The electric bicycle (e-bike) is a low-emission mode of transportation that offers communities benefits in the areas of health, planning, time, cost, street safety, congestion, air pollution, noise pollution, and energy security, among others. Despite the establishment of a stable and growing market, e-bike ownership remains prohibitively expensive for many people. Across the world, incentive programs have emerged as a popular technique in the effort to bridge the chasm of e-bikes' technology adoption curve. This project reviewed active, pilot, and closed incentive programs in the United States and Canada.

RESEARCH PRODUCTS

The "E-Bike Incentive Programs in North America Table" (access it at the link below, under Other Products) tracks e-bike purchase incentive programs and key details that can provide a point of reference for the development of future e-bike incentive programs and policies, or for further research on the topic. 

The accompanying white paper, "Using E-Bike Purchase Incentive Programs to Expand the Market – North American Trends and Recommended Practices" offers a review of active, pilot, and closed programs and finds that the overwhelming majority were cash incentives in the form of post-purchase rebates or point-of-sale discount. A series of interviews with program managers and conversations with industry leaders and academics was conducted to generate a collection of recommended practices for e-bike incentive program development and implementation.

Two more articles on this research are forthcoming in early 2024.