Curious if an electric bike or a folding electric bike might be a good solution for you? Noting over a single week how many times you jump into your car to go only a few miles roundtrip by trying taking a transportation audit. According to the League of American Bicyclists,40 percent of all car trips are less than two miles away if you’re like most Americans and many of these trips may be bikeable.

Hopping into the car for these short trips to work, the playground, and the supermarket may not seem like a decision with a big impact, but all of those car miles add up. Cars emit the heat-trapping greenhouse gases nitrogen oxide, sulfur oxide, and ground-level ozone, which contribute to acid rain, smog, and health problems and cause climate change. In fact as pollution is highest in the first few minutes of driving, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation short trips by car can actually be more polluting per mile than long trips. Cutting a four mile trip out of your schedule each weekday can reduce your global warming pollution by more than 1,200 pounds a year, estimates Environmental Defense.

And as gas prices continue to rise, the cost of short trips by car is steep—just fueling a round-trip commute to a job five miles away every weekday for a year can cost $300 or more just for fuel, not including parking fees and any additional fuel used for after-work errands and weekend driving.

Electric bikes hold out the prospect of helping get cars off the road and reducing emissions, pollution, and gas use. Electric bike owners are quick to add that riding these vehicles is fun - and as they go by hey get “thumbs up” and other encouragement from neighbors in addition to the financial and environmental benefits,.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 15th, 2009 at 9:36 am and is filed under Types of Bicycles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.