The other day I was reading an article on how the sale of scooters have been increasing and decided to look into the cost of owning and operating a scooter to see if it would be beneficial to purchase a scooter. While discussing this someone brought the idea up of getting an electric bike. Since I am riding my bike to work I want to make things a little easier and decided to look into the cost of adding an electric conversion kit to my bike.

To start here is a chart that I created to help analyze the cost of the various modes of transportation. I did not factor in other costs involved like insurance, registration, repairs, and other information. I am also assuming that you will need to have a car as well as a scooter as most people do not ride a scooter or e-bike in bad weather. I did not factor out days of bad weather from the calculations and I am assuming normal commute mileage (20 miles a day X 52 weeks a year with 2 week time off).

       All prices are in US dollar

As you can see off this chart is that it will take 4 ½ years to recoup the cost of the scooter. This can be done sooner if you move it over to be the only mode of your transportation and never drive a car again. I do not think this happens when people buy a scooter. If you are really looking into saving money consider getting an electric bike or converting your existing bike. The cost is lower and will help out the environment much more. Indirectly you are still using gas to power your scooter but not as much as a combustible engine, plus it still gives you a chance to work out. There are plenty of videos on YouTube that will show you how it works.

I have not tried an electric bike but the technology is there and you can get speeds of 20 – 30 mph.  Some sites to check out are www.bionx.ca or http://www.crystalyte.com . Remember to check out the regulations on speed of bike and wattage before buying as to remain legal. From what I have read the max speed is 20 mph and 750 watts in the US before you have to get insurance and registration.