The electric bike premium evaluated - so it was used

It is the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency that has now evaluated the government's investment in climate and the environment in the 2018 budget. They have reviewed individual data for the 89,396 Swedes who took part in the prize and surveyed 10,500 of them.

- What we can see is that women and men bought electric bicycles to about the same extent and that there were more electric bicycle buyers per 1,000 inhabitants in the southern parts of the country than the northern ones, says Erik Geijer, who conducted the evaluation.

Båstad tops with 30.5 applications per 1,000 inhabitants, while Haparanda and Åsele ended in the bottom with 1.4. The evaluation also shows that electric bicycle buyers generally have higher education and income than the rest of the population. In addition, better health, at least they answer so in the questionnaire. Older people are slightly over-represented.

- Many of those who expressed criticism of the electric bicycle premium thought that it would be a direct subsidy to big city residents, but that was not the case, says Erik Geijer.

According to the 3,500 who answered the entire questionnaire, about every other bicycle ride replaces a trip that would otherwise have been made by car. Others replace trips that would otherwise have been by regular bicycle, public transport or on foot.

The survey also shows that the main reason for buying an electric bicycle is to be able to easily get to places and get exercise without sacrificing convenience.

The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency concludes that increased use of electric bicycle is likely to result in reduced greenhouse gas emissions, increased physical activity and reduced noise. But probably also to an increase in the number of traffic accidents.