A couple years ago, my wife started a new job as an elementary school principal. It was an exciting milestone, but it also came with a stressful commute. The school isn’t far – just a few kilometers across the city – but during rush hour, taking the bus often meant sitting in gridlock for 45 minutes. Not exactly the best way to start or end a workday.
So we got her an electric bike.
Not just any e-bike, either. She picked out a sleek little folding model called the Rayvolt Exxite XS. It’s light, stylish, easy to ride, and best of all, it doesn’t take up much space at home or at school.
But here’s the kicker: it only goes 25 km/h (15.5 mph). It doesn’t even have a throttle. You have to pedal it, you know, like a neanderthal.
And yet… it’s faster than cars. A lot faster.
Her commute now takes about 10 minutes. Maybe 12 minutes if she catches a few red lights. She zips past long lines of idling cars, breezes down bike lanes, and parks right at the school entrance. No searching for a parking space. No waiting for late buses. No moving so slow that you can clearly see a piece of gum stuck on the road. Just hop on and go.
In raw numbers, her commute time has been cut by more than 75%. Now she’s easily traveling 3-4x faster than a car or bus.
And the only thing that changed was swapping four wheels for two – and ditching the idea that the “faster” vehicle is always the one with more horsepower and an extra few thousand kilos to lug around.
She went with something of a sleek-looking e-bike, but anyone could get the same or better performance from a simple, mass-market e-bike like a $999 Lectric XP4, all for a few months of car payments or nearly a year of bus riding. This isn’t expensive stuff. In fact, it’s cheaper, it saves time, and it’s more fun.
In cities choked with traffic, a modest Class 1 e-bike like hers can be 3–4 times faster than driving. Not because it’s a speed machine (it’s not), but because cars are stuck. Stuck behind other cars. Stuck behind buses. Stuck behind the myth that they’re the only real way to get around.
The bike’s other benefits aren’t lost on her either. She gets a bit of exercise every day to help keep her in shape. She gets fresh air. She gets to actually experience our amazing city instead of watching it go by through a window. And she arrives at school with a smile instead of a headache.
At school, she parks in a guarded area. Back home, she can easily take her bike right up to our apartment in the elevator. It’s no muss, no fuss, easy breezy beautiful e-bike girl.
So yeah, I got my wife an e-bike that’s faster than cars. It didn’t take 1,000 watts or some monster battery pack. It just took rethinking what speed really means in a city.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
