Are E-Bikes a technological step up or down from horses?

.nomad

1 mW
Joined
Feb 2, 2014
Messages
19
Location
USA
This is kind of an odd question I've been pondering for some time. Strictly in an ease of travel context, are modern electric bicycles a technological step ahead or behind horses? Meaning, taking a moderately high quality e-bike motor and assuming all associated technologies like a place to recharge we're available, would a traveler say, in colonial times, be better off traveling by e-bike or horse? Or are both horse and e-bike about the same in travel output? Distance is more important than speed to me since, compared to a car, both horse and e-bike are pretty slow.

I ask this because this question really pertains to our time. I would feel better knowing, being on my e-bike, I was taking a step ahead in travel technology rather than back.
 
Hmmm... Can't recall the last time my ebike laid "horse balls" in the street. And it's been years since I came across some ebike lying dead at the side of the road. I sorta miss my old job as a street cleaner.
 
Well, in colonial times charging an ebike involved flying a kite in a storm, or rubbing a fur glove on glass for a really long time.

So it's a catch 22 question. If you gave a guy in 1700 AD access to a power grid and electric motors, he's say "HELL YEAH BABY". Horses remain to this day, a huge pain in the ass. But back then, better than human power for sure. I live in the west, where to this day horses are used for work. Ask any real cowboy, and he'll say he hates his goddamn horse. Only uses it when you can't drive there in the truck.

Range of an Ebike or a horse is not too different, if there is not water pretty often along the way. Like a bike, a horse can only carry so much water and a rider too.
 
Hey! I still got a few ("western-style") sets of spurs?

BTW... Try a search for the phrase "dead horses" on ES... perhaps here:
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=8099&p=522753#p522295

The cost of horses on tramways came to from 7d. to 10d. per car mile, which was probably about 3d. per ton per mile, so that there was a considerable difference between the cost of electrical haulage and that of horse power.
 
Pic of a lazy horse caught relaxing after a hard day of work:
children-and-dead-horse-street-in-new-york-c-1895.jpg
 
Some folks like horse meat. Not sure whether any have tasted ebike (I haven't tried myself, though I have been known on occasion to lick my ebike (stopped that when the weather got too cold. My tongue got frozen.).
 
Oh yeah... Forgot to mention. I gave up trying to "make nice" w/my ebike, but Nellie (the horse) didn't seem to mind. (The sheep, OTOH, looked nervous.)
 
While we're on the subject, I put a salt lick/block out in the pasture where all the ebikes hang out. It hasn't been touched for months now. Should I be concerned?
 
LockH said:
Oh yeah... Forgot to mention. I gave up trying to "make nice" w/my ebike, but Nellie (the horse) didn't seem to mind. (The sheep, OTOH, looked nervous.)


Is it possible that Nellie didn't uhhhhh "notice" you? :roll:
 
HA HA! Actually, as long as the old bag (the feed bag, not her, although she WAS an old, grey mare) had hay/etc for her to munch on...

EDIT: Shouldn't brag, but most human ladies backed away when they see me show up. (I suspect something to do with my "ho ha", resting over my shoulder -left or right, so it doesn't dangle on the ground.)
 
PS... Come on now, I am sure the OP wanted a "serious" conversation on the subject.
 
r3volved said:
Don't forget:
1 horse + 1 horse can produce many horses
1 ebike + 1 ebike = 2 broken ebikes


Uh... not if you have 2 mares or 2 stallions

And yes, that last equation hits home way too hard :oops: :D


To the OP, an ebike would easily surpass a horse in terms of travel if all roads were paved. But the ebike would have to be equipped properly.

And finally, horses only provide 1 horse power. While an ebike can clearly have more.
 
LockH said:
PS... Come on now, I am sure the OP wanted a "serious" conversation on the subject.

A smattering of jokes here and there doesn't bother me. I understand people on forums tend to get to a question when they get to it. They are being kind enough to give my topic attention, who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth? :mrgreen:
 
cal3thousand said:
r3volved said:
Don't forget:
1 horse + 1 horse can produce many horses
1 ebike + 1 ebike = 2 broken ebikes


Uh... not if you have 2 mares or 2 stallions

And yes, that last equation hits home way too hard :oops: :D


To the OP, an ebike would easily surpass a horse in terms of travel if all roads were paved. But the ebike would have to be equipped properly.

And finally, horses only provide 1 horse power. While an ebike can clearly have more.

That pretty much settles it in my mind. Thank you.

To me this means e-bikes are, in a way, capable of a sort of "time travel", technologically speaking. E-bikes are right in between horses and gas vehicles and have really never had their true day in the sun. By choosing to ride an e-bike we are, in effect, going back and forward in time at the same time and living it. When e-bikes were first invented (and bicycles, in general), they were so quickly superseded by gas powered vehicles, people didn't really have a chance to live in the world of e-bikes as a dominant transportation device.
 
Can anyone confirm that ist allowed for everyone to ride a horse in NYC without a riderlicens and insurance whilst ebikes are banned ?
Some sort of traffic lawyer from NYC here who knows all the dirty secrets?
 
"... E-bikes are right in between horses and gas vehicles..."
So, you have stuck your nose up an exhaust tailpipe? (I have been looking for one on my "EV", so far with no success.)

EDIT: Sorry, I do know that "gas vehicles" may be a "clear" winner (in the "hitting people" or running over puppies etc sweepstakes).
 
Can anyone confirm that ist allowed for everyone to ride a horse in NYC without a riderlicens and insurance whilst ebikes are banned ?
Some sort of traffic lawyer from NYC here who knows all the dirty secrets?

Someone must confirm this, I too heard that until the ban is lifted you can bring 'quality stock' into the downtown area and ride abridged with saddle, otherwise sidesaddle. There is some real argy bargy going on from both the Jewish and Muslim groups because they want some unhooven stock included for them to get around on, apparently they need some clean all terrain stock like some lamma or camel. I could be wrong about the camels, I hope I wasn't wrong about the camels, I hope that didn't offend anyone.
 
LockH said:
"... E-bikes are right in between horses and gas vehicles..."
So, you have stuck your nose up an exhaust tailpipe? (I have been looking for one on my "EV", so far with no success.)

EDIT: Sorry, I do know that "gas vehicles" may be a "clear" winner (in the "hitting people" or running over puppies etc sweepstakes).

I'm not saying gas vehicles are better. They are, obviously, not better for the environment. I was just acknowledging that history has favored them over other modes of transportation.
 
.nomad said:
I ask this because this question really pertains to our time. I would feel better knowing, being on my e-bike, I was taking a step ahead in travel technology rather than back.
As with many issues - the matter of scale can entirely change the problem focus...

From "How Much Horse Manure Was Deposited on the Streets of New York City Before the Advent of the Automobile, ..."

  • "...nearly 500 tones of horse manure were collected from the streets of New York every day...."
 
Philistine said:
Can anyone confirm that ist allowed for everyone to ride a horse in NYC without a riderlicens and insurance whilst ebikes are banned ?
Some sort of traffic lawyer from NYC here who knows all the dirty secrets?

Someone must confirm this, I too heard that until the ban is lifted you can bring 'quality stock' into the downtown area and ride abridged with saddle, otherwise sidesaddle. There is some real argy bargy going on from both the Jewish and Muslim groups because they want some unhooven stock included for them to get around on, apparently they need some clean all terrain stock like some lamma or camel. I could be wrong about the camels, I hope I wasn't wrong about the camels, I hope that didn't offend anyone.

Dont get me worng i dont want a ban for horses anywhere i want same rights for ebikes to make them more popular.
If its realy allowed in NYC to ride a horse we could organise a ebike demonstration to remove the ebike ban.
We fly all to NYC than we rent horses from outside from NYC where actually horses are aviailable!.
Than we ride all hopefully more than 50 people in the NYC and yell the parole ''free the ebikes free remove the ban or we ride horse here all day long''
Police can do nothing against it becouse allowed :mrgreen:
 
Ummm... Some car drivers might "complicate" things... when they start hitting/running over horses and riders ("But orificer. I am late for my "hair appointment"!)
 
I'm not sure what sort of duty cycle you get from a horse. A 900w charger should take the bike to around 50% at 1hp though. A horse must have a much lower charge rate.

A horse needs pasture, an ebike needs a support shed. It's definitely getting smaller too.

All this talk of horse. I feel starving now.
 
Correction. A horse needs a pasture FOR FOOD (energy. But hay, I could be wrong.)
 
Its possible to ride a horse 100 miles in a day, but then you need to let the poor thing rest for a week or two. But that is on a smooth and level road in good weather, and the horse had to be in excellent physical condition to begin with.

If you keep your horse in the barn most of the time, you're not going to get very far. 10-20 miles a day maybe. Horses don't store very well, and they need an hour or more attention and care every day just to be maintained.
Over broken terrain and hilly areas, 10-30 miles would be about normal for an average horse.

That's not so different from what an Ebike can do, but an Ebike is lower maintenance and operating costs.

And when you stop at a corner to talk to some fair lass, your ebike isn't going to decide to take a wee, splattering all over their shoes and ruining your chances.

Ebikes aren't a step back or forward. They've actually been around since the late 1800s. The fit in an evolutionary transport niche that belonged to the motorcycle, not the car. However, it wasn't until the battery technology advanced to it's current form that Ebikes became practical
 
Back
Top