This is indeed a valid consideration. At the same time, ebikes open doors for people that maybe haven’t ridden a bicycle since childhood, and might not know the first thing about assembling – let alone maintaining – a bicycle made for transportation, rather than as a children’s toy. Throw in the whole (somewhat misplaced) concern over cheap batteries bursting into flames and it’s not totally outside reason why the Colorado government went in this direction. Encouraging/subsidizing local bike shops as part of the rollout of ebikes could be viewed as taking the long-term approach.
This is indeed a valid consideration. At the same time, ebikes open doors for people that maybe haven’t ridden a bicycle since childhood, and might not know the first thing about assembling – let alone maintaining – a bicycle made for transportation, rather than as a children’s toy. Throw in the whole (somewhat misplaced) concern over cheap batteries bursting into flames and it’s not totally outside reason why the Colorado government went in this direction. Encouraging/subsidizing local bike shops as part of the rollout of ebikes could be viewed as taking the long-term approach.