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e-bikes not EVs


Image skimmed from Plain Bicycle’s e-shop. Don’t you wish you had one of these? Wouldn’t a nice government rebate help?

Dear Minister Jagmeet Singh

I saw your online petition regarding tariffs on Teslas, and I agree and all, but as for the $10,000 rebate for buying a Canadian made EV instead (does such a thing even exist), can I suggest something that would have a far greater impact on reducing Canada’s transportation emissions? A $2,000 rebate on the purchase of an ebike; $3,000 on a cargo bike.

The numbers may not be quite right. Maybe they’re a little low. Maybe they’re a little high. You have people who can figure out the correct amount.

But the point is, for a much lower dollar amount that you are giving away on EVs, you could have a much bigger impact on greenhouse gases. EVs still do tremendous road damage and cause tire shed – more than ICEs mostly likely due to their greater weight.

The biggest thing is that even a $10,000 rebate isn’t a big enough reduction on the final price to actually change anyone's decision to buy an EV. It’s a reward for those who already decided, but it doesn’t lead change. 

A much smaller rebate (as suggested above) on an ebike however is half or more the cost of the bike. That’s transformative now because it makes an ebike affordable. It's price just low enough to take a risk on. And I feel certain that almost every ebike owner will tell you it has transformed getting around for them.

Now that the “effort” quotient is taken out of cycling, so have many of the excuses not too ride: too far? Not anymore. Too sweaty? Use more boost. too tired? Let the bike do most of the work for you. Too much stuff to haul? e-cargo bike makes it easy and possible.

As long as hostile, antagonist drivers don’t menace your personal safety, biking is a far more pleasant way to get around than driving – as folks would realize if they would just try it. 

The climate crisis is too close and coming too fast to keep dithering with partial measures, tiny tweaks to personal choices in transportation, when what we need is significant mode shift, not from one type of personal vehicle to another, but from personal vehicles to multimodal means ranging from walking to biking to bussing to carpooling and other ride sharing options.

Be visionary. Subside real change.

Sincerely

A year round commuter cyclist from Winnipeg who knows the only things keeping one from cycling are poor infrastructure and a bad attitude.

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