VeloRUSH VeloPOINT Motorsports Magazine Fall 2013 | Page 65

sizes, with more features and longer warranties. And in some places, the distribution channel adds considerably to the price. So in the USA, where the distribution channel is short and efficient in most cases, and freight costs , duties, etc. are low for products from China - the price differential is modest. In some other places, high expectations / demands from the consumer and dealer add to a longer distribution channel, (more players) as well as higher regulatory, import, freight, and other costs. • THER THAN PRICE, O WHAT WOULD NEED TO HAPPEN FOR THE US TO EMBRACE EBIKES? I think the USA is in the process of embracing eBikes. Keep in mind that most things we compare the eBike market to are much more mature products. Bicycles have been around for more than 120 years, cars for about 100 years. Skateboards and mini push scooters are older than eBikes. What I hear is that the sales of eBikes as a percentage are increasing quite quickly. But the starting numbers were....0. Only a few years ago. So I am quite satisfied with the pace of adoption in the USA. However, many people have been vocal about being disappointed that eBikes are not an “iPod” like sales event. (And I note that the ancestors of the iPod were

also around before eBikes started.) • HICH WORLD W CULTURES ARE MOST LIKELY TO ADOPT BREAKTHROUGHS IN TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGY? More than 150 million people rode an eBike to work today. Most of them were in Asia, with many in Europe. The fact that the USA does not have such participation is actually not very important to the world, or to the eBike industry. So we need to consider that the world is vigorously adopting eBikes. The USA is simply a laggard. Although one that is catching on fast. The best places for eBikes are cultures / regions that have transportation challenges. More than half of the human race lives in high density cities now. In such places cars are not very useful - traffic jams plus scarce parking both at home and at the destination make cars difficult to use. Buses, metros, trains, feet and two wheelers work better. Bicycles, eBikes, motor scooters, light motorcycles, and probably vehicles we do not yet know about are all part of the solution in such places. I note that an eBike rider in Beijing, being more adapted to the reality of the Beijing traffic jams, can often get to their destination more quickly than in a car. And that scarce parking for cars

is not a problem for eBikes. And Beijing is perhaps the Chinese city that is most friendly to, and adapted to ... cars. In Shanghai, Bangkok, and many other Asian cities, there is no parking to speak of, and limited roadways with far too many cars. Such superiority of two wheelers is evident in most Asian cities, and in many European and even American cities. A bicyclist is more mobile in Manhattan than a motorist, and eBike even more so. Additionally, cultures that already have a history and acceptance of cycling / motorcycling adopt eBikes more readily. An important note for Americans - many more people around the world move on two wheels than in cars. This is not intuitive to Americans, who use the same car for all transportation tasks and suffer huge expense and loss of time due to traffic jams, vehicle and parking costs, etc. • HAT OTHER SOCIAL W AND TECHNOLOGY TRENDS ARE LEADING TO ADOPTION OF NEW TRANSPORTATION METHODS? Humans are moving to the city. Nearly everywhere. Once there, they need personal transportation. Add to this the high cost of

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