E-Bike Ownership and Usage – Results from Germany

EasyChair Preprint 10407

Abstract

E-bikes increase cycling mode shares and are expected to contribute to sustainable mobility. This paper analyzes data from the German national travel survey from 2017, as there is a lack of research on their effect on travel behavior, differentiating between socio-demographic groups. We present two logit models, one analyzing the ownership of different bicycle types and the other analyzing the influence of bicycle types on mode choice. During the data collection in 2016/2017, e-bikes were rare compared to conventional bicycles and were primarily owned by older age groups. While an above-average household economic status increases e-bike ownership, urban residents have lower e-bike ownership and usage rates. Daily cycled distances are higher for people with e-bikes; they extend cycling ranges, as their owner’s cycling mode shares are less sensitive to distance. Contrastingly, e-bikes do not seem to substitute car ownership. Compared to conventional bicycles, their use is more dependent on the season. Our results confirm findings from other countries and partially indicate cross-national transferability. Several diverging findings, such as that e-bikes increase cycling among young owners less and that age does not reduce e-bike use, suggest a closer look at how national framework conditions shape the uptake and use of e-bikes.

Keyphrases: Bicycle, Household travel surveys, cycling, e-bike, electric bikes, modal shift, mode choice, travel behavior, travel surveys

@booklet{EasyChair:10407,
  author    = {David Kohlrautz and Tobias Kuhnimhof},
  title     = {E-Bike Ownership and Usage – Results from Germany},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 10407},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2023}}