The pedelec should be very environmentally friendly compared to the car. But how environmentally friendly are the bikes really? And how high is the lifespan? How long hold the battery and engine? We spoke to experts.
E-bikes are a sustainable alternative to the car. But how sustainable are e-bikes in themselves?
The big cities sink into traffic chaos. More and more commuters are going to the center of the outskirts by car from the outskirts. The result: traffic jam. Stink. Fine dust pollution. Noise. The average length of cars and motorcycles is only 16.3 kilometers, as a study by the Federal Environment Office states. Such short distances are predestined for e-bikes; You can easily create such routes under an hour without exhausting. Are you therefore environmentally friendly?
E-bike versus car
In fact, from an environmentally technical point of view, a pedelec has many advantages over the car. According to a study by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Heidelberg in 2015, 45 percent of the pedelec kilometers had been driven by car. Accordingly, the electric bikes would clearly contribute to the turn of traffic. While e-bikes emit only 0.56 kilograms of CO2 each 100 kilometers, cars are partly 36 times. This means that 190 grams of CO2 can be saved per pedelec kilometer.
Another problem with the big cities is the high nitrogen oxide load. Motor transport causes 64 percent of urban emissions. According to the study, about forty percent of the measurement stations registered an exceeding of the limit values of 40 micrograms of the lung damaging nitrogen dioxide per cubic meter. Cycling, on the other hand, with or without an engine, does not create nitrogen oxides in the cities, and the fine dust pollution is also extremely low.
In addition, there is the high space requirement of a car, whether driving or parked. Around ten (e-) bikes fit on a car park. The pedelec is therefore definitely an environmentally friendly alternative to the car - if it replaces such a trip.
The long journey of the battery
The ecological weak point of the electric bicycles are their lithium-ion batteries. The breakdown of lithium causes large environmental damage. For example, in Chile, one of the largest lithium suppliers, water is pumped out of the salt lakes, which then evaporates. As a result, the groundwater level in the region sinks enormously, with dramatic effects on people and the environment. The metals contained in batteries are also reduced under questionable conditions.
When producing the batteries, mostly in China, high CO2 emissions are created. The Federal Environment Agency speaks of 55 to 75 kilograms of CO2, which occurs in production per kilowatt hour. Common 500 watt hours of batteries come to at least 27.5 kilograms. However, this CO2 emissions are already compensated for after 150 e-bike kilometers if the car stops.
So that the valuable material is not traveling around the world for nothing, long battery lifespan are important. Manufacturers are obliged to provide a two -year warranty on the battery, which is often over 500 euros. This means that the customer receives an exchange product in the event of a defect indebted by the manufacturer. After the sixth month, however, the burden of proof turns. Then the customer has to prove that he is not to blame - difficult.
Hannes Neupert, e-bike expert and managing director of Extraenergy, assures us: “Charging can last extremely long. The durability depends heavily on its surroundings. ”The greatest enemies of the batteries are heat and cold. Temperatures above 30 and below 0 degrees should be avoided. However, this is a problem for bicycles with integrated, non-removable batteries. Ernst Brust, managing director of the two-wheeler industry association, considers batteries to be long-lived: "There are some who can withstand 1000 charging cycles." With a mileage of 60 kilometers per Battery charge without loss of capacity would be 60,000 kilometers of total mileage - a distance that most cyclists do not run in ten years. If the battery is defective or hardly have any capacity, it can be handed over to the dealer. From there he goes into recycling. "The battery can be prepared 80 or 90 percent," says Ernst Brust. In addition, how well this works, there are no statistics yet. The recycling companies have also been rare so far.
Ernst Brust urgently advises against the so -called refreshen, in which defective battery cells are exchanged. "The Refresher build cells that may not fit together at all." In the worst case, such batteries would explode.
When does the engine make a limp?
What is often forgotten: Not only the batteries can break, the engines also have no eternal life. With a purchase price of around 700 euros, they are also anything but cheap. Alexander Hanisch from Esslingen was affected by engine defects. "In 2015 I bought a pedelec with an impulse engine to drive 25 kilometers to work," he says. The engine had given up the ghost five times for a year. This gave rise to the idea of starting a blog (www.pedelecmonitor.com), in which experience on engines and their mileage are collected.
The impulse engine has already been taken from the market, but the project continues to live. In the meantime, more than 400 people have entered their mileage. Of course, such a platform is not representative, but tendencies can be seen. The Panasonic engine, mainly found in Flyer e-bikes, scores with particularly high mileage. The engines reported as a defect had previously completed an average of around 23,000 kilometers.
Other manufacturers get significantly less in the data collection. In addition to Panasonic, Flyer is currently using Bosch engines in addition to Panasonic. On the homepage we find that flyers excellently gives a guarantee on the engine, battery and frame. For 190 euros extra, the manufacturer even offers a premium guarantee with which the electronics are secured up to four years or 12,000 kilometers - depending on what occurs first. Note: In 2019, however, Flyer granted a guarantee of five years on all e-bikes with the exception of the e-mountain bikes, without a kilometer limit.
Some commuters reach 12,000 kilometers within one year. When asked, marketing manager Anja Knaus explains: “We assume that the average e-bike driver will cover less than 2000 kilometers per year. With this value we refer to 25 years of experience in the sale of e-bikes. ”Nevertheless: does the trust in your own product look like? Ernst Brust is also surprised: "20- to 30,000 kilometers must already hold such an engine."
In our research, we come across the website of the self-proclaimed e-bike doctor (www. Ebikedoktor.de). E-bike Doctor Berens explains to us that they are the first free workshop in Germany, which repair engines and sell spare parts. There are repair kits for trained dealers from Bosch and Brose, but they would only cover 40 percent of the engine parts. You would have to have all other parts made yourself.
"We are hopelessly overcrowded," says Berens, "the need is huge". People would hear from the dealer that the engine cost 800 euros, with conversion not infrequently 1000. "If I then tell them 'in the worst case 250 euros', then they do an air jump. And I still earn. "
How long does the e-bike last?
You would have already repaired 200 engines. The decisive factor for the lifespan is the amount of water that gets to the crankshaft. In the case of wheels that are only used when the weather is nice, the engine still looks great even after 40,000 kilometers. "The contrast example are e-mountain bikers who drive three times a week through the mud and then cum their wheel with a hose." These engines are often defective after 3000 kilometers. Berens emphasizes that even shower heads are already too much. The fourth generation of the Bosch engine looks better than the previous series, but there would be no experience. The engines are currently still in the guarantee phase.
Keyword guarantee: Here the Dutch manufacturers Batavus and Sparta are making a good example. For a surcharge of 189 euros, both offer a five-year guarantee that can be transferred to the sale, which covers the engine and battery, among other things.
Another good example of sustainability in the e-bike area is the manufacturer Utopia Velo from Saarbrücken. All spare parts can be ordered directly in the online shop. "I even have parts for bikes from 20 years ago," says owner Ralf Klagges. It is important to him that the components remain compatible without stopping technical progress. The pedelecs are equipped with an extremely low -maintenance, strong front engine, of which no one has yet been defective. The highest known mileage: 130,000 kilometers. Innovative and unique: The battery can be located remote warts thanks to the integrated SIM card and theft.
The Blue Angel sustainability seal has been awarded to electric bikes for several years. Among other things, the focus is on spare parts availability for five years. Upon request, the Federal Environment Agency informs us that no complete application has yet been received. Expert Hannes Neupert considers Utopia Velo to be the only manufacturer who can easily meet these requirements for sustainability.
Source:https://www.bike-bild.de/service/kaufberatung/e-bikes-nachhaltig-lebensdauer-1108107.html