As someone who distinctly \*isn't\* an e-bike fan (at least from a trails perspective, I love my e-cargo bike) the "carbon footprint" argument against e-bikes isn't a very good one, TBH.
The average Canadian emits ~15T CO2/annum (~14T for USA).
The difference between a Trek Fuel, and a Trek Rail (electric) is ~70kg of CO2. Which sure, isn't nothing, but its also about the same as driving 135km in your Tacoma, which is conveniently one trip to Squamish from North Van.
Now, no one is pedaling their Trek Rail to Squamish instead of driving there, but my point is that in the grand scheme of mountain biking, the CO2 footprint difference between an e-bike and a mountain bike is pretty much completely negligible.
Sure, you can point to recycling challenges, etc, but again, the volumes and quantities we're talking about here... kiiiiinda don't matter. Change your house to a heatpump. Move into a multi-family building. Commute on a bike or a bus. These all have many, many, many orders of magnitude more impact.
EDIT: math'd slightly wrong. Its about three trips to Squamish, but my point remains. There's way more impactful places to look in your life before you need to start worrying - or throwing stones - about this.
March 2, 2023, 4:05 p.m. - Cooper Quinn
As someone who distinctly \*isn't\* an e-bike fan (at least from a trails perspective, I love my e-cargo bike) the "carbon footprint" argument against e-bikes isn't a very good one, TBH. The average Canadian emits ~15T CO2/annum (~14T for USA). The difference between a Trek Fuel, and a Trek Rail (electric) is ~70kg of CO2. Which sure, isn't nothing, but its also about the same as driving 135km in your Tacoma, which is conveniently one trip to Squamish from North Van. Now, no one is pedaling their Trek Rail to Squamish instead of driving there, but my point is that in the grand scheme of mountain biking, the CO2 footprint difference between an e-bike and a mountain bike is pretty much completely negligible. Sure, you can point to recycling challenges, etc, but again, the volumes and quantities we're talking about here... kiiiiinda don't matter. Change your house to a heatpump. Move into a multi-family building. Commute on a bike or a bus. These all have many, many, many orders of magnitude more impact. EDIT: math'd slightly wrong. Its about three trips to Squamish, but my point remains. There's way more impactful places to look in your life before you need to start worrying - or throwing stones - about this.