Hello! I am a new PhD student at IRES, studying with Prof. Hadi Dowlatabadi.
My research focus is electric bicycles. ‘E-bikes’ come in bicycle- and scooter-styles; I am concerned more with the former – ie. conventional bikes supplemented with an electric motor and batteries to give them an extra boost when needed.
When I first considered this topic I thought, “No, electric bikes are a hobby, not a serious research topic!” But then I realized that e-bikes are already being sold by the tens of millions – predominantly in China but increasingly in Europe and North America. They will have substantial societal effects, for better and worse.
My hypothesis is that e-bikes have great potential to benefit mankind by providing cheap, relatively clean urban transportation, and a convenient opportunity for regular exercise and recreation. In particular, I suspect that they will appeal to the elderly, the out-of-shape, and folks who’d like to bike but don’t want to haul themselves up hills, or who simply want to arrive at their destinations quicker. In the developing world e-bikes may be one of the cheapest form of powered mobility.
Plus they’re cool!
My first step is to assess the overall health outcome of e-bikes, for a given context. The health benefits from exercise may be offset to a degree by health risks posed by breathing more city air and by the elevated chance of injury from collisions. There’s also potential effects on the broader community from improved air quality (and greenhouse gas emissions) due to a reduction in car use – or worsened air quality due to the generation of the electricity for charging the ebikes’ batteries. And there’s a risk of leakage of lead into the environment from the making and disposal of lead-acid batteries.
Assessing these health effects will necessitate characterizing e-bike usage: who is riding them, what are their usage patterns, and what modes of transport e-bike riders would be using if they weren’t on an e-bike. In effect, this all translates to performing an interdisciplinary ‘Integrated Assessment’. IRES and Hadi are the perfect place and mentor for me to do this with.
