Ride Green with Electric Bikes and Scooters

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A good conversion kit costs $1,000 or more. Benjamin likes the BionX kit from Canada (see Photo Gallery). Dierker, whose company sells similar conversion kits called RoadRunner and Sparrow, also offers Crystalyte’s high-powered Phoenix kits.

Want to ride in unmatched comfort and stability? Consider a recumbent bicycle, especially the tricycle variety. Admittedly a niche vehicle, with good nonelectric models priced at $800 and up, recumbents have been around for nearly as long as conventional bicycles. So fast and ergonomically efficient that they were banned from international cycling races in 1934, these machines are enjoying a resurgence in popularity.

It’s possible to add electric drive to most recumbents, either as a manufacturer option or conversion. Tricycle recumbents tend to weigh two to three times as much as a regular bike, and adding electric power only increases the mass that the rider and motor must move. But these are about as close to a motor vehicle as a bike can get and still be legally considered a bike.

Electric Scooters

The term “e-scooter” applies to a wide variety of machines. At one extreme, they resemble classic Vespa scooters (think Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday); at the other, they’re standup platform scooters — beefed-up versions of children’s sidewalk scooters. They’re intended for short trips; unlike bikes, they have no pedals. Many of the smaller models lack seats and fold up.

The rules for purchasing e-bikes also apply to e-scooters, perhaps even more strongly. When asked about buying a cheap e-scooter, Byrd said, “Be afraid, be very afraid.”

A former software engineer turned teacher and Web publisher, Byrd probably has tested and reviewed more small e-scooters over the years than anyone else in the country. He says that after 30,000 miles of e-scooting around Philadelphia, he simply stopped keeping track of his mileage. He still commutes 15 miles per day on an e-scooter to his college teaching job.

His rules for choosing the right e-scooter are straightforward: First, you get what you pay for. Second, buy as many watts and amps as you can afford.

The power of gas-engine scooters is measured in either cubic centimeters (cc) or horsepower, but e-scooter motors are rated in watts — and the higher the wattage, the better. For example, you can buy moped look-alikes that can carry one adult, with motors rated 250 to 800 watts (equivalent to between one-third and one horsepower). Those scooters might have sufficient power for riding on level ground, but as Brekkan discovered, they will have trouble climbing even the slightest hill. He reports that his scooter can’t climb the hill out of his own yard, so he has to push.

To negotiate hills, you’ll need a machine with more watts. Graeff’s eGO, for example, uses a motor with 1,000 watts continuous output, but which is rated at 4,800 peak watts. This brings up another important point: View all wattage claims with skepticism, especially from less established manufacturers or online retailers. Byrd says knock-off makers and sellers often overrate motors, copy the specifications of more reputable manufacturers, or just plain lie. A favorite trick is to list the motor’s peak wattage as its continuous power rating, but since a motor can run at peak for only a few seconds without damage, this is misleading.

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BUILD YOUR OWN ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLE'

Carl Vogel

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