With the ever increasing cost of petrol and diesel many people are looking for alternative modes of transport that are more cost effective, but also reliable. The electric bicycle is one of the options open to many people. In 1998 there were 49 different types of electric bicycles on the market available to purchase.
The bicycles use an electric motor to power the bicycle that uses re-chargeable batteries. Many places in the world these types of bicycles are more popular than the conventional bicycle and have ever increasing sales. In many parts of the world even though they have a motor on them they are not classified as a motor vehicle, but still as a bicycle which makes them very cost effective to run and maintain.
Control of the electric bicycle can be in various ways one method is a simple on/off switch the next method is a throttle type handlebar which gives power on demand when the rider needs it. For security purposes the bicycles can be kept locked with a key available from the manufacturers. There are good health benefits when switching form a car to a bicycle like this, it has good cardio exercise benefits for the riders.
In an urban location the electric bicycles are much more environmentally friendly as, although there is some environmental effects from the batteries used to charge and run the bicycle, this is far less than a car in an urban location. Lots of these bicycles are able to use solar power to charge up the batteries which makes them an even more attractive environmentally friendly mode of transport for all concerned.
Many of the manufacturers of less expensive models of these bicycles used bulky lead acid batteries which slowed down the bicycles and gave a shorter range before the need to re-charge the batteries.
Some of the newer models now use lighter denser capacity batteries which enable the rider to get more use out of the bicycle before having to re-charge them, also giving them a faster speed in general.
Electric bicycles have a speed of 15-20 miles an hour, with different rules in different countries, but these are certainly well worth thinking about as an alternative mode of transport with its many benefits.
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