Hanna Persson lives in Långedrag and commutes 20 km every day by bike to her job at Volvo Cars in Torslanda. In two years, she reached break even and paid off the cost of the bike.

“The ride to and from work is often the best bit of the day.

I first thought of buying an e-bike when my daughter got an electric moped to travel to and from her training sessions.” Hanna has always enjoyed cycling, but she chose an e-bike because it would make it easier to cycle over the exposed Älvsborg Bridge and up the hills on her route. On 7 April 2017, Hanna bought an EcoRide Ambassador, and not quite two years later – 14 March 2019 – she’d ‘paid off’ her bike.

“I have a civil engineering background and love numbers. So I started keeping statistics to find out when the e-bike had paid for itself. I already had a normal bicycle, so this was more of a sport – and I decided to cycle to work whatever the weather. And that’s what I did! 

Money and the environment in the equation
Hanna took a photo of her meter every day when she got home and kept track of every time she charge the battery. She included in her calculations the congestion charge and fuel costs she would have otherwise paid. In 226 days, cycling to and from work 19 km a day, she saved SEK 10,300 in congestion charges and SEK 4500 in fuel. In total, she’s cycled 5260 km and charged her battery 180 times. 

“Now I'm ‘earning’ money every time I take the e-bike”, she says.

Hanna points out that she’s also calculated her carbon dioxide emissions. 

“On average, a car gives out 120 g of carbon dioxide per kilometre. So in two years I’ve reduced my carbon dioxide emissions by about 630 kg!”

A lifestyle
As well as being a convenient way to get to work, using an e-bike also means that Hanna’s exercise is now included in her everyday life. 

“It’s become a lifestyle. I look forward to my time on the bike. Sometimes I stop along the way and pick wood anemones. You get to experience the changing seasons – in the autumn there are mushrooms along the side of the road, and now there are ox-eye daisies everywhere. I've seen birds of prey hovering in the air and wonderful sunsets in the evening.

When you’re cycling, you can let go of stress after a long working day. It’s a healing time, a time for reflection and thinking.”

More people using the car
Hanna often talks about her lifestyle and has succeeded in inspiring some of her colleagues to buy an e-bike, but there are still many people taking the car to her workplace. And the same is true for the rest of the country – only 16% of people cycle to work, while 42% take the car, according to a survey carried out for IF Skadeförsäkring (2017). In other words, there’s still quite a large group of people to inspire to take a more intelligent route – but how can you motivate your friends to leave the wheel behind and sit at the handlebars instead?

Well, of course, the most obvious argument is the environment – 30% of Sweden’s total carbon dioxide emissions come from traffic. But it’s also about saving time, gliding past traffic jams and saving money.

So do you fancy a new lifestyle, or simply want to save a bit of money? We’ll be happy to help you find the right e-bike for you!