Isle of Wight residents who own electric bicycles are invited to take part in a survey to help the Department for Transport put together schemes to increase e-bike use.
Cycle to Work (C2W) have put together the survey, which will be used to inform a possible application for funding from Isle of Wight Council.
It's part of an invitation from the Department for Transport, after it published its new Cycling and Walking Strategy 'Gear Change'.
It includes a commitment to develop a national e-bike programme, allowing local authorities to apply for funding to deliver pilot projects encouraging e-bike use.
For the purposes of this survey, an electric bike is a standard bicycle with an electric motor and battery attached. Various types of e-bike exist, but this survey is only concerned about traditional pedal-assist e-bikes. E-cargo bikes and e-scooters are outside of the scope of this survey.
C2W said:
"Research undertaken by the DfT suggests that the most significant barrier to e-bike uptake is the cost of purchase.
"However, this does not explain why usage of e-bikes in the UK continues to lag behind continental Europe, where prices are similar.
"One significant factor which helps to explain the lag is a lack of first-hand experience of riding an e-bike.
"E-bikes are unusual in that most people riding one for the first time are surprised by how good they feel, so there is really no substitute for first-hand experience.
In order to attract new users of e-bikes at a time when high demand for new e-bikes is generating supply chain delays, we are assessing demand for a peer to peer e-bike share scheme.
"Peer to peer sharing schemes already exist for private cars where car owners make their vehicles available for others to use in return for a fee. We are keen to understand whether this model can also work for e-bikes."