Even if they don’t replace a car, they’re great vehicles. They’re fun to ride, you rarely have to worry about traffic jams, they’re cheap to operate, and you can do a lot of your own maintenance.
Does yours have seats on the back? A trailer? I’ve seen a variety of solutions for transporting kids. The trailer is the solution I see most often, and it looks like the most luxurious option for the kids. They often look like they’re some aristocrat being carried on a palanquin, sprawled out and enjoying the ride.
I mean, for me they effectively replace the car. We own one, but since we have the e-bike, I don’t drive at all. I use the trailer for shopping if needed.
And yes, we used the trailer + the small seat behind my seat. Basically all three kids could ride with me, but the battery depletes fast and I am not sure about the general strain put on the bike’s structure with so much weight. The bike is not technically ours but leased from the company my wife works at. In Belgium, at some point the taxes get so high that people choose untaxed benefits at work (like a bike leasing or vouchers, even a company car) instead of salary hikes.
We now own a second e-bike with two separate seats so we can have family trips. We’ll see how it works.
To clarify: I do NOT believe that you can always replace a car with an e-bike. But in the rather wealthy area where we live, the bike infrastructure is great and everything is very walkable, so it is possible to greatly reduce your reliance on cars. The Netherlands are far superior to Belgium in this respect.
I have an e-bike adapted for carrying 2 kids that I use daily for kindergarten commute. Can’t recommend it enough. I live in Belgium though.
Even if they don’t replace a car, they’re great vehicles. They’re fun to ride, you rarely have to worry about traffic jams, they’re cheap to operate, and you can do a lot of your own maintenance.
Does yours have seats on the back? A trailer? I’ve seen a variety of solutions for transporting kids. The trailer is the solution I see most often, and it looks like the most luxurious option for the kids. They often look like they’re some aristocrat being carried on a palanquin, sprawled out and enjoying the ride.
I mean, for me they effectively replace the car. We own one, but since we have the e-bike, I don’t drive at all. I use the trailer for shopping if needed. And yes, we used the trailer + the small seat behind my seat. Basically all three kids could ride with me, but the battery depletes fast and I am not sure about the general strain put on the bike’s structure with so much weight. The bike is not technically ours but leased from the company my wife works at. In Belgium, at some point the taxes get so high that people choose untaxed benefits at work (like a bike leasing or vouchers, even a company car) instead of salary hikes. We now own a second e-bike with two separate seats so we can have family trips. We’ll see how it works. To clarify: I do NOT believe that you can always replace a car with an e-bike. But in the rather wealthy area where we live, the bike infrastructure is great and everything is very walkable, so it is possible to greatly reduce your reliance on cars. The Netherlands are far superior to Belgium in this respect.