Electric bicycles are awesome. Subsidizing them is not.
Hi everyone. This is a very short post to express my gratitude to Michigan Enjoyer for publishing my first ever piece with them, titled “Democrats Want Michigan Taxpayers to Buy You a New E-Bike” over there. Click over to give it a read and (especially if you live in Michigan), enjoy the other content being produced by this pretty new and rapidly growing publication.
Exposing my lack here, but does a subsidy mean bike prices rise up by a large portion of the subsidy, like federal loans increase college costs? In this case, if it passes, you won't find $500 bikes in Michigan anymore? Or will the national chains keep the low-priced ebikes as such because of competition and the short reach of one state's law?
A 90% subsidy could lead to people buying an e-bike, using it for a couple months, just long enough to fry the battery by, say, repeatedly running it down to zero, then discarding the e-bike on the roadside. Or discarding it when winter arrives.
David, you see wrecked rental e-bikes all the time in Lansing and East Lansing, I'm guessing?