The ebike economy question: Whenever I mention my ebike to anyone the usual responses either include 'its cheating' or 'must cost a lot in electricity'. During the Olympics, I found that the best answer to the first of those was "I'm going to Tesco, not Tokyo", the rest of the time I usually either laugh at them or say something rather rude.
So, how about the electricity, it is a valid point isn't it? Let's start off by looking at an electric car, apparently 4 miles per kw/h of electricity would be a pretty good average (early models achieved half of this). Working on an average current cost of about 15p per kw/h, this gives us a range of approximately 26 miles for £1.
Now on to the bike, I have used average figures for my last 2,500 miles of use over mixed terrain in mixed conditions. Over this time I have used 40 kw/h of electricity so that equates to 62 miles per kw/h or 416 miles per £1.
I actually spend more money per mile on brake pads than I do on electricity but that is a different story!
Agree that the cost of the electricity for an ebike is very small. i once did an analysis versus a gas-powered scooter. Not sure I can find it right now, but as I recall , by far, the biggest ongoing cost was providing for battery replacement - another consumable needed for an ebike.
Nevertheless I too am a believer