Rebates for electric bicycles have risen in popularity in North America, as transportation planners aim to lure people out of their automobiles and into healthier, more environmentally friendly alternatives. However, there is little information of the entire extent of these incentives.
Are the new cycling habits sustainable? Who benefits the most from these incentives? And are they worth the money?
Researchers from UBC’s Research on Active Transportation (REACT) Lab offer some answers. They polled participants in the District of Saanich’s e-bike incentive program and discovered that even a year after purchasing their bikes, the majority of new e-bike riders continued to utilize them as an alternative for car trips. Low-income households made the greatest significant reductions in car trips and carbon emissions. And incentives are a cost-effective way of reducing carbon emissions.
The incentive not only encouraged people to switch to e-bikes, it also resulted in remarkable changes in travel behaviour that persisted long after the purchase. The incentives had the greatest impact on lower-income groups.
Dr. Alex Bigazzi
Reduced car travel
The Saanich program, available in 2021 and 2022, offered three different rebates to offset the cost of new e-bikes, depending on one’s income. The basic rebate amounted to $350, while the lowest-income households could receive up to $1,600.
Results showed a significant surge in e-bike adoption, with 93 per cent of users being new to e-bikes, and 60 per cent new to cycling altogether. One year after purchase, users continued to be satisfied with their e-bikes, integrating them into their routines for three to four days a week. They reduced weekly car travel by an average of 48 kilometres per week, a reduction of 30-40 per cent.
“The incentive not only encouraged people to switch to e-bikes, it also resulted in remarkable changes in travel behaviour that persisted long after the purchase,” said Dr. Alex Bigazzi, principal investigator and associate professor of civil engineering at UBC who leads REACT.
The incentives had the greatest impact on lower-income groups. Among those who received the $1,600 incentive, eight out of 10 would not have purchased an e-bike without it, compared to just two out of 10 who received the $350 incentive.
Lower carbon emissions
With less driving, users reduced their travel-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by an average of 16 kilograms of CO2 per week, one year after buying their e-bikes. Notably, those who received the biggest incentives reduced car use and carbon emissions the most.
“The larger incentives aimed at lower-income families did a great job getting new riders in the saddle and gave them a lower-cost alternative to using their cars,” Dr. Bigazzi said.
More cost-effective than EV rebates
A common criticism of e-bike incentives is their high cost relative to their climate benefits, but the Saanich program was competitive with other transportation subsidies in Canada at a cost of approximately $190 to $720 per tonne of GHG emissions.
“This suggests that e-bike incentives are more cost-effective in reducing emissions compared to electric car incentives, and that’s without including a range of cycling-related benefits such as increased physical activity, reduced local air pollutants and decreased travel costs,” according to Dr. Bigazzi.
The REACT Lab collaborated with the Province of British Columbia and other researchers to investigate the province-wide e-bike incentive program. The larger scope will enable researchers to investigate factors such as climate and topography differences, as well as the availability of safe bicycle routes, in order to better understand their influences.
