In 2018, during the general assembly of l’Heureux Cyclage - the French network of bike kitchens - which is an association, similar in kind to a 501 c3 in the US, voted in favor of a motion to forbid repairing e-bikes in the member kitchens. Then in 2020 or 2021, we backtracked, and it was left to the choice of the individual organizations. Some of the most radical kitchens are strongly against on principle that it requires and depends on technologies and resources that predatory towards the environment ( lithium extraction), and also because it encourages speed, which is against the idea of slowing society down, and favoring low-techs like mechanical bikes which have much less on an impact.

Though privately, some members that have moved to the countryside will let you know that they bought a car because not even an e-bike when you are located in a place where everything is 20km (15 miles) away.

As noted by Claire, some kitchens have decided to accept e-bikes, and some have started training their mechanics in the skills necessary to repair e-bikes. The big problem is the software, which on one hand is proprietary, and on the other it requires another set of skills to be dealt with. But I think that right now in France 60% of all new bikes sold are electric, so the question clearly is not going away.

And here in Worcester, MA, where I am currently living, MassBike – the organization that lobbies at the state level has a program where 100 e- bikes were given to low-income people as part of a program to estimate the reduction of the carbon footprint, and also do a follow-up from a mobility justice perspective. I am most likely going to be doing that follow-up myself, with the university that I work for here (WPI).

One of the political goals of the project is to prove that e-bikes are a solution in a suburban setting, where  60% of the people in the US live, so that the state of Massachusetts passes a law subsidizing the buying of bikes. The other one, is to create arguments to encourage policies that have a mobility justice perspective, to lobby for better policies ( not only in terms of infrastructure) in the city of Worcester. Personally, I think that given the urban form most US places have, the best shot there is to get some people out of their cars, is to have them ride e-bikes. So I am all for that.

Alejandro