China Goes EV with Bikes

This trend has legs.  Once fuel prices jack up a bit more here, I expect a LOT more interest in electric bikes.

China's Cyclists Take Charge: Electric Bicycles are Selling by the Millions Despite Efforts to Ban Them - Solar Navigator

"Hidden within this stream is an entirely novel, homegrown class of commuter vehicle: electric bikes and scooters [see photo, "Moving"]. There are an estimated 1 million electric two-wheelers on Shanghai's streets; yet to the Western observer it is only what's missing that gives them away. Some look like scooters, but they have no tailpipe spewing exhaust, no sputtering engine. Some look like fanciful bicycles, but their pedals are oddly still as riders relax and let the battery-powered electric motor whisk them to work.

For all the talk of China's growing infatuation with automobiles, the world's most populous nation continues to roll primarily on two wheels—and, increasingly, an electric motor drives them. The China Bicycle Association, a government-chartered industry group in Beijing, estimates that last year manufacturers sold 7.5 million electric bikes nationwide—nearly double the sales in 2003—and they are likely to ship more than 10 million this year. That's three times as many as the most optimistic projections for auto sales in China."

China Goes EV with Bikes

This trend has legs.  Once fuel prices jack up a bit more here, I expect a LOT more interest in electric bikes.

China's Cyclists Take Charge: Electric Bicycles are Selling by the Millions Despite Efforts to Ban Them - Solar Navigator

"Hidden within this stream is an entirely novel, homegrown class of commuter vehicle: electric bikes and scooters [see photo, "Moving"]. There are an estimated 1 million electric two-wheelers on Shanghai's streets; yet to the Western observer it is only what's missing that gives them away. Some look like scooters, but they have no tailpipe spewing exhaust, no sputtering engine. Some look like fanciful bicycles, but their pedals are oddly still as riders relax and let the battery-powered electric motor whisk them to work.

For all the talk of China's growing infatuation with automobiles, the world's most populous nation continues to roll primarily on two wheels—and, increasingly, an electric motor drives them. The China Bicycle Association, a government-chartered industry group in Beijing, estimates that last year manufacturers sold 7.5 million electric bikes nationwide—nearly double the sales in 2003—and they are likely to ship more than 10 million this year. That's three times as many as the most optimistic projections for auto sales in China."