Rented an e-bike for a week instead of using my car, here's what the numbers said

I live in Columbus, Ohio and my commute is about 9 miles each way. Last month I rented a Rad e-bike for 7 days to test if I could drop my car for short trips. The rental cost me $120, which hurt at first, but I tracked every mile against my usual gas and parking. I ended up spending about $18 on gas for my car that week versus $120 for the bike, so it wasn't cheaper upfront. But the surprise was my car's check engine light stopped flashing because I wasn't idling in traffic as much. Also, I slept better and felt less angry when I got to work. I'm now looking at a used e-bike for around $800, but I keep going back and forth on whether the maintenance and winter riding are worth it. For those of you who switched to two wheels daily, did the money actually work out over a full year or did the hidden costs just shift around?

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uma_baker8819d ago

That bit about the check engine light stopping is what got me, because I had the same thing happen with my old truck. Once I started biking to work a few days a week, the stupid sensor cleared itself and my mechanic said it was from all the short trips and idling messing with the emissions system. But then my bike chain snapped in February during a cold snap, and I spent more fixing that than I saved on gas that whole month.