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The increasing popularity of electric bicycles with their convenient electric boost has seen more and more commuters riding each day, especially car drivers who wouldn’t have otherwise opted for two wheels. This growth in cycling has spawned calls for improved bike lanes and additional bicycling infrastructure.

Some drivers have interpreted this call for safer bike lanes as if it was some type of “war on cars”. In actuality, car drivers should love seeing more people on bikes and e-bikes. In fact, it’d be better for them if they encouraged more people to switch to bikes. Here’s why.

More cyclists means less traffic

It shouldn’t take any major leaps of logic to realize that each person riding a bike to work or the store can help take another car off the road. Even if you never plan to give up your car entirely, each bike rider means one less car currently on the road creating traffic. Remember: you aren’t stuck in traffic; you are traffic.

But what you might not realize is just what a big impact on traffic reduction bikes can make. A study in Belgium found that when just 10% of drivers switch to two-wheelers, traffic congestion decreases by 40%! Another study in Atlanta, Georgia found that during a period when the city banned rental scooters, travel time for car trips increased by around 10%. And that’s even with many people still riding their own private scooters and bikes!

Suffice it to say that the more people using bikes, scooters, motorcycles, and other personal vehicles, the less traffic for everyone.

More bikes means more parking

You know who doesn’t take up parking spots? Cyclists. The next time you’re driving laps around the block looking for parking or zig-zagging through a packed parking lot, remember that the reason for the lack of parking spots is that everyone is driving a car, just like you. If more people rode bikes, you’d have more empty parking spots.

It’d be pretty easy, too. If you supported initiatives that encourage more people to ride a bike in your city, you’d be sitting pretty in your parking spot more often. It doesn’t cost that much to replace that painted stripe on the ground with bollards, separating the bike lane in a safe way that encourages more people to ride bikes. Just think of all those big, beautiful parking spots those cyclists would be freeing up!

You could have better roads

No one likes driving on beaten-up, pockmarked roads. No one likes dodging road debris. And no one likes waiting for lengthy road construction projects that repair all of that accumulated road damage.

You probably see where this is going. Bikes don’t wear down road surfaces or leave hub caps in the middle of intersections. They’re lightweight vehicles that often don’t even mingle with cars on roads – at least not when they’re given their own protected bike lanes to use.

What you might not realize is just how extreme the difference in road wear truly is. The damage to a road increases with the weight of the vehicle according to the fourth power law. To oversimplify it, a vehicle that is twice as heavy per axle doesn’t do twice as much road damage, but rather 16 times as much. If you consider the average cyclist and bike weight to be 250 pounds compared to an average car at 4,000 pounds, that car is doing around 65,000 times the damage to the road surface. The difference is mind-boggling.

If more people rode bikes, there’d be incredibly less wear and tear on the roads. That means roads would be smoother and more comfortable each day, and there’d be less frequent road work performing repairs. Ultimately, that makes everyone’s lives better.

electric street sweeper for bike lanes

Drivers will feel better when other people ride bikes

When more people ride bikes around you instead of driving, you’ll feel better.

Stick with me, I’ll show you why.

Even the most ardent car drivers have a basic understanding that the exhaust coming out of their car is “not good”. If someone asked you to put your lips around the tailpipe as they turn on your car, you’d probably protest. And I’m guessing the same goes for if someone asked your kid to do the same.

So we all know car emissions are bad. But you might not realize just how bad. Studies put the number of premature deaths worldwide due to automotive exhaust pollution at around a third of a million people each year. That amounted to 361,000 people in 2010 and 385,000 in 2015.

The exhaust from combustion engines is a killer, plain and simple. People literally use car exhaust to kill themselves. Here’s a grim metric from Australia: until catalytic converters became standard, the rate of suicide by car exhaust increased faster than the rate of vehicle registrations.

All of this car exhaust in the air is quite simply poisoning you. Yes, statistically speaking you will likely not be one of the nearly 400,000 people this year to actually die from it. But what other medical problems is it still causing you? The more people that switch from cars to bikes, the less particulate pollution is in the air and the healthier you will be.

And don’t for a second think “Ok, but maybe people can just drive electric cars and that will fix it.” Electric vehicles don’t have tailpipe emissions, but their heavier weights actually cause more tire pollution. Those microscopic bits of tire that get flung into the air eventually either get breathed in or settle into the water system. Either way, they work their way into our bodies and kill us in a slightly different way. We’re only recently learning just how bad this stuff is for us. In fact, particulate pollution from tires is up to 2,000 times worse than tailpipe emission pollution from modern cars. Fun!

And don’t even get me started on the extremely carcinogenic brake pad pollution from cars and trucks.

Long story short: more people riding bikes means that you live in a cleaner and healthier world. Your morning coffee has less tiny bits of tire in it and you won’t die as early from preventable causes like lung cancer or one of dozens of other ailments caused by car pollution.

toyota mpg car driver exhaust

More people riding bikes makes you richer

Want more money? Tell your friends to ride a bike.

I mean, you too could also save a huge amount of money riding a bike. But even if you’re sticking to your car, other people riding bikes saves you money.

That reduced traffic? It saves you fuel cost and increases your productivity by spending less time idling in the middle of the road.

That reduced road wear? Those are your tax dollars that don’t have to be spent on road repairs.

That increased health of the society around you? There are untold healthcare savings there. Insurance companies don’t have to charge as much, dropping your own premiums. Tax dollars don’t have to go towards as much healthcare. You don’t have to buy your kid an inhaler because he never got asthma from the extra car exhaust produced by drivers like you.

That’s all extra money in your pocket, all because a bunch of people started riding their bikes.

aventon soltera electric bike

What have we learned?

Here’s the thing: all of these benefits can only happen if more people get out of their cars and get onto a bike. More people need to turn from drivers into riders. Electric bikes, which make cycling easier (and can make it basically effortless if you use a throttle-controlled e-bike) have made the biggest strides in getting more people onto bike seats. So if you really want to enjoy these benefits, consider giving a bike a try.

But even if you can never see yourself getting around without your car, then you can still enjoy every single one of these benefits simply by encouraging others to use bikes. Support bike lanes being installed in your city. Support incentives for e-bikes. Support safety campaigns that help drivers become more aware of e-bikes. Hell, take an extra glance yourself at intersections for cyclists.

You can sit pretty in your SUV and live a better life simply by helping the rest of us feel better riding our bikes. It’s one of those rare cases where a rising tide lifts all ships. Let’s ride that tide to a more cycling-friendly world, baby!

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China’s nationwide ‘cash for clunkers’ trade-in program causing huge e-bike boom

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China's nationwide 'cash for clunkers' trade-in program causing huge e-bike boom

While much of the Western world is still figuring out how to get more people on electric bikes, China just flipped a switch, and the results are staggering. Thanks to a generous nationwide trade-in program rolled out around six months ago, China has seen an explosive surge in electric bicycle sales, with over 8.47 million new e-bikes hitting the road in the first half of 2025 alone.

The program, which offers subsidies to riders who trade in their old, often outdated electric bikes for newer, safer, and more efficient models, has sparked a new e-bike sale boom in a country already dominated by e-bike travel. In major provinces like Jiangsu, Hebei, and Zhejiang, over one million new e-bikes were sold in each region in just six months. That’s a tidal wave of e-bike sales.

The incentives vary depending on location and the model being traded in, but for many consumers, the subsidies cover a substantial portion of a new e-bike’s price – enough to turn a “maybe next year” purchase into a “right now” upgrade. And these aren’t just budget bikes either. The program has driven demand for higher-quality models with better batteries, safer braking systems, and more reliable electronics, accelerating both adoption and innovation across the industry.

The move has proven successful in replacing the millions of older models with lower-quality lithium-ion batteries that had posed safety risks around the country. Instead, China has pushed for higher-quality lithium-ion batteries, a return to a newer generation of higher-performance AGM batteries, and even interesting new sodium-ion battery options.

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Most e-bikes in China look more like what we’d consider seated scooters

According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, more than 8.4 million consumers have participated in the e-bike trade-in program so far, contributing to a sales increase of 643.5% year-over-year and more than doubling sales month-over-month. Meanwhile, production of new electric bicycles rose by nearly 28%, as manufacturers scrambled to meet demand. The sales boosts have already been seen in the financial reports of major industry players like NIU.

And it’s not just the big players benefiting – over 82,000 small independent e-bike dealers reported average sales increases of ¥302,000 (around US $42,000), giving a serious boost to local economies.

What’s particularly striking here is how fast this happened. The program was officially launched late last year as part of a broader effort to stimulate domestic consumption and phase out outdated vehicles and appliances. But while most analysts expected gradual growth, the e-bike sector responded much more quickly. In less than a year, the trade-in subsidies have reshaped the electric bicycle market, creating a consumer-driven boom that shows no signs of slowing.

For those of us watching from outside China, it’s hard not to wonder what might happen if other countries tried something similar. While most families in Chinese cities already own an electric bike and thus see this as an opportunity to trade it in for a newer model, Western countries like the US are still figuring out how to stimulate commuters into buying their first e-bike.

It’s too soon to know exactly how long the boom will last or whether the momentum will carry into 2026 and beyond. We’ve seen bicycle industry bubbles grow and burst before. But one thing’s clear: with the right incentives, even modest ones, it’s possible to ignite real, large-scale change. China just proved it with nearly 8.5 million new e-bikes to show for it.

And if you’re wondering what it looks like when a country takes electric micromobility seriously, this is it.

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Day 1 of the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025 [Gallery]

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Day 1 of the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025 [Gallery]

Today was the official start of racing at the Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix 2025! There was a tremendous energy (and heat) on the ground at NCM Motorsports Park as nearly a dozen teams took to the track. Currently, as of writing, Stanford is ranked #1 in the SOV (Single-Occupant Vehicle) class with 68 registered laps. However, the fastest lap so far belongs to UC Berkeley, which clocked a 4:45 on the 3.15-mile track. That’s an average speed of just under 40 mph on nothing but solar energy. Not bad!

In the MOV (Multi-Occupant Vehicle) class, Polytechnique Montréal is narrowly ahead of Appalachian State by just 4 laps. At last year’s formula sun race, Polytechnique Montréal took first place overall in this class, and the team hopes to repeat that success. It’s still too early for prediction though, and anything can happen between now and the final day of racing on Saturday.

Congrats to the teams that made it on track today. We look forward to seeing even more out there tomorrow. In the meantime, here are some shots from today via the event’s wonderful photographer Cora Kennedy.

Stay tuned for more!

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Tesla sold 5,000 Cybertrucks Q2, Optimus is in chaos, plus: the Infinity Train!

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Tesla sold 5,000 Cybertrucks Q2, Optimus is in chaos, plus: the Infinity Train!

The numbers are in and they are all bad for Tesla fans – the company sold just 5,000 Cybertruck models in Q4 of 2025, and built some 30% more “other” vehicles than it delivered. It just gets worse and worse, on today’s tension-building episode of Quick Charge!

We’ve also got day 1 coverage of the 2025 Electrek Formula Sun Grand Prix, reports that the Tesla Optimus program is in chaos after its chief engineer jumps ship, and a look ahead at the fresh new Hyundai IONIQ 2 set to bow early next year, thanks to some battery specs from the Kia EV2.

Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple PodcastsSpotifyTuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.

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Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.


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