10/10 would buy again
I went with a basic commuter model, the Lectric Xpress 750, outfitted with two pannier bags. The only time I've touched my car since getting it was to take that car to the mechanic for a $2000, 3+ week repair that they fucked up. Riding feels like I'm 400% stronger and I can effortlessly carry all of my normal shopping twice the normal distance I enjoy biking. I'd ditch my car for the bike entirely if not for road trips.
Just in time for Biden's tariffs and now Trump's to destroy the industry.
I'd ditch my car for the bike entirely if not for road trips.
The next step is to tally up the yearly costs of owning a car with all that this incurs, then weigh that against how many days per year you typically go on road trips and how much car rental would cost you in the amount of days you'd have to hire a car for.
If it looks like you'd more or less break even without factoring in those surprise costs that happen with car ownership ("Gee, that's a nice alternator you've got there! It sure would be a shame if some day it decided to shit itself and then you'd have to pay for a tow to the mechanic's to replace the thing while missing a day of work...") and you think you'd be fine renting for road trips then you're probably going to be better off selling the car, especially in the long run.
What I'd do from there, if I decided to pull the trigger, would be to set up a secondary bank account and automatically transfer money that would go to typical car-associated costs like insurance/registration/gas and set up an automatic transfer into that secondary account. Also set aside enough money to replace your ebike from the sale of your car so if anything happens you aren't going to find yourself in a tricky situation. Then use the money that accrues in that secondary account to fund car hire when you're ready for your next road trip. It's going to be painful shelling out a thick wad of cash for a car rental on your first road trip but keep in mind that car ownership is a financial form of death by a thousand cuts that you rarely think about since it's just the cost of doing business.
Honestly, over time I'd expect that the secondary account would start filling up faster than you can spend the money on car rentals which might free you up to buy other things you want.
The other option is to find a good friend or loved one who would be willing to split the costs for car sharing arrangement between the two of you. This would be a little bit tricky to navigate and you'd want to make sure that you've got the right person to do this with but if you went about it the right way you should be able to come up with a mutually-beneficial arrangment.
Renting for special purposes might be an option in the future, but here I need a car to regularly get into the mountains. I'm up there so frequently that the costs and hassle of renting would probably even out with ownership.
I bought an ebike about 2.5 years ago and already have over 2,600 miles on it. It’s my primary form of transportation, but I also do monthly ~40 mile rides with my brother who also has one. They are real game changers. I often put the assist low and basically ride it like a normal bike, but when I’m commuting or in a time crunch, the ability to put on assistance helps immensely. I don’t show up a sweaty mess to things, I go faster than traffic with it set to less than half total power. Honestly cannot recommend them enough.
There are studies about people like you (said in the most positive of ways).
Definitely tracks with me. I had a bike share subscription for a few years that I used pretty regularly and then I got a hybrid bike used and I certainly used it, but once I had the ebike, I was just taking it everywhere. Now that my brother and wife have ones too, that's how we get around town when we're doing stuff together too.
Getting one for my partner as soon as I can afford a second is now the priority. Her car is much more mechanically dodgy than mine and is used for a similar commute. Stretching out its lifespan will save so much more money than the $1400~ a bike like mine cost.
That's definitely a great approach to the ebike. It can't necessarily replace all car needs for all people because, if nothing else, our infrastructure is fucked and practically requires cars for some things. But it can drastically cut down on car use, almost regardless of situation.
I should be starting a job with a place where I can salary sacrifice to get an ebike. My plan is to get a cargo bike so I can take my kids around in it. I already have a trailer pram but they're getting bigger now so it's more effort and those 20km round trips really take it out of me. I love the idea of being able to take them places out in the open and away from traffic where they can actually see what's going on
Some of them have solid payment plans. I was really considering the Lectric XPedition 2.0 or Packa Genie but don't need the extra cargo space 99% of the time.
