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There's An Electric Buzz On Streets Of Paris

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By EMMA VANDORE

The Associated Press

Published: August 16, 2008

PARIS - My electric bike is no batmobile, but it makes me feel like a superhero.

The motor is so quiet it's easy to forget it's there when I'm pedaling through the streets of Paris - only I move much faster than a regular bike and I don't sweat. When I ride uphill, it feels like someone is giving me a push.

The silver Chinese import that I bought for 300 euros ($470) might not look as flashy as Christian Bale's wheels in "The Dark Knight," but it is much cheaper to run and kinder to the environment, too.

All of which helps explain why electric bikes are one of the hottest buys in Paris now and are filling the streets of Amsterdam, Beijing and beyond.

"It's become a new means of transport," said Olivier Birault, owner of Paris store Velectris.

"In France we lost the culture of the bike after the war when it was seen as old-fashioned or for poor people. Now it's coming back - and with the latest increase in gasoline prices we are seeing enormous interest."

Demand, says Sophie Nenner, who opened Paris bike store Velo Electro in 2005, is particularly high when the sun is shining. When it rains, I don't feel much like Batman on my bike.

More than 10,000 electric bikes were sold in France last year, up from 6,000 in 2006, according to the Conseil National des Professions du Cycle, an association of bike professionals.

And the trend is hitting all of Europe. Sales of power-assisted bikes in Germany this year are expected to double the 60,000 sold in 2007, according to Hannes Neupert, manager of ExtraEnergy, a nonprofit organization promoting light electric vehicles headquartered in Tanna, Germany.

In the Netherlands, sales of electric-powered bikes increased from 45,000 in 2006 to 89,000 last year, according BOVAG, a motorized vehicles industry association, which expects that the meter will read 121,000 at the end of 2008.

Store owner Birault says bikes are only the start of an electric revolution.

"People are waiting now for the electric car," he said.

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