Electric bike grants sweep Europe

In a bid to improve air quality so poor that temporary bans have been imposed on diesel vehicles, folk in Oslo are being offered grants of up to £1,100 towards the cost of an electric cargo bike.

On top of the electric bike grants, the country is spending over £800m on bike infrastructure in a bid to encourage drivers out of their cars. In a similar vein, France has recently announced a new 200 Euro grant open to all those buying an electric bicycle.

Levels of air pollution here in Britain are no lower, but by contrast, electric bikes here continue to be excluded from the government’s plug-in grant, which offers up to £5,000 towards the price of an electric car.

Government electric vehicle programmes and incentives routinely exclude those defined as quadricycles, owing to their lighter weight and lower power output, and electric bicycles. In terms of the environmental agenda, this is a nonsensical distinction to be making.

Government policy on electric cars appears back to front – there should be more emphasis on affordable and practicable technology that is available today.

Despite numerous calls for the plug-in grant to include electric bicycles, it continues to apply only to cars. Perhaps it would help if more of us were aware of the dangers posed by air pollution.

Friends of the Earth has this week released the results of a survey that suggests many people – particularly those outside London – are still unaware of the dangers of air pollution.

“With only 1 in 10 British adults rating their air quality as poor despite swaths of the country breaking legal limits for air pollution, it seems the message about the scale and danger of air pollution isn’t getting through. Often you can’t see it or smell it, but it’s there – and air pollution is risking the health of an entire generation of children” said Oliver Hayes, a Friends of the Earth air pollution campaigner.

Cycle insurance for electric bicycles

The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Over 30 years on, we continue to offer cycle insurance , breakdown cover and mobility scooter insurance while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.

The Good Shopping Guide judges us to be the UK’s most ethical provider.

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