I mostly just lurk around these forums but this thread was interesting from the perspective of someone who started e-biking three years ago. I see a lot of bad assumptions and misconceptions about e-biking and why people do it, so I thought I'd share my thoughts. Here in Minneapolis (which is a leader in the US for % of workforce bike commuting), I see multiple e-bikes every day during my commutes and the year-over-year change in e-bike presence has been very noticeable.

A common misconception I experience is that people assume someone on an e-bike is attempting exercise. This doesn't reflect the reality I've observed at all. I find that at least in my experience, the vast majority of e-bike riders are doing it vs. being in a car, not vs. being on an unassisted bike. Almost all of the people I know who ride e-bikes are doing it to get to work/school/errands. I do know a few people who were avid bikers and as they aged and slowed down, they added an e-bike to the mix to help them keep doing the longer rides they loved. But they are the exception; the majority I know are doing it as a car alternative. If you think of the proliferation of e-bikes as getting people out of cars rather than a transition from unassisted biking for fitness purposes, it hopefully will be seen more regularly as a positive trend.

I have an 11-mile one-way trip to work. On my unassisted bike, the ride at a reasonable commuting pace takes me about 50-55 minutes (12-13MPH). I arrive rather sweaty, so tack on another 10 minutes for the shower/change at work - unassisted biking is a bit over an hour commitment each way. Because of the time required, my schedule only allows for this about 1 day a week. The other 4 days, I drove. After a couple of years of this, I was frustrated that I couldn't bike more, and drive times crept up over 30 minutes on more mornings. That's when I started seriously looking at an e-bike. The e-bike gets the time down to 37-40 minutes, and no shower required on any but the hottest of days. Plus, it's doable even if I'm not feeling 100% or I have to lug a lot of stuff to work one day because I can tailor the assist. With it being only a few minutes more than the car ride, I found myself gravitating to the biking option a lot more. I now bike an average of 3 days a week and use the car only 2 days a week.

I don't think of my e-bike as a fitness device, it's a transportation device. I'm out of the car a lot more, which is good for my stress level, my wallet, and the environment - and yes, I get a mild fitness benefit vs. sitting in a car (I estimate that I am putting in 1/4 to 1/3 of the total work). I still ride my unassisted bike for exercise and leisure purposes, sometimes for commutes if I have the time and lots on the weekend or when riding with others if they're not e-enabled. :-) I find this to be a very typical story/pattern.

I honeslty don't encounter too many e-bike naysayers out on the trails (maybe Minneapolis is just more enlightened ;-) but on the rare occasion I do they generally respond better once I explain the alternative is not an unassisted bike but another car on the road. I feel the false dichotomy of unassisted bike vs. e-bike is damaging to the cycling community. There's room and purpose for both forms of bicycle, and I doubt very much that e-bikes are just a passing fad. As a car alternative (and yes also as an enabler of letting more people enjoy cycling as a hobby longer) they make a ton of sense.