The world of transportation is changing. Especially in the urbanized areas, that change is happening fast. The transformation towards electric cars and other renewable energy vehicles was in full swing, companies like Daimler, Peugeot, Renault, Ford and Co, made significant investments in the technology and in the marketing of their new EV’s. But then the COVID-19 hit and the game changed, once again. Car companies are tanking and scrambling to adapt.
This time the change is more visual than ever before, and we humans go by what we see rather than what we hear or, even more impacting, what we know. The images from around the world of the empty city roads have raised many questions on how we have built our cities around the cars and how the roads have taken over city life. The clearing of air pollution added another layer to the debate which brings us to the key question of this article: How necessary is it to own a vehicle – electric or petrol – in an urban environment?
Empty roads of Dubai during the COVID-19
Living in a city like Amsterdam, where this writer currently resides, gives one a privileged perspective into a functioning urban environment that is designed for the citizens rather than for vehicles, at least in most part. Amsterdam has for many years been in the cutting edge of providing electric charging points, renewable energy solutions, great bicycle lanes (a total of 515km), numerous car and scooter sharing initiatives, and much more. Nevertheless, the amount of cars circulating the city streets has got Mayor Femke Halsema to commit to a reduction of over 11,000 parking spaces by the year 2025. This is a dramatic reduction in parking spaces in a city known for its lack of parking spaces.
Amsterdam is also one of the most expensive cities in the world to park a vehicle. It can cost up to a whopping €8 an hour to park in some areas of the city. Also, the most expensive petrol (gas) in Europe is in The Netherlands, with a litre of E95 (unleaded) setting you back €1.60 (at the time of writing). For comparison, in the notoriously expensive Norway, the litre price is at €1.44.
On top of the expensive petrol and parking, comes high vehicle taxes, excruciatingly expensive speeding tickets and insurances which can reach up to between 3-15% of the total value of a car annually.
Why then, would anyone in their right mind own a vehicle in Amsterdam, or in any developed city?
Some may say that the weather plays an important role, especially in Western Europe. Many cannot drive bicycles around the year and do their shopping, go to work and run errands when it’s raining, windy and cold. Fair enough, but in cities like Amsterdam or Copenhagen, the weather doesn’t stop the bicycle riders, but it does reduce the trajectories.
What if there is another way of moving around a city almost or maybe even more efficiently than a car?
There is. And it is the electric bicycle.
Electric bikes have been a rising trend around the world for many years, however, they have limitations in speed, range, comfort and come with a hefty price tag.
After some research, I ended up testing two bikes from a company called Riese and Muller.
Riese and Muller are privately owned, high-end manufacturers of electric bikes based in Darmstadt, Germany. They kindly provided me with two bikes to try out: the first one is the dangerous-looking Charger 3 (with an 1125 Wh battery) mountain bike and the second is a modular cargo bike called The Load 75, known here in The Netherlands as bakfiets.
The Load 75, which costs from €6,400 (tested model costs €8,500) is the top range bike and comes with all the bells and whistles. It is equipped with two 500Wh Bosch batteries taking the range to a an impressive 100km. It has a triple suspension, adjustable modular child seats, 3d moulded seat (you’ll feel the love), a large box for storing anything including two to three children, carbon belt drive system (goodbye greasy chains), a super-bright spotlight and an outer skeleton safety rims that keep the precious cargo safe from heavy collision rather than a typical carbon fibre box found in most cargo bikes. The maximum speed of The Load 75 is 48kmph! That’s 50cc scooter territory. But unlike a scooter, Load 75 is surprisingly nimble and swift around the corners, and is a treat to ride.
The Charger 3 (tested model costs €5000) is a beauty to look at, and a design masterpiece. Almost too beautiful to get dirty. It is one of the most gorgeous bikes in the world, and so many Amsterdammers agree by the number of compliments received. The materials used in Charge 3 are top range, you can really feel the love and the passion of the engineers who made this. The details and craftsmanship are on point.
Load 75 (left) and Charger 3 in front of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
If Batman drove a bicycle it would be this one.
It looks menacing, strong, fast and unstoppable. And it is all those things. I have yet to find anything, a surface or an obstacle, which could stop it. It just goes. However, unlike The Load 75, the Charger 3 has only one battery and can reach a top speed of 30kmph with a range of 50km. Charging the batteries at home take around 5 hours and costs pennies.
The benefits of having an electric bike in a city like Amsterdam was beyond what I expected. Everything became better and faster. No matter how bad of a day I had, I just went out with one of these bikes and life smiled. All typical journeys were halved in time, carrying groceries was an effortless task, and keeping fit was fun. The data provided by the onboard screen is clear, useful and adds to the gamification of fitness and speed.
The benefits of owning an electric bike vs a car are clear: parking is free and available everywhere and unlimited. Bikes have free access to parks, can park in front of shops and offices etc. which is a huge plus, not even mentioning the obvious health benefits (I ended up biking 20-30minutes every day because it was so much fun, and dropped 5kg of weight over the course of 2 months).
The Charger 3 – Batman’s bike
These are the Rolls-Royce’s of the electric bicycle world.
Sandra Wolf, the CEO, has turned the 450 staff company into a fully sustainable company with clever solutions. For example, up to 80% of the energy used in-house comes from their solar panels and photovoltaic windows. The roof of their headquarters is covered with green areas for the wild bees, which produce honey for the enjoyment of the staff. Ms Wolff has also eliminated disposable plastics, which is harder to do that one might think. This is a company that thinks sustainability and acts environmentally from the bottom-up, starting from their foundations, therefore creating a future proof mindset towards the greener society, which lead to making great products such as The Load 75 and the Charge 3.
If one can do all their travels within a city while keeping fit then why should we own a vehicle or even a scooter in urban cities in 2020?
One reason for the car ownership is the aforementioned weather factor and commuting distances, which in some areas of the world make car ownership the only choice and an understandable one, and another is the infrastructure and urban design which has been built around the vehicle, not forgetting the status symbol a car is in our societies these days.
However, many cities like Paris are redesigning their road infrastructure during the COVID-19, to reflect the needs of their citizens and improving mobility and the health of their people.
One thing is for certain, that a traditional model of cities is outdated and needs to be addressed, and the more we use bikes, more we realised that vehicles aren’t the only way of moving around.
