Everyday transport is where e-bikes really shine. Whether you’re thinking of cycling to work or already do so, investing in an e-bike can have big benefits.

Riding an e-bike is like cycling with a constant tailwind and having a helping hand push you uphill. You still have to pedal but you don’t have to pedal very hard. On a normal bike, a longer or hillier ride to work can feel daunting and tiring. On an e-bike? It’s no sweat.

The lower effort required is why e-bikes have such potential to get people to switch from cars, buses and trains for everyday journeys. Those who do so reap big rewards – for their health, wealth and free time and also for the environment. What’s perhaps surprising is that existing cyclists can also profit from swapping to an e-bike for commuting. Here’s what an e-bike can do for you and the planet.

It improves your health

Riding an e-bike provides broadly the same benefits to your physical and mental health as cycling. The lack of intense efforts – climbing a steep hill with muscle power alone, for example – means that you’ll burn fewer calories per hour on an e-bike than a regular bike. Yet it’s still aerobic exercise and if you commute on an e-bike you’ll easily meet the NHS recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week.

A study of more than 10,000 people found that e-bikers and normal cyclists actually enjoyed comparable fitness benefits. How so, given that the cyclists worked harder? The e-bikers clocked up more miles. They rode more often and they took longer journeys. A Dutch study reached a similar conclusion. It found that e-bike commuters cycled 75% further over the same period than commuters on normal bikes, mainly because they were cycling more regularly.

Journeys that might be unappealing on a conventional bike – because they’re too hilly or too far or because of bad weather – are much easier to undertake on e-bike. All but the most committed cyclists can thus gain (or at least maintain) health benefits from switching to an e-bike for commuting. They’re likely to pedal more miles on an e-bike, offsetting the fact that each of those miles is a bit easier.

It saves money

It’s more expensive to buy and run an e-bike than a regular bike. Yet it’s much cheaper than buying a running a car. It’s so much cheaper, in fact, that existing cyclists can still save money if they use the e-bike for enough journeys they would otherwise drive.

We looked at comparative commuting costs back in 2017. For a five-mile each way commute, those annual costs were: bike £396; train £625; bus £848; Tube £1,320; car £3,727. With the caveat that inflation will have raised all those figures significantly today, how does e-bike commuting fit in?

We’ll assume a standard-rate taxpayer spends £2,000 on e-bike through Cyclescheme. Saving 25% means it actually costs them £1,500. Rather than factor in a replacement battery, we’ll go further and assume the entire bike is worthless junk after five years, just as we did with the bicycle in our earlier example. It’s a worst-case scenario.

These are the annual costs.

• Depreciation: £300
A fifth of the initial cost, as we’ve assumed a five-year lifespan for the e-bike.

• E-bike insurance: approx £93
Quote for a £2,000 e-bike from Bikmo, using the very expensive SW1A 0AA post code in the centre of London.

• Breakdown cover: £24
This is from ETA and is comparable to what many drivers have.

• Maintenance: £200

This covers a typical e-bike service and some replacement parts. Servicing and repair costs are likely to be higher than for a conventional bike as e-bikes are more complicated and put more stress through the drivetrain.

• Running costs: £5.50

We’re assuming a 300Wh battery (i.e. 0.3kWh) that will deliver 30 miles per charge, even though many e-bikes will have bigger batteries and/or will travel further. With electricity charged at 22.36 pence per kWh, it would cost 0.3 times that to charge the battery from flat. That’s 6.7p per charge. Per mile, it works out at 0.22p. So for 2,500 miles per year, that’s £5.50. (Battery replacement would normally be part of the running costs, but we’ve assumed the whole bike is replaced after five years, not just the battery.)

Adding up those numbers gives us annual costs of £622.50, which is cheaper than everything except the conventional bike in our 2017 example. The main reason for the difference is the higher purchase price of the e-bike; running costs are negligible, while insurance and maintenance aren’t much more. E-biking is only slightly cheaper than commuting by train using an annual rail pass but you have much more flexibility as the e-bike can be used for any journey.

It saves time

E-bikes are often quicker than cars or public transport in urban areas. That’s also true of conventional bikes, which frequently win head-to-head commuter races over other forms of transport because cyclists spend less time stationary. On an e-bike, however, it’s easy for anyone to maintain an average speed of 15mph because of the motor’s assistance. That’s almost twice the average speed of a car in London, which is 8.7mph (14km/h) and comfortably above the 13mph (21km/h) average of a car in Manchester.

For most people, e-bikes are faster than conventional bikes for commuting. While any reasonably fit cyclist can exceed the 15.5mph limit at which an e-bike’s motor ceases to provide assistance, that’s not the point. E-bikes aren’t fast because they have a high top speed but because they can maintain a decent speed almost everywhere. You might only do 15mph on the flat on an e-bike but you can also ride at that speed, or close to it, uphill or into a headwind. You can do 15mph for an hour without tiring.

With commuting speeds that are more consistent, you can set off later on an e-bike as you don’t need to build in a buffer for delays caused by tiredness, weather conditions or traffic congestion. That gives more of your day back to you, saving time in another way.

It helps the environment

Riding an e-bike isn’t as environmentally friendly as cycling or walking, but it beats other forms of transport hands down. There’s no air pollution at source, and minimal air pollution of any kind if you’re on a green energy tariff. There’s no noise pollution. No congestion.

There are some CO2 costs associated with buying and using an e-bike, just as there are with a conventional bike. It has to be manufactured, then maintained. You might eat more than a sedentary commuter. Then there’s the battery – albeit a battery that’s one hundredth the size of batteries in electric cars.

We can see how an e-bike compares environmentally to other forms of transport as the European Cyclists’ Federation has calculated the carbon costs. In terms of grammes of CO2 per kilometre travelled, this is how e-biking measures up.

Cycling: 21g

E-biking: 22g

Bus: 101g

Car: 271g

Another study found that someone who switched all of their car journeys to e-bike journeys would, on average, save 0.7 tonnes of CO2 per year.

If you’re an existing cyclist who swaps normal bike journeys for e-bike journeys, there is a small environmental cost associated with that. But even that can be offset if you also use your e-bike for journeys you would otherwise have made by car or public transport.