[This is pretty interesting. Damned good idea. But on our dangerous roads… maybe too risky? Jan]

E-bike: 20c to work and back
By: Antoinette Slabbert

Port Elizabeth – An e-bike that can run at a cost of only 10c for 25km might be the answer to congested roads and traffic jams in South Africa.

Electrical engineer Dr Ian de Vries of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town launched this bike at the South African National Roads Agency’s (Sanral) international conference on gender and transport in Port Elizabeth this week.

De Vries said an electric bike was nothing new, but technological progress had recently made it far more affordable.

These bikes have become highly popular, especially in India and China, and 12 million were sold last year in China alone.

Could be available locally

The Chinese bikes could be available locally – after a few adjustments for South Africans’ larger physique and more uneven terrain – for R4 000 each.

An ordinary pedal bike is equipped with a battery that can be recharged at a wall socket like a cellphone. The power is transported to a motor that can propel the bike at a speed of about 30km/h.

If the cyclist relies solely on the battery, the bike can go for about 25km before the battery goes flat. One can conserve power by pedalling on even stretches and declines, thus extending its reach.

It will cost about 10c to recharge the battery and cycling from Cape Town to Johannesburg would cost R6. “And in traffic the e-bike has the same speed as a car!'”

Price expected to fall

De Vries foresaw that the bikes would become more useful in rural areas as electricity reached these regions. The bikes could easily be adapted to carry loads such as firewood and children on the bikes themselves or on a cart, and in this way make it unnecessary for women to carry the load themselves.

If the same percentage of the South African as the Chinese population bought these bikes, 500 000 South Africans would own e-bikes.

Financing is being arranged so that the poor could buy the bikes.

Moreover, the price was expected to fall to R2 000 per bike over two to three years.

De Vries said it was extremely important for the government to begin planning roads right away to provide for bicycle traffic.