By SmartCitiesWorld news team
Analysis by the Bike Adviser finds that if the US replaced half of all short-distance car trips with e-bikes, it would reduce carbon emissions by as much as 273,000 metric tons daily.
At national level, if the US replaced half of all short-distance car trips with e-bikes, it would reduce carbon emissions as much by 273,000 metric tons every day, a new study suggests.
Using data from the US Census and US Environmental Protection Agency, the Bike Adviser website’s analysis set out to rank the states where e-bikes have the most potential to replace car trips with e-bikes.
Means of transportation
A short car trip is defined as less than five miles. The US has 276 million registered vehicles which make consumers heavily dependent on their cars as a primary means of transportation, generating 551,940 metric tons of CO2 daily at a five-mile range.
Washington DC, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Ohio are named as the top five states for e-bike potential with more than 57 per cent of their car trips being up to five miles.
If only 8 per cent of car trips in California were to be replaced with e-bikes, it would save 4,078 metric tons of CO2 every day
Switching from cars to e-bikes, these states together would save 2,753 metric tons of CO2 every day at an 8 per cent adoption rate. According to the website, this is equivalent to CO2 emissions from 334 million smartphones charged.