Originally Posted by
JinbaIttai
Nobodies mentioned gas mileage cost.
If you are going to use your bike to commute, and plug in at your destination, your gas mileage will jump to infinite mpg.
infinite mpg with electric versus 150ish mpg with gas, and ebikes have a huge advantage, provided you keep your trips shorter.
From what I've learned so far, the cost of charging a battery is pretty small and I really like the idea of doing half my charges at work.
Amazingly, even at 100 - 120 mpg, the cost of gasoline is still about 3-4 cents per mile. So I agree that the cost of charging is better than the cost of gas.
The real operating expense of an electric bike though, is replacing the battery when it no longer cycles - correct me if I'm wrong. If a charge cycle gets 20 miles, the cost of that battery is $500, and it gets 1000 cycles, the cost of the battery is $500/(20x1000) = 2.5 cents per mile.
More cycles, cheaper battery, or more miles per charge would reduce that number but I still think that total operating costs will be similar.
Please feel free to argue against that. I'm more interested in getting the correct answer than I am in defending what I wrote.