Bicyclists riding electric bikes (WHO) |
Staff at Iowa State University are proving you can commute on two wheels without breaking a sweat. The company X-Treme Scooters in Newton is loaning about 100 ISU employees electric bikes for the week. It's part of the University's Live Green initiative.
Rider Patty Gibler says she hopes the electric bike motivates her in a way no other bike has. She says, "I live close to campus. I've also wanted to bike and never had the motivation."
She's pedaling to work this week with about one hundred other Iowa State University employees. The XE300LI is an extreme bike with a lithium battery that can take you about 25 miles with one charge at a speed of 20 miles per hour. Tom Sagers with X-Treme Scooters says, "This will help reduce the fatigue that occurs if you have a 20 mile jaunt. And also, if you're trying to go up a hill, this will help as well."
A big advantage of an electric bicycle is you can actually wear what you're going to wear to work, while you bike to work because you can turn on the battery power to avoid sweating. ISU Director of Sustainability Merry Rankin says, "It has been a real incentive for folks to try something that would offer them the option of still being ready for work when they got to work."
Rankin says she hopes this is the motivation people need to find a greener way of getting to campus. She says she's not sure how many gallons of gas they'll save during the loaner program. She says, "Let's say that everyone did 5 miles one way to work and 5 miles home. You know, that's a thousand miles a day that's saved through this program, and that's just one day."
Rankin says that can add up, if you consider a vehicle puts twenty pounds of carbon emissions into the atmosphere when it burns just one gallon of gas. She says, "And, so that can be pretty substantial."
It's a substantial savings Rankin says she hopes the riders realize, and hopefully continue the two wheel commute long after the week is over. Gibler says, "I'm afraid I'm going to fall in love with it. We'll see what happens."
The electric bikes cost between $1,200 and $1,500. X-Treme Scooters in Newton started selling the X-Treme bikes this year.
Rider Patty Gibler says she hopes the electric bike motivates her in a way no other bike has. She says, "I live close to campus. I've also wanted to bike and never had the motivation."
She's pedaling to work this week with about one hundred other Iowa State University employees. The XE300LI is an extreme bike with a lithium battery that can take you about 25 miles with one charge at a speed of 20 miles per hour. Tom Sagers with X-Treme Scooters says, "This will help reduce the fatigue that occurs if you have a 20 mile jaunt. And also, if you're trying to go up a hill, this will help as well."
A big advantage of an electric bicycle is you can actually wear what you're going to wear to work, while you bike to work because you can turn on the battery power to avoid sweating. ISU Director of Sustainability Merry Rankin says, "It has been a real incentive for folks to try something that would offer them the option of still being ready for work when they got to work."
Rankin says she hopes this is the motivation people need to find a greener way of getting to campus. She says she's not sure how many gallons of gas they'll save during the loaner program. She says, "Let's say that everyone did 5 miles one way to work and 5 miles home. You know, that's a thousand miles a day that's saved through this program, and that's just one day."
Rankin says that can add up, if you consider a vehicle puts twenty pounds of carbon emissions into the atmosphere when it burns just one gallon of gas. She says, "And, so that can be pretty substantial."
It's a substantial savings Rankin says she hopes the riders realize, and hopefully continue the two wheel commute long after the week is over. Gibler says, "I'm afraid I'm going to fall in love with it. We'll see what happens."
The electric bikes cost between $1,200 and $1,500. X-Treme Scooters in Newton started selling the X-Treme bikes this year.
