E-Bikes are our champion to fight the ever-rising emissions of the transport sector. Roughly 30% of European greenhouse gas emissions come from our mobility needs, and cars are responsible for 72% of that – it’s the only sector where emissions have kept rising since 1990.
E-Bikes are extremely energy-efficient, and they are often faster than cars in congested cities. Plus, an E-Bike ride will stamp a unique smile on people, as soon as they first feel the assistance kick-in. All it takes to make most drivers switch to an E-Bike is to try. So, we headed to the beautiful town of Baiersbronn, in the heart of the German Black Forest, and simply offered people to use one of our E-Bikes for 10 days. For free.
Putting people on E-Bikes
Needless to say, our call to action didn’t go unnoticed. In a matter of a few days, 120 citizens of Baiersbronn had registered for the program.
We were supported in this experiment by Jan Riel, Professor of Transport Planning and Traffic Engineering at the University of Karlsruhe, and an expert in urban mobility and road space design. Professor Riel jumped on the project the moment he heard about it. Thanks to his great work, we now have a mountain of data that will help us better understand the impact of our experiment and the benefits E-Bikes brought to the people of Baiersbronn.
Over 3 months, the mobility patterns of Baiersbronn changed completely. While before, 72.5% of the trips were made by car, during the activation the car was used only 18% of the time. E-Bikes, on the other hand, covered almost 68% of the trips, basically replacing the car and dramatically cutting emissions.
We were particularly surprised to see that before the activation, for every four trips made by car in Baiersbronn, three were shorter than 10 km. With an E-Bike, this kind of trip can be done in less than 30 minutes. Considering that the average speed of cars in European cities ranges between 15-25 km/h and that finding a parking spot for a bicycle takes just a few seconds, it is clear that riding an E-Bike for such distances is almost always faster.
Changing mobility. One car at a time.
During the test, 80% of the trips shorter than 10 km were done by E-Bike (and 80% of the ones shorter than 20 km as well). This shows the potential of the E-Bike to truly replace most car trips in the everyday life of the population of a city like Baiersbronn.
Figure 1 Share of trips by mode and distance BEFORE the project
Figure 2 Share of trips by mode and distance DURING the project
Professor Jan Riel: “These results really surprised me. I had always dismissed E-Bikes as fun vehicles […]. But the results from Baiersbronn show that E-Bikes are a great alternative to cars that can solve traffic and energy problems. I didn’t expect that on this scale”.
In total, 2,873 km were ridden with an E-Bike during the project. Knowing that every new German car emits on average 180 g of CO2 per km, once we do the math we can easily understand that with just a handful of E-Bikes, SCOTT pilot project saved 517 kg of CO2 from being emitted in the atmosphere.
Figure Trips done for shopping purposes
And what is even more important is that 86% of the participants were interested in keeping the E-Bike and in continuing to use it in their everyday lives. In a few words: using an E-Bike for 10 days was enough to be convinced of its wonders.
This experiment already took many cars off the road and has the potential to take many more. This kind of approach can make streets nicer to hang out and safer to move through, and therefore let them perform better at what they are meant to: the place where people meet and play, buy and sell, eat and love.
Looking down the road
“Here at Scott, we believe that bicycles and E-Bikes are great agents of change. The Baiersbronn project showed quite clearly how impactful they can be in shaping the mobility of entire communities. They have the power to improve our societies on so many different aspects: change people’s lives, create better cities, and heal our environment. They contribute to a healthier and happier lifestyle”
– Reto Aeschbacher, Chief Marketing Officer at SCOTT Sports.
Therefore, we are committed to continuing to bring our E-Bikes into more cities and towns to share the benefits of “trading car keys with an E-Bike”. Next stop: Munich!
