The CanBikeCO Full Pilot: Long-Term Results and Analysis From an E-Bike Program in Colorado, USA
Journal Article
·
· International Journal of Sustainable Transportation
- National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Personal micromobility devices like bicycles, e-bikes, and scooters are low- or zero-energy alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles. However, a lack of data has led to a dearth of data-driven research on personally owned e-bike usage. We present longitudinal findings from the CanBikeCO program, focused on e-bike adoption and use across demographics, trip characteristics, and geographies in the state of Colorado. CanBikeCO recorded travel survey data from low-income individuals provided with personal e-bikes by the Colorado Energy Office in six communities across Colorado from July 2021 to December 2022. The data were collected using a custom instance of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory OpenPATH platform, which combines passive data collection with semantic information such as trip mode and purpose labels. To our knowledge, there are no prior travel survey data on personally owned e-bikes with this range and scope. Insights from this unique dataset include: (i) work trips were 17% more likely than average trips to be taken on an e-bike, (ii) e-bikes were most often reported to replace cars (34% of e-bike trips) and other personal micromobility devices (22%), and (iii) participants favored walking for trips less than 1 mile, e-bikes for trips of 1-3 miles, and e-bikes, cars, or shared rides for trips of 3-20 miles. The data used to generate these results have been made available in the Transportation Secure Data Center. We find e-bike use is appealing across age groups and may be related to characteristics of land use, urban form, occupation, income, and car ownership. We conclude for this population that the energy demand added by e-bike use (induced demand and replacing non-motorized modes) is outweighed by the reduction in energy demand from replacement of single-occupancy vehicle trips with e-bike trips. Our findings suggest considerable potential for energy savings from personal e-bike ownership.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Vehicle Technologies Office
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 2574776
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-5400-89895
- Journal Information:
- International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, Journal Name: International Journal of Sustainable Transportation Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 19
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Freewheeling: What Six Locations, 61,000 Trips, and 242,000 Miles in Colorado Reveal about How E-Bikes Improve Mobility Options
The CanBikeCO Full Pilot: Long-Term Results and Analysis
2020 Can Do Colorado E-Bike Mini Pilot Program Study
Conference
·
Thu Jan 11 23:00:00 EST 2024
·
OSTI ID:2281815
The CanBikeCO Full Pilot: Long-Term Results and Analysis
Conference
·
Sun Nov 26 23:00:00 EST 2023
·
OSTI ID:2228318
2020 Can Do Colorado E-Bike Mini Pilot Program Study
Dataset
·
Mon Feb 02 19:00:00 EST 2026
·
OSTI ID:2323489