Four million reasons why the world should commute by Piaggio Wi-Bike

The Piaggio Wi-Bike is a glimpse of how the world should get to work. If you are one of the four million British commuters who travel less than three miles to work by car, and you're  unable or unwilling to ditch four wheels in favour of a conventional bicycle, electric assist offers an ideal alternative.

If you've never ridden an electric bicycle, don't be too quick to write them off. They are comfortable, easy to use and fast. And far from being the lazy option, electric bikes do a good job of encouraging you to ride faster and further. With only moderate effort, a cruising speed of 20 mph is capable for most riders - a speed that makes short work of most commutes. The 250 W electric motor, which is housed in the crank for optimum balance and handling, has three power settings to choose from and a range of up 120 km.

The Wi-Bike features an integrated GPS/GSM system that's connected 24 hours a day. If the battery is getting low or someone tries to pinch the bike, a message is sent to your mobile phone. On top of that, a code is needed to operate the display, battery and motor. Removing the display renders the Wi-Bike inoperable.

Piaggio Wi-Bike - from Vespa to Volta

When the makers of the world's best known scooter turns its attention towards electric bicycles, it's a clue of how urban transport is changing. Whether or not affordable electric or hydrogen fuelled cars materialise any time soon, the crippling effect of congestion remains. And with road user charging as politically toxic an issue as it ever was, urban commuters who don't want to spend an ever increasing proportion of their lives stuck behind the wheel are going to have to take to two wheels.

Piaggio knows a thing or two about making simple, robust and economical vehicles. Crippled by WWII, Italy was in dire need of modern and affordable transport. The answer was to be a vehicle that was easy to drive for both men and women, could carry a passenger, and would not get its driver's clothes dirty. The answer was the 1946 Piaggio Vespa scooter - a now iconic vehicle of which one million were snapped up within a decade. Production of the Vespa continues to this day - and at 100 mpg is no less economical - but the world has moved on and requires more than simply fuel efficiency alone.

Electric assisted bicycles have numerous advantages over petrol-powered scooters for the urban commuter. They are cheaper to run, require no license or insurance and are small and light enough to be stored inside the home.

The advantages extend to other road users too. They help reduce road danger by being less of a risk to pedestrians than every other type of motorised transport, are near-silent and eat up very little space for parking.

The ethical choice

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.

{{cta-cycling}}