A Preliminary Analysis Over the Factors Related with the Possession of an Electric Bike

In recent decades different studies focused on how to incentivize a shift from car to bicycle. In this context the electric bike is gaining more and more popularity. Because of its higher speed and longer reach, the e-bike could be an attractive alternative to the car. Through an online survey (together with a GPS tracking campaign and a weekly travel diary) conducted in the city of Ghent (Belgium) we define the profile of the e-bike users (age, income, ownership, etc…) and analyze their mobility habits (distance travelled, purpose of the trip, etc…). The initial results obtained from a travel diary survey show how the e-bike is highly used for commuting trips while for more occasional trips (at most once per week) the car is the preferred alternative. Moreover, the analysis of the changes in the mobility habits after the acquisition of the e-bike shows how the e-bike has mainly incorporated the trips performed by bike while also causing an increase of the frequency for some trips. Summarizing, in this paper we propose a preliminary analysis over the factors correlated with the ownership of an e-bike and an overview about how people changed their mobility habits after the acquisition of the e-bike.