this post was submitted on 29 Mar 2024
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E-bike environmental impact in comparison to other forms of transport (www.youtube.com)
submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I editorialised the title as the original was clickbait, but the video itself is quite good. Interestingly, e-bikes are claimed to have lower emissions than acoustic bikes, although it likely depends on diet (the author didn't specifically compare a vegan diet between the two types but did indicate that vegan + electric is the most carbon efficient form).

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

I agree that the comparison between the two is quite complex (given the many side effects). But I was interested in this question and have done a few back-of-the-envelope calculations on the ongoing CO2 emissions:

Regular Cycling:

  • The caloric consumption of cycling is approximately 2300 kcal / 100 km [1]. Or 2.7 kWh / 100 km.
  • The CO2 footprint of 1 kcal is approximately 1 (vegan) to 3 (meat-heavy) gCO2/kcal [2]. The average is approximately 2 gCO2/kcal.
  • This yields 2.3 kgCO2 / 100 km for a vegan diet and 4.6 kgCO2 / 100km.
    • The result is in the same ballpark as the Guardian article [3] at 2.5 to 3.5 kgCO2/100km.
    • The 96 kgCO2 for production [3] would correspond to 0.5 kgCO2/100km over the 19200km lifetime [3].

(Motor-only) E-bikes:

  • The energy use is about 2 kWh / 100 km (3.3 kWh per 100 miles) [4].
    • But pedal-assisted commuter e-bikes only use 0.7 kWh / 100km (1.1 kWh per 100 miles) [4]??
    • This also seems quite high compared to the 2.7 kWh / 100 km above, given that human muscles are only about 30% efficient [6].
  • With the US carbon intensity (0.368 kgCO2/kWh [5]), this yields 0.736 kgCO2/100km.
    • This result is much lower than the Guardian article [3], probably because it doesn't include manufacturing.
    • The 165 kgCO2 for production [3] would correspond to 0.86 kgCO2/100km over the 19200km lifetime [3].

Based on this, it seems quite plausible that an E-Bike is significantly more efficient than a regular bike, even if the rider is a vegan. But, both are way better than all types of cars and even public transport.

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