https://maxmautner.com/2026/10/11/how-fast-is-a-car.html

The median American worker earns $23.80/hour, or ~$19 after taxes. A used car driven the US average of ~10,900 miles a year costs ~$8,200, counting $1,700 a year for a parking space at home. That is ~430 hours of work before the car moves. A new car takes ~700 hours. A $999 e-bike ridden 3,000 miles a year takes ~25 hours.

  • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
    8·
    23 days ago

    I live on the Colorado Front Range which is one of the better/worse areas to bike in the US. It’s a high desert so we can expect snow from September-May, but it usually melts within a few days and the bike trails are the first things cleared. June-September brings a lot of 30-37c days with low humidity, usually with afternoon monsoon rains that always hit me on the ride home. It’s very hilly and high elevation so biking is rougher than most sea-level places. I’ve been able to bike maybe 350/365 days out of the past year, only stopping when it’s so snowy I don’t want to drive or below -20c.

    The big thing an ebike gets you is mitigating the weather. If it’s snowy but passable, I can use my throttle to slowly trudge along and keep a pace that’s faster than walking. If it’s rainy and windy, I feel like I have a tailwind. If it’s super hot out, even a 10 hour day doing a physical job in the sun doesn’t deter me from riding because it’s like having air conditioning on full blast. I would have biked maybe 250/365 days on my normal bike while it’s only frostbite and ice/deep snow that keep me from the ebike.