By: Kara Ferguson-Amplified Outcomes

Almost 300 million global ebikes and scooters are displacing 4x the oil demand of electric vehicles. Cheap to buy and even cheaper to use, ebikes and scooters are quickly becoming a vital part of global transport.

With almost 60% of American car trips under 7 miles, these trips may be short but their impacts add up in increased fuel expense, pollution and emissions.  And America is not alone. Many wealthy countries also use their cars for short trips, like Australia where almost half of all car trips are under 7 miles (10km), and often even less.

Those trips are still going to happen, but now there is an alternative for those quick trips to the corner store.  You might think that electric cars are the solution with over 20 million electric buses, cars, and trucks on the road today.  But they may not be the panacea people expect, especially for the majority of short drives in cities.  While more environmentally and economically friendly to run compared to gas-fueled cars, they are expensive to buy, heavy and still use a lot of resources and electricity.

With these challenges in mind, more and more people around the world have transitioned to scooters and ebikes, or electric micromobility vehicles.  Much more affordable and accessible, these ebikes are already helping almost 300 million people globally live better lives with less energy, cost, and pollution.  This is especially true throughout Asia in places like India and China where vast numbers of scooters are the backbones of transportation and economy.

Though small in size, they are a growing influence on global emissions and pollution levels.  Researchers in the US found that if we used ebikes and scooters for just 11% more trips, overall emissions would lower by 7%.  British researchers found that using electric micromobility vehicles reduced CO2 emissions by 45% compared to other forms of transportation.

And that advantage is just from switching to ebikes in our daily lives where we can.  While cars may still be needed in the suburbs or the country; for most of the humanity living in cities, ebikes are increasingly the transport of choice.  This shows how small intentional changes like using an ebike can have powerful global impacts for us all.