TU Eindhoven starting e-bike and e-scooter trial
26 January 2013
The Technical University Eindhoven (TU/e) in The Netherlands will begin an e-bike and e-scooter trial on 4 February; for six months, the university will make free electric bikes and scooters available to employees who live between 7-20 kilometers (4-12 miles) from campus. The €10,000 (US$13,500) trial is one of the ways the university seeks to promote alternative transportation to campus.
The test runs from 1 February to 31 July 2013. During this half year employees may use an electric bicycle or scooter for one week. The bikes are made available by the company PiECObello Lease.
For the pilot, three electric bikes for men, three for women and four different bikes scooters are available. All are set at a maximum speed of 25 km/h (16 mph.)
TU/e seeks to be completely climate neutral in 2015. The university wants to promote the use of alternative transport, such as cycling or public transport. Earlier in December, a number of charging stations for electric vehicles were placed on campus.
I think that the numbers will show that the acceptance of a free electric bike or scooter is fiscally sound.
Posted by: ToppaTom | 26 January 2013 at 08:32 AM
It should work as Holland is very flat and compact, so e-bikes and scooters would be a good choice.
One comment is that 25kph is quite slow - you can cycle a bike at that speed, so there is less to be gained from an e-bike.
They have a low cost p-bike rental scheme in Dublin (Ireland) and it is a great success, but they have thousands of bikes, not just 6.
Also, 6 bikes is very small - what is the chance of one being available when you need one ?
Maybe they need to think larger.
Posted by: mahonj | 27 January 2013 at 07:54 AM