jimlews wrote: ↑29 Nov 2022, 4:12pm I'm aware of the common ancestry - pedal cycle // motor cycle // e bike etc.
It's all part of a misguided notion that everything has to be made easier.
So fast (easier) "food" has led to an epidemic of obesity, ably assisted by car culture
and now e bikes (which discourage active travel).
The only difference that I can see between the "stink wheel" devices of former times
and todays electric bicycles is that the pollution they cause has been deferred to the
end of the battery life. And then there is the slave labour mining the rare elements required
to produce them...
I've a habit of raising points others overlook, including the social and environmental cost of lithium technology battery production which every TD&H is expecting to power their car. However, in the case of bikes assisted by electrical power, I say "Bring it on!"
It might seem dim to sit at a laptop consuming a battery when there is gas, wind, nuclear and solar (46, 36, 13 & 4% presently) produced electricity coming out of the wall, but it's the mass adoption of battery-powered electronics which has led to the amazing efficiencies of todays computers.
Apple's M-series chip inside their newest desktops and laptops seems miraculous for its speed and reduction in physical size of computer internals, it also uses a remarkably small amount of power. It's nothing more than a development of the 2010-onwards chips used in its phones (ARM of Cambridge, England) and a perfect example of the limitations of battery power advancing technology for all computers.
The energy limits of the human body have formed bicycles into the amazingly efficient machines they are, but batteries are making them even more efficient in that they're capable of replacing more car trips for more people.
Contrary to them discouraging 'active travel', my experience is that you'll use one when an un-assisted bike would remain in the shed - the tempation is to pedal just as hard as ever. They reduce the amount of time spent pedalling up gradients and enhance human energy, rather than dispensing with it.