The California Bicycle Coalition and 4/22-24 Palo Alto E-Bike Expo Celebrate Bicycling as a Tool for Optimism for Urban California Travel

Palo Alto CA – Electric bikes will help California move up the list of bike-friendly states, says the California Bicycle Coalition as they prepare for the nation’s largest Electric Bike Expo to arrive in Palo Alto April 22-24 during its Western U.S. tour.

For Immediate Release  April 8, 2016

From: Melissa Balmer – Media Director California Bicycle Coalition Cell 562.221.9672 email:Melissa@calbike.org

Re:  The California Bicycle Coalition and 4/22-24 Palo Alto E-Bike Expo Celebrate Bicycling as a Tool for Optimism for Urban California Travel

Note: Both images and promo video are available for use in editorial upon request. ContactPete.Prebus@ExtraEnergy.org Tel 702. 688. 5573 ext 700.

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Palo Alto CA – Electric bikes will help California move up the list of bike-friendly states, says the California Bicycle Coalition as they prepare for the nation’s largest Electric Bike Expo to arrive in Palo Alto April 22-24 during its Western U.S. tour.

California is currently the nation’s 8th most bike-friendly state, according to the League of American Bicyclists. E-bikes will help Californians bicycle more because they make most trips easy and fun to accomplish by bike. E-bikes flatten hills and help parents carry children to daycare. They can be “no sweat” bicycles. Last year, the California Bicycle Coalition sponsored changes to the Vehicle Code to regulate low-speed electric bicycles like regular bikes instead of like mopeds. These changes mean that people riding low-speed e-bikes can now access bicycle paths. The legislation is a model for the nation, according to the industry association, People for Bikes.

“We’re seeing the ‘aha’ moment across the state, as more and more people see others just like them bicycling. It might be someone breezing by with a smile on their face riding to work, or someone happily riding their children to school in a new protected bike lane, or a group of women on bike share bikes out for an afternoon of fun and shopping with friends,” said Dave Snyder, the Executive Director of the California Bicycle Coalition. “The growth in cycling is across the state and in every demographic, as we get safe and more comfortable infrastructure in more places. We have a long way to go, but we’re approaching a tipping point.”

A wide array of electric bicycles will be on full display April 22-24th at the free Electric Bike Expo at Stanford Mall in Palo Alto. Local residents and visitors alike are invited to test ride the latest electric bicycle models on a specially designed self-contained test track. Over 100 models from 16 different manufacturers will be available at this family-friendly event. The public, the media, and bike shop retailers can register now in advance for a free VIP pass at: http://www.electricbike-expo.com/locations/palo-alto-california/. California is the only state where the expo stops twice on its inaugural tour of some of the West’s most bike-friendly cities.

There is so much interest in electric bikes in the Palo Alto area that Stanford Research Park will be running shuttles for employees of the Park to attend the Expo on Friday before the venue opens to the public.

More About the Opportunity and Benefit of Bicycling for California

• Bicycling has increased 78{850a63fa8a72bae4d6bfa3f1eda9f619cddace10f9053ede128e2914f9ca5a15} in California since 2000, while the risk of injury while biking has gone down about 40{850a63fa8a72bae4d6bfa3f1eda9f619cddace10f9053ede128e2914f9ca5a15}.

• The California Bicycle Coalition has proposed the “Bicycle Purchase Incentive Pilot Program” to the California Air Resources Board (which oversees rebate programs for clean vehicle purchases). The program seeks $10 million in funding to grant Californians up to $500 vouchers on the purchase of new utility bicycles, including e-bikes. The California Bicycle Coalition is currently seeking support for the programthrough its online petition.

• Fourteen of the sixteen e-bike brands featured in the E-Bike Expo have their U.S. headquarters based in California.

•  In 2014, California accounted for 1.2 billion of the 6.1 billion in U.S. bike-related sales.

• California hosts 1,119 retail bikes shops and they employ over 9,700 employees.

• Learn more from our California Bicycling Fact Sheet.

More About the 2016 E-Bike Expo

Over 2,200 people came to San Diego in February to attend the E-Bike Expo, with electric assist cargo bikes and city bikes being clear favorites for that crowd.

“Our events are allowing a broader consumer base to experience how these power-assisted bikes can change their routines, both for recreational exercise as well as reduce their operational costs for day to day local errands.” Said Ray Verhelst, President of Extra Energy. “The Expo is also proving to be an important platform for manufacturers to meet with new and existing dealers as we travel to these regional settings. Companies are scheduling meetings, and providing hands-on sales training, as a dealer’s staff can shadow the reps and learn talking points as they talk to hundreds of potential customers.”

Hosted by Extra Energy, this eye-opening experiential opportunity is made possible with technology by global leader Bosch eBike Systems (Irvine, CA), and a special enclosed outdoor track courtesy of Trek Bikes. The e-bike lines ready for test rides include: A2B (San Francisco, CA), BESV (Mountain View, CA), BULLS (Lynwood, CA), Easy Motion (Foothill Ranch, CA), Felt Electric (Irvine, CA), Focus, Gazelle, and Kalkhoff (Carlsbad, CA), Haibike (Simi Valley, CA), IZIP (Simi Valley, CA), Raleigh, Stromer (San Diego, CA), Tempo (San Jose, CA), Trek, Xtracycle (Oakland, CA) and Yuba (Petaluma, CA).

Why The E-Bike Industry is Excited to Participate

“California is leading this e-bike movement and is quickly becoming the epicenter of the North American e-bike industry. California is also the first state with a three-class e-bike definition and is a role-model for other states when it comes to e-bike legislation. We and our Expo partners Bulls, BH EasyMotion, Felt, Gazelle, Haibike, Trek, and Xtracycle are looking forward to introducing Bay Area residents to the wonderful world of pedal-assist e-bikes and letting the pedals do the talking for us.” said Claudia Wasko, Regional Business Unit Leader for Bosch eBike Systems.

“We hear time and time again that the biggest barrier with electric bikes is that people are afraid they won’t be able to control them…When customers are shown how to use the features and actually get a chance to ride an e-bike, you can read the relief and excitement on their faces almost immediately. Once they take to the hills, it’s a whole other episode of enjoyment.” Said Emily Bremer, Women’s and City Bike Marketing Manager for Trek Bicycle.

More About the 2016 Electric Bike Expo

At Stanford Mall the public is invited to enjoy the free Electric Bike Expo that is a 25,000 square foot self-contained venue which includes a specially designed outdoor test track. This track will allow thousands of locals, from avid daily commuters and recreational riders, to those who may not have ridden a bike in years, to test ride the very latest e-bikes from top North American brands including city bikes, commuting bikes, hybrid bikes, mountain bikes, fat tire bikes, compact bikes and yes even cargo bikes and more!

For many of the models on display, this will be the first time seen in the United States. Stromer is launching their new high-tech ST2s eBike with a stated range of over 100 miles and electronic shifting at the Palo Alto Expo.

Tempo Bicycles will be raffling off one of their Carmel or Santa Barbara hybrid electric bicycles worth $4,000 to a lucky winner and the raffle proceeds will go to local charities. The raffle tickets will be $5 each and there will be multiple charities (including the California Bicycle Coalition) from which to buy the raffle tickets to increase participants’ chances of winning a Tempo hybrid electric bicycle.

Easy Motion and Stromer will be giving away one of their electric bikes to one lucky person who test rides any of their bikes.

That’s $12,000 total in electric bikes being given away!

Raleigh, iZIP, Yuba, Felt, Focus, Kalkhoff, and Gazelle will be offering discount coupons redeemable at local dealers.

Local retailers such as Motostrano, Winchester EBikes, and others will be present in their own spaces to offer information on their bikes and services.

Connect with Us

• Media interested in speaking with Extra Energy, or being connected with any of the participating e-bike brands, please contact Pete Prebus, Chief Marketing Officer Pete.Prebus@ExtraEnergy.org Tel 702.688.5573 ext 700. Both images and promo video are available for use in editorial.
• Media interested in speaking to Dave Snyder and the California Bicycle Coalition about the passing of the new e-Bike law, and the proposed “Bicycle Purchase Incentive Pilot Program” please contact Melissa Balmer Melissa@CalBike.org or cell 562.221.9672.

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About Extra Energy

ExtraEnergy Services North America is comprised of a talented and experienced group of electric bike industry and event experts. Prior to the Electric Bike Bike Expo, ExtraEnergy managed the new indoor bike test track at Interbike in 2015. Interbike is the largest bicycle trade show in the U.S. and is held at Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Find out more about the Expo at ElectricBike-Expo.com.

About the California Bicycle Coalition

The California Bicycle Coalition (CalBike) is California’s state-level bicycling advocacy organization, working to enable more people to ride bicycles for healthier, safer, and more prosperous communities for all. CalBike partners with all 16 professionally-staffed local bicycle advocacy organizations across the state, and hosts a bi-annual summit.

We envision millions of people riding bikes every day in California with networks of safe streets and paths conveniently connect every destination. Our goal is to double the amount of bicycling in the Golden State 2017, and triple it by 2020. Learn more at calbike.org.

 

Inspired by impressive sales growth across the U.S., and a key legislative win in California led by the California Bicycle Coalition (AB 1096 clarifying and legalizing E-Bikes effective January 1st 2016), the North American E-Bike industry is celebrating with the traveling  2016 E-Bike Expo beginning in January and touring to six different bike-friendly cities over the next five months.

From: Melissa Balmer – Media Director California Bicycle Coalition

Melissa@Calbike.org Cell 562.221.9672

Re: 2016 E-Bike Expo Celebrates Exciting Legislative Win in California and Growing Array of E-Bike Choices for U.S. Consumer

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Sacramento CA – Inspired by impressive sales growth across the U.S., and a key legislative win in California led by the California Bicycle Coalition (AB 1096 clarifying and legalizing E-Bikes effective January 1st 2016), the North American E-Bike industry is celebrating with the traveling  2016 E-Bike Expo beginning in January and touring to six different bike-friendly cities over the next five months:

January 15-17, 2016 – Tempe, AZ – Diablo Stadium

February 26-28, 2016 – San Diego, CA – Liberty Station, Point Loma

March 11-13, 2016 – Houston, TX – Rice University

April 22-24, 2016 – Palo Alto, California – The Stanford Mall

May 20-22, 2016 – Portland, Oregon (location to be determined)

June 2016 – Denver, Colorado (date and location to be determined)

Hosted by Extra Energy Services North America, Inc., this fun, free to the public, “hands on” series will give members of the public, the media, and bike shop retailers the opportunity to test ride over 80 different bikes from the top 17 North American e-Bike lines. This eye opening experiential opportunity is made possible with technology courtesy of global leader Bosch (which demonstrated its belief in the U.S. e-Bike market by opening a location in Newport Beach CA last year), and a special enclosed outdoor track courtesy of Trek. Find out more and register in advance for your special VIP attendance at: electricbike-expo.com.

“The best way for people to truly understand what an electric bike is all about is to provide them with the ride experience. That’s why we are taking electric bikes to the people.” Ray Verhelst, President of ExtraEnergy.

E-Bikes are one of the fastest growing segments of the $6.1 billion annual U.S. bike industry sales (total from 2014 reported by the National Bicycle Dealers Association), with industry experts predicting unit sales to reach 300,000 in 2016.

“We chose assisted bikes for all of the reasons suggested: hills, heavy loads, time savings, sweat reduction (with our loads, sweat prevention is a pipe dream), and to ride at speeds closer to those of solo bike commuters. We rode unassisted bikes for a while but as the kids got heavier, the steep San Francisco hill we lived on grew increasingly daunting, to the point that the choice eventually became either get assisted bikes or drive everywhere. Having these bikes has dramatically increased our biking range; there are places we ride now that we never would have attempted before.” Dorie Apollonio San Francisco.

Two key U.S. generations offer exponential growth opportunities for e-Bikes:  Millennials and Baby Boomers.  According to the October 2014 PIRG report, Millennials are driving less for a myriad of reasons, often because the bike is simply a better mobility fit for their preference of living in urban environments. Further, a November 2015 article by Laura Johannes in the Wall Street Journal  reported some 20{850a63fa8a72bae4d6bfa3f1eda9f619cddace10f9053ede128e2914f9ca5a15} of people age 50+ say they’ve ridden a bike in the past year, up from 16{850a63fa8a72bae4d6bfa3f1eda9f619cddace10f9053ede128e2914f9ca5a15} in 2011, according to AARP. As Baby Boomers retire they have more time to spend on their health and leisure activities and e-Bikes offer an attractive solution for both.

More About the 2016 E-Bike Expo

At each city the public is invited to enjoy a 25,000 square foot self contained venue which includes the specially designed outdoor test track. This track will allow thousands of locals, from avid daily commuters and recreational riders, to those who may not have ridden a bike in years, to test ride the very latest e-bikes from top North American brands including city bikes, commuting bikes, hybrid bikes, mountain bikes, fat tire bikes, compact bikes and yes even cargo bikes and more!

Because of the emerging growth of the market in North America, these events will also serve as market research test beds where through the use of advanced RFID technology, riders and the bikes they try will be tracked. Everything from the order of choice, to the number of laps will be recorded and paired with their original registration data. The participating manufacturers will get to follow along on a secured live dashboard, as well as see detailed reports and layered demographic mapping technology provided by Google. Matched with census data, these extensive results will tell participating companies what attracted the most interest and where the potential customer base is concentrated.

The Opportunity of E-Bikes for California and Beyond

In the US market, riding a bike is typically considered a pure recreational sport and only recently have a dozen or so major cities embraced them as an alternative inner city commuter option. In October of 2015 in California, the California Bicycle Coalition led the passing of AB 1096 to allow low-speed E-Bikes to ride on the same traditional bike lanes and paths. This gives E-Bike riders access to thousands of miles of routes to ride throughout the state and went into effect on January 1, 2016.

AB 1096 clarifies the definition of electric motor-assisted bicycles further for California by defining three specific classes of e-bikes: bikes with a top assisted speed of 20 mph that must be pedaled to operate; those with a top assisted speed of 20 mph that can be operated without pedaling; and bikes with a top assisted speed of 28 mph. By regulating these bikes differently than mopeds, AB 1096 enables a reexamination of the access restrictions imposed on users of these bikes in order to permit more access to bicycle paths, where appropriate and safe.

“E-bikes are an important part of our transportation solution. Like all bikes, they make our communities healthier, safer, and more prosperous. But outdated regulations treated them like mopeds. We’re proud to have convinced the Legislature that these devices deserve to be treated like regular bikes for most purposes, and grateful that the Bicycle Product Suppliers Association supported the classification of electric bikes so that government agencies can easily continue to update the regulations in the future. This is truly model legislation that other states should follow.” Dave Snyder, Executive Director California Bicycle Coalition.

Media interested in speaking with Extra Energy about the tour series should contact Pete Prebus/Chief Marketing Officer Pete.Prebus@ExtraEnergy.org Tel 702. 688. 5573 ext 700. Media interested in speaking to Dave Snyder and the California Bicycle Coalition about the passing of the new e-Bike law, or about the upcoming events in California should contact Melissa Balmer Melissa@CalBike.org or Cell 562.221.9672.

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E-Bike Lines Featured on the Tour A2B

A2B, Besv, Bulls, Easy Motion, Felt Electric, Focus, Gazelle, HaiBike, iZip, Kalkhoff, Polaris, Raleigh, Stromer, Tempo, Trek, Xtracycle and Yuba.

About Extra Energy

ExtraEnergy Services North America is comprised of a talented and experienced group of electric bike industry and event experts. The U.S. based organization is a subsidiary of ExtraEnergy of Tanna, Germany, which has been providing electric bike test and review services since 1992 and providing electric bike test ride experiences in Europe since 1997 with their mobile Test IT Tracks. Prior to the E-Bike Expo, ExtraEnergy hosted the “The Circuit presented by Shimano” at Interbike in 2015. Interbike is the largest bicycle tradeshow in the U.S. and is held at Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas Nevada. Find out more at electricbike-expo.com.

Browse our press release archive (2015 and earlier).