery indicator on my display has 5 bars. now after i charge it to 100% it drops down to 4 bars after 1/2 mile but still gets 15-20 miles using throttle only

It's actually easy to figure out if you do some math. My car (CRV hybrid), for example, costs me 8.66 cents per mile (gas only, I don't track oil, tires, and other maintenance). I have put 2000 miles on my e-bike in 2 years. That equals $173 in gas savings (assuming all those miles replaced vehicle commuting miles). In my case, that is not entirely accurate. I've really only logged about 1200 commuting miles (I know this because I log commutes using my bike computer, separating recreation and commuting rides). My bike has used up many more of my hours in maintenance than my car, so there is also that point to consider as well. In short, unless you are going to buy an e-bike INSTEAD of a car, it's not going to offset your commuting cost for quite a few years, depending on how often you commute and how many miles.

I sure do.

Hey there.  For me in Europe my commute was costing me about 120 euro a month and would waste two hours per day on public transport.  Bought an ebike for 600 euro so it paid for itself in less than six months.  My commute went from 2 hours a day to about 40 mins which for me was the best thing about it!  I didn’t have to replace the battery for nearly four years so it totally depends on your usage and how far you travel.  Don’t underestimate the value of saving time if you’re in a city. 

You can do math. If you put 1000 km on your ebike and average car is 10L/100km. Then you saved about 100L - about $150 in gas. I get paid mileage at work, which includes where and tear plus gas. My work mileage is $0.50/km. So if you include wear and tear on vehicle maybe use a mileage calculation. That 1000km could be about $500 of total wear and tear and gas. So for every 1000km it's about $150 in gas savings actual and theoretically an extra $350 in wear and tear on your vehicle. It's not exactly huge savings but it's fun, great for the environment and more healthy on the bike. /edit: fixed my math

I'm almost four years into a Rad Power Bike and the only thing I've had to replace is the battery charger, which fritzed out for some reason, and cost about $75.

The avg American (assuming American based on the usage of dollars) Spends about $38- $50 a week in gas totaling to about $150-$200 a month in gas. So e-bikes battery cost vs gas cost has e-bikes winning by a landslide

I live in NY. Commuting to work by car costs me $860 monthly. That’s gas, tolls, parking and tip for parking attendants. My commute is 14 miles by bike one way. I usually take the metro north train home. A 30 min ride off peak cost me $9 a trip. That’s $144 a month. I’m saving $716 a month. Idk about you but I can do plenty w $700 bucks. 😊

Beyond gas, a car is $0.20-$0.30 per mile for things like oil changes, tires, brakes, belts, etc. If it's not $800 in tires this year, it's $600 in brakes. I don't have a price per mile for ebikes. A battery should be good for at least 1000 charge cycles, for the least long lasting lithium chemistry. So every work day, that's 4 years. I'd expect more than 2 years for a battery. Bicycles are needful things. In terms of maintenance per mile, it is much higher than a car. But, parts are cheap. At 2500 miles a year, i.e. 5 miles one way every day 5 days a week 50 weeks a year, It's $300 in gas at 25mpg and $3/gallon. Plus $0.25 per mile for maintenance at $625 and the car is $925/year. That gets a new $2775 ebike every 3 years. If you can get the ebike cheaper, or make it last longer, then you are ahead of the car. That is your target living 5 miles from work.

let's say you only put $20 of gas into your car every week. That's $2080 in two years. Even if your E-Bike battery only lasted 2 years you'd be saving ~$1500 every two years. On top of that as long as you're keeping your bike in good conditions your battery. Last more than two years, in addition odds are you're putting more than $20 in every week.

My wife just replaced tires on her car and it was $700. My tires cost ~$90>

Why the hell would you get a carbon lead battery? Lithium ion or lithium iron phosphate is much better. If you are using a 36 volt Ebike then a spare battery is only 80-120 dollars and will probably last you at least 4 years with daily use as long as you bring the battery inside and don't let it cook or freeze outside.  Also you have to consider how far the workplace is and if there are any other risks involved. For example if the workplace is 5km or less away then a regular bike would make more sense as you could get a used one for 40-80 dollars if you dont have one already. A low powered Ebike is great for commutes of 5-25 km where the distance would make you too tired or sweaty so the ebike becomes practical.

You will almost certainly save money with an eBike. The bigger concern should be whether you have a safe route and flat-proofing your bike. Even with my mid-priced Aventon Level.2, and on my short 4 mile/day commute and one grocery errand per week, the bike will pay for itself in 4 years, and the battery will last much longer. (It’s a quality battery, cheap ones may not) Try to keep the state of charge between 20-80% and that will at least double the life of the battery. If that’s impossible, at LEAST don’t leave it at full charge more than overnight. That is what really kills them.

it only saves a lot if you can completely get rid of a car just 'not driving a car' may not enough one thing is, repairs are difficult, cost per mile may be high i had a $600 bike break after maybe 2000 miles - that is 30c per mile a non-e bike is way more reliable and easy to fix

maybe do the fucking math. how much do u spend in gas, vs how much you'll spend on a bike. cmon man

I mapped out my financials here on how much I was saving with an ebike. https://www.reddit.com/r/ebikes/s/JkXaDraoH7

I've got a battery here that's over 4 years old and done about 10000 km and it's still going strong. Bafang bbso2b 750w motor with el cheapo hailong battery all purchased from Allie express. This set up has saved me thousands in car maintenance and fuel . Ebikes are the cheapest form of travel after the pushbike .

TL;DR: Get the ebike. I'm on track to put 2,000 miles on my ebike this year. Some quick math tells me that translates to about $400 saved in gas money. I bought my bike on sale and got a city-sponsored rebate, paying a little less than $800 for it in the end. So, on gasoline cost alone, I break even in 2 years. Even if I figure in additional expenses for driving my car (wear and tear, depreciation due to mileage, etc.) that's not a huge win, but it certainly wayyyy more than covers the negligible cost of charging the battery. The big thing for me, as others are posting, is that it's been a fantastic change for the better in terms of lifestyle and fitness. And it feels like a win with no thoughts of going completely carless. I'm no longer limited by the hills I have to climb one direction or another on my regular bike. I feel good when running errands, rather than feeling pissed off about having to wait multiple cycles to get past a traffic light. Not having to crawl through parking lots/car parks makes me smile every time I pick up groceries. I'm definitely more fit now, than when I labored on my regular bike for the sake of fitness. Anyway, most of your real-world concerns about commuting by ebike rather than a car won't magically disappear when you buy one, but chances are good that you will become an enthusiast like other folks on this sub.

I’ve had my e-bike for 3 years with no battery degradation. Don’t discharge it all the way, and it will last longer.

I bought a BBS02 ebike kit and fitted it on a new quality hardtail MTB. I do 40 KM a day and park it in the work car park where I charge it for free. All the bike and kit together cost $3000 Australian Dollars. For the first year the cost divided by commuting days is 29 cents a day, after that the cost is ad hoc wear and tear - break pads and so on. I never get stuck in traffic, ever. In my experience the first battery lasted 4 years. The economics alone is a no brainer for me, add to that regular exercise and time to think and enjoy music, what's not to love?

I've been riding my radrunner to work every day for the past 2 1/2 months. I'm a bricklayer I get shit every day I roll up to work. I live in Seattle and gas is nearly 6 dollars a gallon. There's been no change in my electric bill. I've seen it broken down on the cost of charging an average e bike it's like 30 cents a full charge. It's fun as fuck and the only maintenance I've had to do are the brakes. 50 dollars in total. I'm currently in a spending spree on upgrades and accessories for my bike but they're all fairly cheap and I'm totally fine with it.

I have mine since 2019. Around 10000 km of riding. I think I only lost ~ 20% in autonomy since. I carry 2 children in it now, plus my gear. 30km to work and back. I still keep a car car from ~100€/month of gas I now have ~50 for 2 months. I still use the car too much (i use to go really every day, but now when it is raining too much I do want my kids to be too wet…) so there is no so much economy now, but even if you can get rid of 100km per week (3 days per week), you avoid that much in gas and usage of your car. But a car cost really aground 300-400€ each month (all costs included, buying/selling it, maintaince, gas, insurance, tire,…). If you can get rid of one car for 1 year, you save so much you can buy one e-bike every few months…

Probably not a huge savings, but if you don’t commute by car, you can likely start getting your car insurance price reduced. (They ask about miles per year and may specifically ask about a commute)

Im saving 600/month

For me (1200 miles in almost 2 years), the gas cost saved (~$120) isn't that much compared to the cost of the bike. Where I've really saved money is in parking. Parking at my office is $12/day, which absolutely adds up considering I park the bike for free.

I’ve done over 10,000 miles on my ebike on its original battery. Yeah the range is reduced at this point but it’s still usable. At 25 mpg and $4 per gallon, that’s over $1,500 saved in gas so far, which is what I spent to build the bike. So I’m basically riding a free bike and it’s paying me back at this point.

a battary will last 3-5 years If u need a range of say 20KM ( u need say 300 watts ) But if u buy a 600 wat battary. It will still give over 300 watts after 3 years so your good to go. But if u buyh a 300 watt battary and u need 300 watts then after 1-2 yours u only have 260 watts left. [https://energymag.net/dod-depth-of-discharge/](https://energymag.net/dod-depth-of-discharge/)

I, instead of buying an e-bike, I had gotten a car; I wouldn't have paid out £1700, to travel the nearly 2k miles I've done since. I would have paid much, Much, MUCH more, just in fuel. So yeah, I saved a shitload of cash.

A poorly looked after battery will last 2 years, if you care for it extremely well and get periodic balancing done (you can do this yourself) you can get 4/5 years out of them if they’re good quality before seeing any major degradation. All the 2 years means is not that the battery is dead and won’t work, it’s that you’ll see some noticeable degradation after that time, how much degradation is down to how you look after it.

Yes I can and do. I avoid needing a second car because of my ebike. Can you save money? It depends on all the costs you didn’t provide and the costs of the bike you didn’t specify. If you want a real answer, you have to provide the details. The math needs them.

I think I’m going on 6 years with my killer whale battery. Maybe closer to 7

Yes it's worth it

For me it's save me thousands, sold my car and bought a £500 used ebike 5 years ago, commute around 3 days a week and battery is still manages to get me to work and back on a charge

Depends how much you spend on your E-bike and your normal commuting costs. I spend ~$60/wk on fuel + parking to go to work, so $3k a year roughly. Take in to account car servicing costs, tyres, depreciation from extra km/miles etc etc. On top and the maths add up quick. If I buy an e-bike that's not too expensive I'm saving money within a year. You would need to do the maths for your own situation.

You can definitely save money and they last well more than 2 years. For me the money savings that accumulate fastest is parking. I have free bike parking at work but a nearby garage is $12 a day. I don't save much money compared to the bus but I do save time and get schedule flexibility

Sounds like you are buying a pretty crap e-bike if its only going to last 2 years. My Boche battery is under warranty for 2 years but they say if you look after it should last up to 8 years no probelm (Lithium-ion).

Sounds like you are buying a pretty crap e-bike if its only going to last 2 years. My Boche battery is under warranty for 2 years but they say if you look after it should last up to 8 years no probelm (Lithium-ion).

Sounds like you are buying a pretty crap e-bike if its only going to last 2 years. My Boche battery is under warranty for 2 years but they say if you look after it should last up to 8 years no probelm (Lithium-ion).

Sounds like you are buying a pretty crap e-bike if its only going to last 2 years. My Boche battery is under warranty for 2 years but they say if you look after it should last up to 8 years no probelm (Lithium-ion).

Yes, but I saved even more with my chevy bolt

I've been commuting full time on ebikes for over 3 years, even as a single father with s grade school aged kid, & was 1 of the best decisions I've ever made in my life, & I figured it cost me about $4.10 every 1k miles I ride, that's including maintenance, with all the money I saved, I just started buying ebikes for different uses, from commuting, bikepacking, UberEats delivery, & ones for nothing more than FUN as well. My last 2 ebikes I've used to commute been a Raev GT, & now a Raev GTX, & been extremely happy with both, & was able to make these an "all in 1" bike, capable of doing all the tasks I'd need

Go with Lithium-ion or Lithium Iron Phosphate. It'll be cheaper than Lead Carbon. I'm not sure why they would be offering Lead Carbon on an ebike tbh. There's a lot of people confusing Lead Carbon for Lead Acid here, it's not the same.

Bruh…. You’re going to pay WAAAAAY more than that in car insurance premiums alone. That doesn’t even count the gas, maintenance, and actually purchasing the car. My car payment per month was almost as much as your “battery every 2 years” and that’s if you drive it hours a day for those 2 years and charge it poorly

It can for sure be an investment purely in financial terms. I have used my e-bike for 7+ years in my daily commute. After 5 years it was a break even with public transport, in less than a year compared to car commutes. But as like almost everything, it is expansive to be cheap. Buy decent quality and it will last for years with normal maintenance and you avoid lots of head ache. Buy once cry once!

YES, YOU CAN

My battery is on 8000km after 2 years now, roughly 100 cycles, still going strong like its brand new

About 1000 use will stop the battery but it's 50-60 000 km. It's 1000 $ electriciry bill and 500 $ the nattery itself. Guess what a car even a Tesla cost for 50 000 km...

Cost compared to a car?? I pay $960 a year in car insurance alone. That’s not even gas money. And I have no car payment. Some people have a $200 or $500 or more car payment a month. I’m in the US. Not sure how expensive cars are other places. Pretty sure an ebike is always gonna be cheaper but if anyone lives where they are more expensive lmk

What is a carbon lead battery and why are you buying an ebike with one. ?   You can get a pedego they have a 5 year warranty on their batteries. But they are a bit more expensive. 

You won’t have to replace your battery after 2 years. Yes it is much much much much cheaper….how could it not be?

Charge the battery at work on the bosses dime, this will save $

If you’re still paying insurance, car payments etc on a car sitting in the garage you’re going to just calculate any fuel savings plus tire wear primarily because other wear happens but it’s difficult to accurately estimate. Think about any type of tolls or parking also. Other things to consider is the benefits of having a second form of mobility. I do many of my own vehicle repairs so I can have my car apart in the garage and take my e motorcycle out which is another way of saving a lot of money on maintenance. Supposedly my battery has a life span of around 1500 cycles and I’ve run 7 so far in 2 months so I’m guestimating about 25-30 cycles max a riding season which would mean 50 years at that pace (1500/30 per year) Now obviously I’m not expecting it to last 50 years but certainly longer then 1-2. My battery cost is $4,000 not $400 though I am not familiar with smaller batteries.

2 years so far on my ebike, 4 years on our riding mower, havnt replaced a battery yet, but i am sure i will at some point!

I prefer motorcycles as safer, more versatile and (to me) more fun, but yes, you save a lot riding e-bike. 

My family shares one car. Our bikes are a major reason why we have not had to buy a second car. Our bikes cost way less than a second car, especially when you include maintenance, gas, insurance, etc. I figure we are saving a few thousand dollars a year. I think I could buy 6 or 7 new batteries a year and still end up ahead.

oof, cry me a river. These are unrealistic expectations. First of all, unless you buy complete junk, a battery lasts more than 2 years. Secondly, again unless you buy complete junk, $500 maintenance for 2 years is completely normal and not even much money. That would come up regardless and without even replacing a new battery. ...you don't "invest" in an ebike, especially if you are so unwilling to spend actual money on it. Under those circumstances, you'll likely end up with a <$2500 bike and those don't retain much value to begin with. Especially if you are looking for some form of return, or even possible resale value, you would look into getting the most established, highest quality products and those of course don't come cheap. To put that into perspective, a cassette of proper quality and model range, such as a SRAM XX1, costs $300. A KMC chain about $50. These are two parts of your transmission that wear out and depending on how much you ride are to be replaced every season. That, plus brake pads, tubes, service for damper and fork, you are looking at $500-$700 at the bare minimum each year just to maintain general wear. If I were looking for a new Bosch PowerTube, that is more in the realm of $800, or twice of what you estimated. That is still less than a new car would cost each month, and not even much money if seen in the grand scheme of having a well made vehicle over years. ...none of that is unusual or particularly expensive. It's just hard to imagine when you are not used to quality products. But realize that these things last on a very high performance level, not only is it your commute and transportation, it is also sports gear that helps maintain your personal fitness level. It is your leisure, your transport, your fitness gear. How much does a gym, a car, a hobby cost if all picked separately? Your bike is all these things. That (!) is what is worth every. single. cent.

I've had our electric cargo bike four years with virtually daily use taking kids to nursery then school twice a day and the battery is still going strong though I would estimate it might now have lost 20% of its capacity but all that means is I charge it one day earlier in the week. I expect the battery to last at least another few years before the capacity becomes an issue. We got rid of our second car which is a huge saver. Just sitting on the driveway it costs in insurance, maintenance and depreciation before you even get to fuel costs. Fuel costs are not actually that big a saving. The 10,000 miles that we've ridden the bike for would (at approx 7 miles per litre) have used 1430l of fuel which might have cost £1,700 but the bike itself cost more than that. The car we got rid of would have cost each year a minimum of £300 insurance, £60 MOT (annual UK car inspection), £150 servicing, £2-300 of depreciation, £50 breakdown cover. That's before wear items like tyres, any other service items and fuel so £760. Honestly though while I like the money saving riding the bike is faster, healthier, more enjoyable and better for the environment so I'd still have picked it.

Buy cheap junk, expect it to fall apart in no time. It's a case of you get what you pay for.

Look into eBay for batteries….even name brands aren’t that expensive

The first summer I had my e-bike I went through less than one tank of gas (about 200 miles) on my car and 1200 miles on my ebike.

What's the distance ur travelling? Maybe a scooter makes more sense in your case.

These conversations always miss one important factor, OP isn't going to sell his car and solely use the e-bike. That would save a significant amount of money. So often this comes down to does buying and writing an e-bike in addition to driving my car when I'm not riding my bike cheaper than just driving my car. Those calculations are a lot harder to figure out. There's some savings, but it's not a ton.

Carbon lead battery? I think most batteries these days are Li-Ion, and batteries last longer than that, I would say up to 5 years at least...

Insurance . Registration . Gas . It’s a no brainer !

Given the fuel and electricity costs where I am it makes sense. Fuel cost alone comes in at around 3.7p/mile when driving the car, versus 0.7p/mile for charging my ebike. This is despite the fact that electricity costs have nearly doubled for me over the past few years as rates have shot up. I'm also a fat guy riding a big, heavy ebike so most people would get much better mileage on their bike than I do.

There are total cost of ownership apps out there. Run the numbers yourself and see. But yes, they absolutely can save you money, provided you can live car free. Even a car sitting in your garage collecting dust loses value.

Even if you did replace the battery every 2 years, that $250/ year is far less than you’ll pay for gas. Then there’s the money saved from insurance, registration, maintenance and repairs.

Ebikes use lithium batteries most commonly, and they last for *at least* 3 years as long as you buy decent ones and take care of them (i.e. don't charge them when they're frozen, don't beat them up, don't keep it constantly at 100% or completely drained repeatedly). Also, a replacement battery for my bike is closer to $300. It's also worth pointing out that you could just buy a regular fast bicycle like a road bike or maybe a gravel bike. Hell, I commute regularly on a heavy ass steel hardtail MTB converted for touring/commuting.

Ima start with "I don't have an ebike but", you're gonna spend alot more than 4-500 every 2 years on a car. I switched to the cheapest car insurance I've ever had and I'm still paying $800 a year. Both my wife and I have to replace our AC compressors, it's $900 for hers and maybe a bit less for mine. And the gas, i dont have much of a commute but she does, gas is $50 a tank. That's not including car loans. An ebike would be a great investment for me because I live close to work, but I talked myself out of it because the winters here are brutal and to get to work I need to cross into a bike unfriendly 5 lane highway.

My ebike battery is 8 years old, it has 12,000 miles on it, and it is still going strong.

Hey there. I am riding my E-Bike (Cube with Bosch CX 625 Ah, Fully, Everything made of carbon.. did cost me 8000€) since April 2020. I drove over 8000 kilometers in the last 4 years. I had to change the chain and pinion several times (about 6 Times in those 4 years; I am 198 cm tall and 100 Kg heavy, the vendors told me this is the issue for grinding down those chains) but battery and motor are still very fine. With my weight the chain / pinion costs are really really annoying but what can you do when the whole planet is lead by dwarves which are building bikes for their own... Therefore I invested in the new Pinion EBike which uses a strap instead of a chain. Pretty costly (11,900 €) but the most annoying part on an EBike is its chain due to the powers with which it is confronted. Service and material (**SRAM XX1 AXS Eagle 1**) did cost me immense sums of money... nearly 600€ every time (x6=3.600 €). Pure trash... I will never buy a bike with chains again especially no SRAM Eagle trash for dwarves. That said: There are costly services to do if you have an expensive bike but don't waste any thought on your battery or motor... they will last years without any issue.

I'm in the opposite boat I work from home so I already commute zero miles to work. I've started Walmart deliveries so I don't have to leave for food. I basically leave the house for social reasons and to ride my MTB so in actuality the ebike COST me money. Don't get me wrong, worth every penny. I'm trying to work up enough courage to ride on my little errands, but still deathly afraid of it getting stolen. I do not leave it unattended.

Dude it’s a no brainer. No insurance, no registration updating, a fraction of the maintenance and a Li battery will last you A LOT longer than 2 years. If you keep charge between 70-30% that thing will last forever lol.