As many people reading this know, electric bikes are a significant investment. You will only find a few electric bikes that start out at less than $1000 dollars. If you want a reliable quality bike, with safe batteries, that is easily serviceable, then you’re looking north of $2000 dollars. The quality cargo bikes for families wanting to commute with children, start around $4000-$5000. This is a sizable amount of money for most middle-class income earners. For low-income earners who have no independent means to get around, that is often an insurmountable amount. So, this month I want to help bring attention to some legislation that is being proposed to help folks afford higher quality e-bikes.
Karin Powers, pictured to the left, bought a Tern Cargo bike to commute with her kids and quickly realized the utility of e-bikes. So, she got work on legislation to make them more affordable for Oregonians. Her tenure as a representative just ended, but she passed off her initiative, LC 1994 to representative Dacia Grayber. She will sponsor that bill in the new 2023 legislative session, which just started on January 17th, 2023. Now is the perfect time to start calling, and writing your representatives to let them know you support this legislation.
Legislative Concept (LC) 1994 (PDF), “directs [the Oregon] Department of Environmental Quality to establish program for providing rebates to qualifying individuals who purchase electric assisted bicycles or cargo electric bicycles and qualifying equipment.” In its current form, customers could receive a rebate of up to $1200 for a regular e-bike, and up to $1700 for a cargo e-bike. The bikes would have to meet legal requirements, be purchased from a local dealer who registers with the state, have a minimum retail price of $950 and owners would be required to retain their bike for a minimum of 1 year. If you want to see the full draft, you can click on the PDF link above. If you’re reading this in print you can go to our website (www.ashlandelectricbikes.com) or our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ashlandelectricbikes), where we’ve posted information about this legislation.
If you’re wondering who you should call or write; those district representatives are listed in this month’s ad. We are including several of the surrounding districts as many people in Ashland have family that live across this region, and we recommend spreading the word on this legislation. The more representatives we have on board the more likely this bill is to pass.
We have a form letter on our website and our Facebook page (see addresses above), or you can write your own. Thanks for helping us advocate so more folks can afford e-bikes and help us towards our goal of a healthier and more sustainable future.
