What would happen if you sold your car and bought an e-bike?

[Music] so what would happen if you sold your car and bought an ebike it's quite a big move especially if you live here in America mostly because cars are quite common place there's a registered vehicle here for every man and woman we average about 30 m a day when we commute by car and we collectively spend 97 billion hours behind the wheel per year who knows why that is maybe it's a bit cultural or that's just how our infrastructure was designed but now car ownership costs the average American over $1,000 per month there are more opportunities to work remotely now more than never and there's a trend that encourages people to do things a little bit more local so you might be at the point where you're interested in new possibilities when it comes to commuting maybe with two wheels instead of four so that's why I'm here to answer the big question what would happen if you sold your car and bought an ebike but first some quick background about me I was never a bike person I had one when I was a kid but once I got a car and my license at 17 I had no other reason to ride one again but 10 years later I started to feel a bit of a disdain for my car I started freelancing and the money wasn't coming in as consistently but the money was going out consistently with the car all of the associated costs and general liability and the looming of a surprise Bill gave me nightmares and I wanted the ability to travel on a moment notice and to go live somewhere if I just decided to and it just seemed like the car was weighing me down quite a bit and while wrestling with these thoughts I went to visit a friend at Zion National Park in Utah and found myself on an ebike for the first time ever and who knows if it was just the scenery or the fun time I was having or just the novelty of it but I fell in love with being on that ebike time to go so when I got back home I did some research found the bike I wanted picked it up at a local bike shop stuffed it into my 2016 Ford Fusion drove to CarMax sold it on the spot and then pedal my new bike all the way home that day and now about one year later I've accumulated about 3,400 mil on this thing and it's still my daily driver so I wanted to give you an idea of what it's like to just have an ebike in case you were thinking about doing the same oh my goodness this camera is going to fall oh my goodness the middle of [Music] traffic so first things first what happened to my wallet so I bought the treack Verve 3 plus for about $3,500 I also purchased some important add-ons a lock helmet paneers pumps and some oil for about another 200 there has been some maintenance and upkeep that would probably get covered at around $20 a month and a full charge costs more or less a dollar so what does that $4,000 get me the motor has enough GID up to get me into the flow of traffic and the pedal assists up to 20 mph on a full charge it can last about 80 Mi on the lowest setting Eco which is kind of like riding a normal bike but honestly I live in Turbo in this setting I'd say the bike does about 50% of the work so it makes riding it a breeze and that much power lasts me about 20 mi the bike itself is quite heavy and cumbersome to pick up I got the XL frame and it weighs about 60 lb for further info here are the specs but again I really don't know that much about bikes just know that whenever someone sees it they're just like yeah this is a this is a really nice B so The Upfront costs were expensive but the general usage is super affordable and I think the one really really really important thing to consider if you are thinking about buying an ebike is don't cheap out it's better to get the bike especially if it's going to be your daily ride I found that this strek was a safe bet and although ebikes could probably go as high as 10,000 the 3 to 5,000 range gets you everything you need from a reputable brand with enough bells and whistles to take care of you and when compared to the cost in last ability that come along with car ownership it's definitely a big win for the wallet so what happens on the road the bikeability score in my town is a 42 out of 100 so there are more bike friendly places and less bike friendly places and I found out pretty quickly that road ride is pretty necessary where I live it's often the most direct route and the safe spot for me to be but I didn't know how to ride in a road nor did I feel comfortable in doing so and that was definitely one of the initial hurdles I had to get over but overall I've been to five states had about three tuneups two flat tires and I think even one breaking attempt right here they Tred to take a hammer to my battery so what happens with other drivers 99.9% of drivers are super considerate and nothing nothing ever goes wrong but I have been heckled a few times I've gotten a few fingers out the window and a few angry aggressive revering and what not of the motor sometimes bikers and car drivers can have a strange relationship but generally everyone's pretty cool so what happens with social life being somewhat restricted by daylight and the weather and these longer distances might be a little bit of a strain on the social life but generally people make adjustments they understand and you're going to find time to spend some time with people you love no matter what what happens to your clothes it's probably better if you invest in some darker clothes more functional clothes maybe better material and ones that can kind of withstand uh being outside and being on a bike a lot definitely one of the downsides of maybe not being able to wear white or certain colors or certain materials but generally you find some good clothes that will hold up on the bike and that you look good in what happens to your health now I didn't really record my before and after Health markers but generally I can't complain about being outside Physically Active getting some fresh air some sunshine nearly every day and anecdotally I think it's done a lot for my health what happens to the planet not particularly a reason I'm riding this thing but it's definitely a plus track says that for every 430 Mi you ride on an ebike IT offsets the emissions it took to make the ebike and when it comes to emissions in general General ebikes are pennies on the dollar when compared to cars what happens when it rains yes I would invest in a pretty good rain coat and making sure that all your things are waterproof that need to be waterproof having the shell stay home if you can and when worse comes the worst it's a big morale booster to ride around and humming have you ever seen rain in your head what happens when you have to go somewhere far ride your bike make an ENT out of it make a weekend trip make a day trip you start to realize that the bike is really a big tool and that just because you have to go somewhere far it doesn't mean that you don't have to go there at all there's also Uber public transportation or just car pooling with a friend what happens if you get a flat tire if you've never fixed a flat tire on a bike before it's pretty simple all you need is a few tools maybe some tape and glue and a about 5 minutes to watch a YouTube video telling you how to do it what happens when your battery gets slow it's happened to me before right towards the end of a day of riding around and it does feel like you're pedaling times 1,000 so definitely wouldn't recommend it and just plan out having your battery having your charger with you or just making sure you're prepped for the day by having a full charge than night before what happens to your hair honestly this one beats me um helmet hair probably no solution for I just wear a hat a lot and finally what happens to you so whether or not your or really considering selling your car and buying an ebike I think this part is what's really most important first it's definitely a practice in mindfulness there is no impulsive I got to get there I got to get there now you learn to just kind of enjoy the longevity of the day you have to plan things out and you enjoy the act of getting there instead of just getting there I also feel like I've started to value my time more think of it like a budget I kind of know that I only have so much time so therefore I have to make sure every everything is in a row before I go out and take on the day that was a bumpy one you also begin to feel really immersed in the community I think there's something about just not being trapped inside of a steel box hello I like the bikes hello Hi how are you hello for a third time where now you're actually making eye contact with people you're waving you're noticing new things about the town and you just feel like a general more immersive experience in where you live also a lot of interesting conversations find you I don't know what it is about the ebike but people love to comment on it and then you end up in a fullon conversation with some really interesting people the biking Community definitely runs deep and yeah just people like talking about the ebike and lastly when you're on the road life does become a bit more of an adventure albeit maybe it's not exactly what you want when you're running daily errands like going to the grocery store but you kind of learn to take it in stride and life does become a bit more interesting long story short I love this thing there are some sacrifices you have to make and a little bit of planning you have to do and yeah a little bit of helmet hair but the ebike does make this way of commuting just so much better and although it might not be for everyone there are people watching this whose lives would exponentially benefit if they were to sell their car and buy an ebike so if you are interested in the idea don't hesitate to reach out and ask I'm here to answer any questions or Curiosities you have about it and regardless I hope you get to where you're going safely mindfully and enjoyably thank you for watching

Channel: Eric T. Nagle

Views: 44,834

Keywords: ebike, commuting, sell car, trek, verve3+, verve+3

Id: nWnVX5EpgEY

Length: 11min 25sec (685 seconds)

Published: Sat May 18 2024