Electric Bike vs. Car – Comparing Travel Times in 10 Major North American Cities

Sometimes I like to imagine how different the world would be if we had never invented the internal combustion engine. Would we still have highways and freeways? Would these highways be filled with cars that had the benefit of over 130 years of electric battery and engine technology refinement? Would all of our vehicles, including bikes and scooters, have benefitted from that same refinement? In 1794 Robert Street built and patented the first internal combustion engine. And while it is tempting to entertain fantasies of time-traveling to the 1700s and pull a “Baby Hitler Strangulation Routine” on poor Mr. Robert Street, that would be of little to no use. Engineers around the world were all kind of coming around to the idea of the internal combustion engine at around the same time. 

Suffice to say that the world would have been a different place had we, as a society, eschewed that technology hundreds of years ago and embraced battery technology much sooner. Our cities would have been changed, and our culture would have been changed in unfathomable and incalculable ways. But alas, the damage of the internal combustion engine has already been done, and as we desperately try to innovate our way out of the coming global calamity that is global change, leading the charge is a micro-mobility revolution in many cities around the world. 

That said, we are dealing with a legacy of cities, at least in North America, that were designed for the mighty automobile. But as we progress, more bike-friendly routes and trails are taking root in countless cities, even in the good old US of A. 

One question I often come across, however, from those with at least a smidgen of interest in electric bikes and their capabilities is just how fast they are. The question that usually follows is how that compares to taking a car. The cost benefits are obvious, but there’s been less conversation about how quickly or slowly an electric bike will get you to your destination within a city. Suppose getting from home to your workplace or other destinations via an intra-city commute is something you regularly do and are sick of sitting in traffic. In that case, you’re probably wondering just what kind of a difference an electric bike could make for you. 

So with those questions posed, let’s examine a few simple facts first. I simply wanted to know how fast or slow an electric bike will get you to and from a variety of destinations in ten North American metro areas. 

Of course, my methodology here is not entirely scientifically rigorous. Still, I’ve made some decent assumptions to arrive at some numbers that should help us answer some of these questions. So how did I go about figuring out whether an electric bike or car will get you places faster in ten different North American cities?

Well, it certainly wasn’t by way of traveling to each city and riding an electric bike. That is somewhat cost prohibitive and slightly impossible during the ever-so-fun year 2020 in which we’re all dealing with a worldwide pandemic. No, I decided to rely mostly on two things, Google Maps, and some good old fashioned arithmetic. 

Below is a list of assumptions I made based on research conducted for the writing of this article. 

Assumption # 1

Most electric bikes in North America are more than capable of providing electric motor assistance of up to 20mph, while some can get up to 28mph. Remember that this is the top assisted-speed, not average speed. While many electric bikes now have fully-assisted throttle only modes that allow you to travel at the top assisted speeds, for this comparison, we won’t be using those. That’s probably fair considering we can’t use the top speeds of a car either, lest we want to be arrested. This analysis isn’t a game of Grand Theft Auto, after all. 

Assumption # 2

Google maps provides the fastest and bike-friendly routes. Of-course, rummaging through numerous biking and commuting forums, this is not entirely true. Still, since Google Maps is the primary tool I’ll be relying on, we’re going to assume that Google has made a good-faith effort in understanding bike-friendly routes in the cities that we are going to examine.

Assumption # 3

Electric bike speed average is higher than conventional bike speed averages. A study in Sweden showed a variance of 5.3 mph between the average speed of traditional bikes and that of electric bikes, with the latter being the faster mode of transportation. 

Assumption # 4

Single mode-transportation comparisons only. I know that many commuters and those especially with electric folding bikes often engage in multi-modal commutes or trips where they’re taking their car + electric bike or taking their electric bike + public transportation. Since that would be an analytical nightmare, I chose to stick with single-mode transportation comparisons for this article. 

Assumption # 5

Cars get stuck in traffic more than bikes do. It’s fairly obvious that the average speed of getting from point A to point B is heavily influenced by the time of day. This phenomenon more heavily affects cars as they are much more prone to getting stuck in traffic than bicycles are. 

Assumption # 6

Some cities are more bike-friendly than others. This is also fairly obvious but should be mentioned as you’ll see, the data shows that some cities are farther ahead on developed biking infrastructure than others. This has a fairly significant impact on travel time comparisons between cars, electric bikes, and public transportation. 

Assumption # 7

Not all routes are equal. Some routes are simply a breeze for cars, while others are a nightmare. The same is true for bikes. And of course, this is also heavily influenced by the time of day. 

Assumption # 8

Based on my research and what others have said after doing their own digging, the consensus seems that when providing travel times between points A and B, Google appears to assume an average speed of 10 mph for traditional bikes within their Google Maps product. 

Assumption #9

Generally speaking, the longer a trip, the more of an advantage a car has, for obvious reasons. Until we get to a utopian future where everyone is riding around 35 mph in their electric bikes along non-stop bicycle super-highways, the car will likely have this advantage for a long time. 

Assumption #10

I am not taking into account any adverse weather conditions such as rain, snow, or ice. 

There are many other variables that I’m probably not accounting for here, but I have tried to keep the above assumptions in mind when doing the math on these results and presenting them to you. Here are the results of my analysis of how travel times compare between cars, electric bikes, conventional bikes, and public transportation in ten major North American cities. 

NEW YORK, NY – United States

• 40% of trips by electric bike were faster than taking a car. Of those trips, the electric bike trip was 26.3% faster than a car
• 100% of trips by electric bike in New York City were faster than public transit. Of those trips, the electric bike was 17.9% faster than public transit.

LOS ANGELES, CA – United States

• 60% of trips in LA by electric bike were slower than taking a car. No real surprise given how spread-out and car-friendly Los Angeles is.
• 100% of trips in Los Angeles by electric bike were faster than by taking transit. Of these trips, the electric bike was 47% faster than public transit.

CHICAGO, IL – United States

• 80% of trips by electric bike in Chicago, IL were slower than taking a car. A bit surprising here.
• 100% of trips in Chicago, IL by electric bike were faster than by taking transit. Of these trips, the electric bike was 39.2% faster than public transit.

Toronto, ON – Canada

• 60% of trips by electric bike in Toronto were slower than by car.
• 100% of trips by electric bike in Toronto were faster than transit. Of these trips, the electric bike was 47% faster than public transit.

Washington, DC – United States

• 60% of trips by electric bike in Washington, DC were slower than by car.
• 100% of trips by electric bike in Washington, DC were faster than transit. Of these trips, the electric bike was 42.6% faster than public transit.

Philadelphia, PA – United States

• 80% of trips by electric bike in Philadelphia were slower than by car.
• 100% of trips by electric bike in Philadelphia were faster than transit. Of these trips, the electric bike was 46.3% faster than public transit.

Boston, MA – United States

• 60% of trips by electric bike in Boston were slower than by car.
• 100% of trips by electric bike in Boston were faster than transit. Of these trips, the electric bike was 47% faster than public transit.

Montreal, QC – Canada

• 80% of trips by electric bike in Montreal were slower than by car.
• 100% of trips by electric bike in Montreal were faster than transit. Of these trips, the electric bike was 35.4% faster than public transit.

Seattle, WA – Canada

• 80% of trips by electric bike in Seattle were slower than by car.
• 100% of trips by electric bike in Seattle were faster than transit. Of these trips, the electric bike was 46.5% faster than public transit.

Vancouver, BC – Canada

• 100% of trips by electric bike in Vancouver were slower than by car.
• 100% of trips by electric bike in Vancouver were faster than transit. Of these trips, the electric bike was 44.7% faster than public transit.

Conclusions

Based on the data that I collected above, here are some baseline determinations we can come to. Keep in mind some of those assumptions that I outlined above before reading these conclusions. 

Cars Are Faster Than Electric Bikes, Usually

70% of trips in these major North American cities were faster by car than by electric bike. That doesn’t come as a major surprise. Given the relatively poor biking infrastructure that most North American cities are still stuck with, it’s surprising that 30% of these trips were already faster than by car. This encouraging number says a lot about the future potential of the electric bike and its potential to reshape North American cities. If only local, state, and provincial governments would invest more in the micro-mobility revolution, we could solve a lot of problems cities are grappling with, not the least of which is climate change. 

Cars Are Faster Than Electric Bikes, But Not By As Much As You’d Think

While 70% of the measured trips were, in fact, faster than the same trips taken by electric bikes, the cars wound up being faster by an average of 46%. And while that’s certainly a meaningful amount, it is influenced heavily by my choice to include at least 2 out of 5 trips of considerable distance for each city’s analysis. That number drops precipitously to only 12% faster in trips below 10 miles in length. That means that a trip that would take you 20 minutes by car would only take you 22.4 minutes by electric bike. 

Electric Bikes are Way Faster Than Public Transit

Let’s face it, many public transportation systems in North America are in shocking disrepair, due to chronic neglect and decades of underfunding. Yet, some cities are still doing it better than others, which is why I was quite surprised to see that in 100% of trips that we measured, the electric bike was faster! How much faster? It turns out that in the major North American centers that I analyzed, electric bike trips are 41.7% faster than the quickest transit options possible. 

Is it Time to Switch from a Car to an Electric Bike?

Given the almost complete lack of availability of electric bikes from manufacturers big and small, it would appear that a lot of people are doing just that. Of course, this trend is not only being driven by civic-mindedness about climate change, a desire to get healthy, and the joy of not being stuck in traffic. A lot of what’s driving electric bike adoption has been the COVID-19 pandemic. Because when dealing with a highly transmissible disease, no-one wants to be stuck on public transit. 

That said, an electric bike won’t necessarily get you faster to your destination than a car. But in some cases, it will. And when you consider the massive cost-savings, health benefits, and environmental impacts, this might just be the year you should consider using an electric bike for many if not all your trips in the city.