Yesterday the Government brought forward its proposed ban on the sale of diesel and petrol cars from 2035. 97% of the world's climate scientists agree that man-made pollution is warming our planet. However appealing the thought of a warmer planet may be on a cold February afternoon, the reality is quite different from the promise of more long, hot summers. You may already have noticed your garden flowering earlier or the grass continuing to grow throughout the Winter months. This is happening because extremes of temperature affect the ecology of the planet, which is bad news for everyone (not just the green fingered). So what good will banning petrol and diesel cars do? Is this even possible, given the abundance of two car families that is often borne of necessity rather than opulence? What impact would switching from a car to an e-bike make?
While the surge in the sales of e-bikes is unlikely to result in empty motorways, Drings butchers in Greenwich cut their CO2 emissions by 75% by making the majority of local deliveries within 5km of their shop using an eletric cargo bike. Drings estimate a potential annual reduction in CO2 emissions of 2,171 kilograms. By way of comparison a car travelling 40 miles a day emits over 7,000kg of CO2 per year while an e-bike emits less than 300kg (produced creating the electricity to charge it).
With around 32.5 million cars on UK roads you'd be forgiven for thinking that one e-bike isn't going to make much impact on our carbon production. But consider this: if 1% of all cars were replaced with e-bikes we'd be emitting over 2 billion fewer kilograms of CO2 each year.
That's just one country and only one type of vehicle. So while an e-bike may not be a substitute for the family car, even making some of your local journeys by bike instead of car (or even bus) will have a measurable impact on the Environment.
Plus riding bikes is way more fun!