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4 Ways to Get Financial Help to Buy an E-Bike

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As more people turn to bikes for transportation, e-bikes have gained in popularity. They give riders greater range and carrying capacity. For many, an e-bike is a workable alternative to car ownership. But e-bikes aren’t cheap. CalBike is making financial help to buy an e-bike a top priority in 2021.

Find out more about CalBike’s e-bike campaign
Sign our e-bike rebate petition

Here are four ways we believe Californians should be able to get financial help to buy an e-bike.

Live in a county that gives residents financial help to buy an e-bike

A few California counties have e-bike rebate or purchase incentive programs. Unfortunately, most don’t and many of the rebates are too small to make e-bikes truly affordable. Here are the county programs we know about. Let us know if we missed one.

  • Contra Costa County: $150 – $300 rebates on e-bike purchases, allocated to different cities in Contra Costa County.
  • San Diego County: Pedal Ahead is a loan-to-own program with up to 400 e-bikes available to residents of Supervisorial District 4. It appears that all the bikes in this program may have been spoken for already.
  • San Diego: This program is not technically a county rebate. It’s a purchase incentive through BikeSD and Electric Bike Central that gives e-bike purchasers rebates when they buy an e-bike and ride a certain number of miles.
  • Humboldt County: The funds allocated to Redwood Coast Energy’s e-bike rebate program have all been reserved. But check their website in case this e-bike rebate is renewed.

Trade in a polluting car for an e-bike rebate under SB 400

In 2019, CalBike sponsored SB 400, which added e-bike rebates to an existing state program. The program gives low-income residents vouchers in exchange for trading in a polluting vehicle. SB 400 expanded the program to include bike-share memberships and e-bike rebates.

The program is implemented by California’s regional air quality management districts. Low-income residents get a credit of up to $7,500 to put toward clean mobility options, including purchasing an e-bike, when they turn in a polluting car. Program participants can use the funds to buy multiple e-bikes for their family or split the funds between clean mobility transit modes.

Unfortunately, the pandemic delayed implementation in 2020. As of this writing, only one district, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, has implemented the program, as required by SB 400. CalBike has heard that one additional AQMD has plans to make the e-bike vouchers available in the near future. That will make two out of California’s 35 air control districts. Call your local air quality management district and ask them to implement this essential program right away.

Get financial help to buy an e-bike from the federal government – oh, wait

If you bought an electric car in 2020, you qualified for a federal tax credit of up to $7,500. Unfortunately, the feds don’t have a comparable program or any program to help Americans buy electric bikes. 

We are hopeful that the new Congress will provide financial support for Americans seeking to buy e-bikes. CalBike, with our national allies, will push for federal e-bike rebates, so more people can afford this very green transportation option. At a minimum, Congress should reinstitute the monthly pre-tax subsidy that employers can provide to their (electric or regular) bike commuting employees. Join our list to get the latest news on federal financial help to buy an e-bike.

Join CalBike’s campaign to create a $10 million e-bike purchase incentive program in California 

Assembly Member Tasha Boerner Horvath has introduced AB 117, a bill that will create a $10 million fund for e-bike purchase incentives.

View AB 117 Fact Sheet — Download fact sheet

Please join CalBike in supporting this vital legislation. 

Sign the petition. Tell legislators that it’s time for the state to help Californians join the e-bike revolution.

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CalBike’s Legislative Agenda Moves Toward the Finish Line

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The 2019 session of the California State Legislature ends September 13. Three of CalBike’s bills are close to final approval and we hope to see all three signed into law this year.

The Complete Streets Bill (SB 127-Wiener) has made it most of the way through the legislature. This bill will bring Complete Streets to many local roads and streets that Caltrans controls. Caltrans has chosen to fight this bill, which forces it to implement its own policies. However, relentless pressure from CalBike members and brave leadership from our author Senator Scott Wiener and Assembly Appropriations Committee Chair Assembly Member Lorena Gonzalez have, so far, overcome that resistance. But victory is not assured. We’ll need your help to put pressure on your elected officials in the next few critical weeks. Start by signing our Complete Streets petition and we’ll keep you in the loop about additional actions.

Our E-Bike Vouchers Bill (SB 400-Umberg) passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee and swiftly passed the Assembly Floor on Thursday, August 22nd. This bill will expand green mobility vouchers available when low-income Californians trade in their old polluting cars. If it passes, people will be able to trade smoke-belching vehicles for e-bikes and bikeshare memberships. This bill is now on the Governor’s desk awaiting his signature.

A bill that will allow cities to improve bike lane design at intersections with turn lanes (AB 1266-Rivas) has passed both houses of the legislature and is on Governor Newsom’s desk. We expect that this commonsense bill will be signed into law soon.

It’s not time to pop the champagne corks yet to celebrate victory on CalBike’s sponsored bills, but it’s been a good year for bikes in Sacramento. If the Complete Streets Bill passes, that will truly be cause for celebration.

Other legislation

CalBike has also represented your interests on other important legislation.

We supported a bill (AB 1142) by Assembly Member Laura Friedman to require the Public Utilities Commission to help public agencies meet their greenhouse gas reduction targets by providing data about the transportation impact of Lyft and Uber. This important bill, critical to understanding future transportation patterns, is currently in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

We supported a bill (SB 742) by Senator Ben Alllen to allow Amtrak buses to take passengers on routes that don’t connect to train service. Anybody who’s tried to travel from Bakersfield to Los Angeles on one of the many Amtrak buses that go between those cities only to find that trip is not allowed understands the importance of this reform. That bill has advanced out of the Assembly Transportation Committee and appears likely to win.

Finally, an early victory was the defeat of an attempt (SB 152) to weaken state control over Active Transportation Program funds. This bill would have threatened the gains we made with our allies in ensuring that those funds prioritize the communities that need them most.

These are just a few of the bills we’ve worked on to advance our mission of helping California’s communities become more prosperous, more equitable and more inclusive places where bicycling lets more people live healthy and joyful lives. You can follow the entire (long) list of bills we are engaged with at on our legislative watch page.

 

 

 

CalBike Moves Bike-Friendly Bills Forward in Sacramento

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Two important bills for better biking are moving forward in the California legislature. Bike-friendly legislation continues to advance, thanks to the work of CalBike and our partners to keep up the pressure.

Bike-friendly turn lanes bill passes with bipartisan support

AB 1266, introduced by Assemblymember Robert Rivas (D-Hollister), passed on the Assembly floor on May 13, by a vote of 66-0. The next step for this bill is the Senate. We are optimistic that it will be passed into law later this year.

The measure requires Caltrans to develop new bike lane design guidance for planners and engineers. This guidance would facilitate a typical and safe maneuver by people on bicycles: going straight through an intersection via the left portion of a right-turn lane. Currently, design guidance for these features is not included in the state’s official Highway Design Manual. Without guidance, it is difficult for planners to include these markings in street design. The lack of guidance makes it hard for bike riders to safely navigate straight through at an intersection with a turn lane.

AB 1266 resolves these problems. It clarifies the legality of the commonsense position that bicyclists take in the left side of a right-turn lane. The bill also requires the Department of Transportation to develop designs to facilitate this maneuver. 

E-bike vouchers near a vote

SB 400 will add vouchers for e-bikes and bikeshare memberships to a program that helps low-income Californians trade polluting cars for green transportation. The bill has passed out of committee. It heads for a vote on the Senate floor on Monday, May 20.

This bill, introduced by Senator Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana), is an important step toward recognizing bicycles as part of the clean transportation revolution. The voucher program helps bring transportation justice to California streets, a goal that CalBike strongly supports.

You can help ensure victory for SB 400. Raise your voice before the vote on Monday.

What you can do:

Contact your state senator and urge him or her to support SB 400. You can find your senator here.

Join Senator Umberg on Saturday morning, May 18, in Long Beach for a celebration of SB 400. Learn about e-bikes and bikeshare and support the bill’s passage through the Senate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

E-Bike Vouchers Advance in the Senate

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California residents are one step closer to being able to trade in their old polluting car for a brand new electric bicycle, thanks to the advancement of SB 400 in the California Senate.

The E-Bikes for Mobility Bill, SB 400 (Umberg), expands the definition of ‘mobility options’ in the Clean Vehicles for All program which provides vouchers to low income residents who trade in inefficient cars. The vouchers, issued by a number of regional Air Districts across the state, are good for electric, hybrid, and plug-in cars and “mobility options” like car-sharing memberships or transit passes. The new definition of mobility options will include bike sharing and electric bicycle purchases.

Assistant Director of UC Institute of Transportation Studies Laura Podolsky gave expert testimony at Tuesday’s hearing to the power of e-bikes to get people to switch from car to bike travel. A recent UC Davis policy brief reported on the effectiveness of European e-bike purchase incentive programs. As many as 50% of trips by electric bicycle would have been car trips, if the rider hadn’t had access to a pedal assist bike.

This bill, authored by Senator Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana), has passed the Environmental Quality Committee and was just voted out of the Transportation Committee on a unanimous vote. This amendment to the Health and Safety code still has several steps to go before it becomes law, but given the early enthusiasm and support,  we are optimistic about its chances in this legislative session.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clean Vehicles: E-Bikes at the California Transportation Commission

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E-bikes caused a buzz on the agenda at the California Transportation Commission meeting last Wednesday in Riverside, where CalBike recruited Jonathan Weinert of Bosch, a longtime supporter, to make a presentation and provide bikes for commissioners to ride to help illustrate the many transportation needs that electric bikes can meet.

Weinert presented on the development of electric bicycles and exciting technological developments in the field, and presented new research on their use in North America indicating that e-bikes are replacing car trips more than any other kind of trip. The study found that e-bike users are nearly twice as likely to be women as standard bike riders, a statistic greeted with enthusiasm by a number of commissioners.

Our co-presentation to the California Transportation Commission: The Rise of E-Bikes in the US

Commissioners were more engaged with this topic than with most others on the agenda, pressing Wienert and CalBike Executive Director Dave Snyder about electric bicycle technology and research about their use. By the end of the presentation, comments, and questions, commissioners were wondering why the state wasn’t doing more to get e-bikes into the hands of Californians.

One of the more encouraging indications to come from the last meeting of the year is that commissioners see some of the potential CalBike does in electric bicycles in providing healthy and sustainable transportation options to the communities that most need them. Ex-officio member Jim Frazier, Chair of the Assembly Transportation Committee, asked about the incorporation of e-bikes into the clean vehicle and electric car subsidization efforts the committee’s already engaged in, and we certainly agree with the assembly-member that a bill to expand e-bike access with Air Resources Board subsidies is a great idea (reach out to linda@calbike.org if you’re interested in working with us on legislation!)

The California Bicycle Coalition will continue to advocate for the inclusion of green, accessible mobility options like e-bikes as our state shapes tomorrow’s transportation system and its outcomes.

Edit: On our YouTube channel, you can see a 25-minute video of the whole presentation, or a 3-minute video of the highlights related to our e-bike purchase incentive campaign.

E-Bikes, E-Bike Share Included in Latest Round of Air Resources Board Clean Mobility Options Funding

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In late October the California Air Resources Board (ARB) approved its 2018-19 Funding Plan for Clean Transportation Incentives. This round continues to support transportation equity projects, including funds for much-needed projects that include bicycle and electric bicycle sharing. CalBike has been advocating for this from the beginning, and the Air Resources Board was clearly listening. […]

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BLACK LIVES MATTER

California will never have the equitable, prosperous and inclusive communities that CalBike advocates for until we address and redress anti-Black violence. We want to actively contribute to ending systemic racism, especially in transportation policy, and most especially in bicycling advocacy. We promise to listen and learn how we can best do this work. To our community members who experience the violence of racism on a daily basis: we see you, we hear you, and we stand with you.

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