Monique Svenson said getting an e-bike solved her daycare and school run woes
Electric bike ownership is racing, with research from Bicycle Industries Australia showing 60,000 e-bikes were sold in 2021, outpacing even the 2020 boom
For Monique Svenson, dropping her two children off at daycare and school -- each in a different direction from her home -- had become a vicious cycle.
So she adopted a new cycle.
The Bondi business owner signed up to an electric bike service, choosing a model to fit three family members and test whether they could travel differently.
'I've never looked back and I talk about it all day,' she said.
'I've never once had to fight the kids to get on the bike, even in the rain. My daughter likes facing backwards and waving to people.'
Ms Svenson said she now used the e-bike to move stock and make deliveries for her Young Bondi toy store, and filled her car with petrol only every six weeks.
'I've almost replaced the car,' she said. 'It's like having a car but a more convenient version of it.'
Electric bike ownership is racing, with research from Bicycle Industries Australia showing 60,000 e-bikes were sold in 2021, outpacing even the 2020 boom.
While many e-bikes are used by gig workers for food deliveries, brothers Benjamin and Dan Carr said they saw an opportunity for families to make the switch to two wheels too.
Their start-up, Lug+Carrie, now has more than 850 subscribers in Sydney and Melbourne and has just launched in Brisbane, where 50 people signed up for test rides before its arrival.
Co-founder Benjamin, who previously launched e-scooter services in Germany, said the idea to help families adopt electric bikes came after seeing so many use them for daily tasks overseas.
'I saw e-bikes everywhere in Europe: everyone was riding e-bikes to schools, dropping the kids off and going to shops and it was already normalised,' he said. 'No one would ever question you walking into a coffee shop from an e-bike.
'One of the challenges in Australia is the perception of cycling or riding as a form of transport.'
Managing director Dan said the pair was careful to choose powerful bikes capable of carrying more than one passenger and that sat low to the ground for stability.
And the start-up has attracted a new audience, with 80 per cent of its subscriptions for passenger e-bikes and 63 per cent of its customers female -- a traditionally under-represented group.
'We've been pleasantly surprised that the demographics of people using our bikes are people who generally wouldn't be perceived as part of the cycling community,' he said.
'There's a really high percentage of customers who are ditching their car for the shopping trips and taking kids to guitar lessons or getting to the gym.
'Also, 97 per cent of people say it's more fun.'
While Dan said 'many, many' customers had replaced their second car with e-bikes, the goal for the start-up was to replace short drives of up to 10km rather than vehicles themselves.
'We're not trying to replace your car trip to Bendigo on the weekend. We can't do that,' he said.
'But what we can do is replace most of your other trips.'
He said Lug+Carrie planned to expand the business nationally and into US cities in 2023.
Research from Deloitte predicted 130 million e-bikes would be sold worldwide between 2020 and 2023, when 300 million e-bikes would be on the roads.
Other e-bike subscription services in Australia include Zoomo and Jot Bikes, in addition to short-term rental e-bike services BYKKO, Lime and Beam.
Rachel Ware, who signed up for an e-bike earlier this year and later joined Lug+Carrie, said she expected more Australian families would adopt the mode of transport as most who tried it stuck with it.
'It's just so much easier than it sounds,' she said.
'It's much quicker to get where you want to go. You don't have to worry about parking, looking over your shoulder at kids on their bikes, and it's a great way to spend quality time with your kids.'
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