After over 11,000 miles on an electric bike, here’s how much money one woman saved
We’ve always known that electric bikes are great alternatives to cars for many reasons, one of which is that they save riders significant cash. But rarely do we get a chance like this to see just how much money someone has saved by regularly using an e-bike to replace many of their car trips.
That chance recently came when Colorado resident Bryn Grunwald broke down the costs associated with riding her 2018 Juiced CrossCurrent commuter e-bike over the last five years.
As she explained to CleanTechnica, she uses the electric bike to replace many trips that she would otherwise take in her 2010 Toyota Camry.
Bryn went over the numbers, explaining that she gets a range of around 35 miles (56 km) per charge of her 624 Wh battery. Over 11,500 miles (18,500 km), that works out to around 205 kWh of electricity. At her local rates of around US $0.15 per kWh, that’s a fuel cost of US $30.75.
To put it another way, Bryn has spent around the price of a cup of coffee each year to charge her e-bike for thousands of miles!
When Bryn compared those figures to her Camry, they were even more eyebrow raising. Her car gets 26 mpg (9 liters per 100 km). Using the average gas prices over the last five years in Boulder, Colorado, of approximately US $3.50/gal (€0.84/liter), using her e-bike instead of her car saved her over US $1,500 in fuel costs alone.
Bryn added that the maintenance costs for her car would have been $0.10/mile (€0.05/km) according to Department of Energy estimates, meaning another US $1,150 in maintenance expenses had she used her car for those trips.
During the last five years she has spent around $500 on maintenance and accessories for her bike, as well as around $600 on a new battery.
That brings the total costs for using her e-bike to around US $1,130, compared to what the costs of using her car for those trips would have been at around US $2,650. That’s a savings over US $1,500, and that’s not even counting the costs of the vehicles, with the e-bike costing significantly less. In fact, since Bryn and her partner shared the e-bike instead of getting a second car, they likely saved tens of thousands of dollars that they would have spent on another car.
Electrek’s Take
Obviously there are lots of variables here that will change for different riders and locations. Some might be able to get by with fewer upgrades on their e-bikes and save more money, or had a lower cost for a replacement battery (Juiced Bike’s replacement battery costs are rather high). Some might alternatively have lower gasoline prices locally that cut down on the gap. With plenty of e-bikes for literally any budget, the options for saving money on an e-bike are nearly endless.
Suffice it to say that there’s basically no situation where using an e-bike instead of a car doesn’t save significant cash in ownership costs. We’ve seen situations where some riders have gone car-free by using an e-bike and saved over US $50,000!
That usually requires the rider to live in a city instead of a sprawling suburb or rural area. But guess who lives in cities: millions and millions of Americans. Hmmm….
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British Columbia got its first 400 kW DC fast charger last week at Canadian C-store chain On The Run, but that’s not the good part. As part of a limited time offer, these chargers are FREE!
The Canadian convenience store chain just took the wraps off its new, ABB-developed, 400 kW chargers earlier this month, but they’re already planning to bring the ultra-fast 400 kW dispensers to at least four more locations in BC this spring, and have them online just in time for the summer road trip season – something On The Run hopes its customers will appreciate.
“The A400 charger delivers an enhanced customer experience, with reliability and performance from a 32-inch screen to higher power charging sessions and power sharing,” reads the company’s official announcement, via LinkedIn. “Download the Journie Rewards app to start the charge – free for a limited time.”
On The Run’s new 400 kW ABB DC fast chargers are compatible with CCS and CHAdeMO plugs, and can accommodate Tesla and other NACS-equipped vehicles with an adapter. That said, the company seems to imply that Tesla drivers in particular will have a maximum charging speed of “just” 50 kW, which feel hilarious (given the current state of affairs between Tesla and the Canadian government), but probably isn’t.
In addition to the ABB A400 400 kW units shown here, On The Run locations also employ the ABB Terra 184 dispensers rated at 180 kW. On The Run plans similar deployments at the four BC locations mentioned above, as well as two more each in Quebec and Ontario slated to go live towards the end of this year.
Electrek’s Take
Tesla’s controversial CEO Elon Musk once mocked 350 kW charging speed as being “for a child’s toy,” despite the fact that, nearly nine years later, his own cars and Superchargers can barely make it to 325 kW while others have sailed right on past. I made fun of that fact on the Quick Charge episode shown, above – and, while I do think it’s funny and relevant, the much more relevant piece of news here is that companies like BP Pulse, Revel, and Wallbox are actively deploying 400 kW solutions, today (while others hit the same mark as far back as 2017).
It’s just a fact: Tesla has fallen way behind.
SOURCE | IMAGES: On The Run, via Electric Autonomy.
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Terawatt Infrastructure‘s first medium- and heavy-duty electric charging truck stop in California is now online, in Rancho Dominguez.
Located 12 miles north of the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, the private Rancho Dominguez site, which is shared among multiple fleets, will support electric trucking fleet operations in and out of the largest container ports in the US.
First customers include Dreaded Trucking, Hight Logistics, PepsiCo, Quick Container Drayage, Southern Counties Express, Tradelink Transport, and WestCoast Trucking & Warehousing.
Terawatt’s electric charging truck stop features 20 pull-through and bobtail DC fast charging stalls with a capacity of 7 megawatts (MW), enabling charging for up to 125 trucks per day using a simple reservations system. Terawatt’s site features a proprietary charge management system, in-house technicians, 24/7 customer service, and onsite parts management.
“This launch underscores growing collaboration between enterprises, shippers, carriers, and charging infrastructure providers to advance sustainable technologies across logistics and transportation operations, especially in the medium and heavy-duty sectors,” said Neha Palmer, CEO and cofounder of Terawatt. Palmer added that the company will bring another charging site online in Rialto, California, in June.
Terawatt joined some of the world’s largest shippers and carriers in September 2024 to launch the I-10 Consortium heavy-duty EV operations pilot, the “first-ever US over-the-road electrified corridor.” Terawatt is providing charging infrastructure, including software, operations, and maintenance support at six of its owned charging hubs along the I-10 corridor.
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In its most aggressive attack against offshore wind yet, the Trump administration halted the $5 billion Empire Wind 1, already under construction off New York’s coast.
Norwegian developer Equinor announced yesterday that it received notice from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) ordering Empire Wind 1 to halt all activities on the outer continental shelf until BOEM has completed its review. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum posted this tweet yesterday:
Burgum gave no indication of what insufficiencies there were in the approval process for the fully permitted offshore wind project, despite Trump’s recent declaration of a national energy emergency that speeds up permitting processes.
The commercial lease for the 810-megawatt (MW) Empire Wind 1’s federal offshore wind area was signed in March 2017 during the first Trump administration. It was approved by the Biden administration in November 2023 and began construction in 2024.
The project is being developed under contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Empire Wind 1, which was due to come online in 2027, has the potential to power 500,000 New York homes.
“Halting construction of fully permitted energy projects is the literal opposite of an energy abundance agenda,” said American Clean Power Association CEO Jason Grumet in a statement. “We encourage the administration to quickly address perceived inadequacies in the prior permit approvals so that this project can complete construction and bring much-needed power to the grid.”
As Electrek reported, Equinor secured $3 billion to finance Empire Wind 1 in January. The total amount drawn under the project finance term loan facility as of March 31 was around $1.5 billion.
As of March 31, Empire Wind has a gross book value of around $2.5 billion, including South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (pictured above), which was expected to become the US’s largest dedicated port facility for offshore wind.
In response to BOEM’s stop work order, New York Governor Kathy Hochul issued the following statement:
Every single day, I’m working to make energy more affordable, reliable and abundant in New York and the federal government should be supporting those efforts rather than undermining them. Empire Wind 1 is already employing hundreds of New Yorkers, including 1,000 good-paying union jobs as part of a growing sector that has already spurred significant economic development and private investment throughout the state and beyond.
As Governor, I will not allow this federal overreach to stand. I will fight this every step of the way to protect union jobs, affordable energy and New York’s economic future.
Equinor says it’s considering appealing BOEM’s order.
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