jkbrigman said:
Not to be giving a "weekly gas update", but just a comment:
After the recent price uptick (we got as high as $3.55 for regular unleaded right around New Year's) we seem to have settled down to around $3.35/gallon here.
That means, for me, current payback using an ebike to get to work would run about $7/day, or $21/week. Not too shabby, that's a bare minimum number, and only if you have a paid-for car "fully amortized" and very, very cheap insurance. If you include the capital cost of a car, insurance and maintenance, that bumps the number up to over $20/day, or $100/week.
That means I'll pay back the capital cost of my 9C kit from methods in about 23 commute days. Pay for the entire bike and electric drive system in 60-70 commute days.
Funny, I just ordered another project, a 9c wheel from Methods....
I've now paid off the batteries I've been using since last August, a 36v 11ah lifepo4 and 3s 10ah lipo, and chargers. I still seem to get full capacity, they've been flawless for pushing 1200watts under me. And my car is a civic, and I do nearly all city riding, so not that many big miles. If i lived in the suburbs, and didn't work from home, I'd prob have 3-4x times as many miles on my ebike, and be truly saving money. Of course, the value of the fun aspect and benefit to the community (less pollution, less car danger, etc) is something you can't quantify. I would never drive to many of the places I ebike to, just because it would be too much of a hassle.
I really sometimes wish I had a 20 mile commute to work each way... just to use the ebike more.
8) 
