Why have ebikes, electric mopeds and electric scooters largely disappeared from North American cities?
Who is "killing" the Electric Bike (aka Electric Scooter) in US and Canada? Many retail shops have closed, from Boston to Vancouver. North American manufacturers (Nova Cruz, Wavecrest, Bionx, Egovehicles) have gone under or are selling much less than they did before.
In comparison, in most of Asia, sales of ebikes are surging? Is it the economy collapse? Is it government? Is it the big auto companies? Is it battery companies? Is it some other factor?
I agree with the 1st answer, I’ve never seen so many scooters as I do now. If there is any decline I would imagine it’s because there deadly. I see guys wearing penny loafers and shorts with no helmet sharing the same road as dump trucks!
Our cities & towns were laid out for the automobile, with greater distances.
The older world, with higher population was constructed in the horse era.
Cars dominate the highways & do not share space with small vehicles.
Here’s my two cents:
The popularity of ebikes and escooters rose from 2002 to 2007 due to the economic trend and the "novelty" factor. Both of these cyclical trends have now worn out.
The severe drop (collapse) in sales of electric bikes and electric scooters in Canada and US is due to the lack of durability, serviceability, and "mobile" support (roving e-bike mechanics) in cities.
As well, some retailers and manufacturers have been gouging their customers after the warranty runs out. (But there are independent repair service people, too, in a few cities.)
The biggest reason is that there is a mysterious (to many) battery death that occurs with Made In China electric scooters. The answer to this is rather simple, but the owner’s manuals do not explain what could happen — thus, the battery is dead in a month, and the battery cost is another $150-$300 and that just makes the buyer fume.
Also, there are several (many) modifications and improvements that NEED to be done to a Made In China electric scooter that owners are usually "too cheap" or "too lazy" to learn to do. (Information is sold, not given, in sites like Buysellcommunity dot com and Craigzzlist.)
So, when the power is mysteriously diminished, the electric bike/scooter owner is ready to forget about the whole terrible experience.
Therefore, unless electric bike and scooter owners are able, and willing, to hot-rod and tinker with their vehicles, most ebike and escooter owners will just give them up.
The exception to the sad stories, that I’ve stated above, is the simple electric bicycle kit with no bells and whistles that the owner adds to their existing bicycle, example a kit from ebikes dot ca or Renaissance Bicycle kits.
An Ebike’s (short) range is also an issue. The "workaround" to the range problem is rather easy, but the information again, is not free from the dealer, but must be purchased separately.
Finally, the consumers have now realized that the cost of battery replacement is 2X to 6X that of owning a 50cc scooter. (There is a "workaround" that reduces battery replacement cost to zero, with Revived Batteries, but most people are too lazy to do this.)
I would completely disagree with u. I see more riding bikes and scooters than ever
They aren’t practical and people aren’t buying them. Why would companies lose money making them when nobody is buying them?
Where do you charge them other than at home? Where do you ride it to that’s close enough that you can make it home without charging? Our cities are more spread out than Asia making bikes less useful. In Asia people need to rent parking spots for cars and it can cost as much as your home or apartment.
All these smaller vehicles are disappearing mainly because of our affluence. As all the household get affluent they do not want smaller bikes and cars and go for bigger ones. Also it creates a fashion and so the not so affluent also aim to buy it. In due course there is no takers and they die a natural death.
Take the case of China where a decade ago there were thousands of cycles in the main cities and now they are all replaced with bikes and cars. So is the case of India. Once it was having a lot of 100 cc bikes but now it is n the decline. So it is the life style and not the government or oil companies who are responsible for it.