I am a bit bemused at the comments on here.
A few basic issues: Canadian Tire (and Walmart, etc.) distribute bikes that are relatively cheap and yet command a decent margin for them (which means the CAD $499 sticker price Schwinn e Zip CTC probably cost them not much more than $125 to $150 wholesale x factory from China.
The rest is all profit margin, for the distributor, wholesaler, shipping, and probably a razor thin margin for the Chinese manufacturer.
If those bikes were sold in high volumes, a more fair price is closer to $250, which is roughly what they would command at premium bike shops in China.
You can buy a very good conventional bike at CTC (front and rear suspension, disk brakes, aluminum frame for less than $300 if you waited for a sale --- the bike probably cost no more than CAD $100 x factory in China.
The money is made by all the middle men in between.
As for the comments about lead acid batteries vs. lithium batteries.
Lithium technology, even the most common, reliable ones built with factory made Lithium ion cells, is a niche technology that is great for laptop computers, cell phones, but dubious for a mass market, high volume bicycle.
Sure, there will be enthusiasts that are willing to pay any money for the light weight offered by this technology, perhaps even paying $$$ for lithium polymer cells --- the standard for electric planes and other hobbyists uses.
There is also the issue of hazards with lithium based batteries. Federal law now limits the size of lithium batteries that can be carried on aircraft (as laptop computer batteries, for example). Bicycles, or for that matter, any motive use for transporting persons, far exceeds the amount of lithium considered safe to have around.
I have a feeling that sooner or later, there will be catastrophic failures of lithium based battery packs (it happened with laptops, resulting in costly recalls, so expect it to happen for bikes too!).
Think very hard about having several fairly large lithium cells near exposed skin and flesh (on a bike mounted between your legs.... for example... should the battery suddenly were to explode and catch fire.
The fact that this can happen with lithium ion cells that are sealed and carefully manufactured is one thing, but the troubling evidence that lithium polymer (which many cyclists are using) are even more prone to catastrophic failure) seem not to be appreciated by enthusiasts.
Furthermore, because many of these battery packs are in aluminum cases, and often mounted on bikes loaded with aluminum components, it is very foreseeable to see a battery pack fire igniting the aluminum parts.
Have an explosion and fire happen with a lithium battery pack with a cyclist traveling at a good clip (50kph) who may be burned by the explosion and fire because they cannot get off the bike without stopping first, is a readily foreseeable accident with potentially fatal consequences.
Do the lithium battery advocates realize that this is part and parcel of the dangers they accept when they buy a lithium battery powered bike?
Or should we wait for the first e Bike battery recall (like Sony, Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc. did) to find out these hazards?
I would prefer not to find out these hazards with my own fanny.... and use proven SLA batteries that are known to be very safe in even abusive use.
For the user that needs a bike that gets to and fro work, withstand relatively punishing cycles of use (heavy discharge / recharge cycles, neglect like forgetting to recharge it), Sealed Lead Acid is still the way to go.
Until Absorbed Glass Mat Batteries drop in price, your standard SLA 12V 12A (a very common size) can be had for CAD $30 to $50 in quantity, cheaper if you buy the chinese made clones and not the Yuasa name brands.
A battery pack made of 2, or 4 of these is maybe $100 to $200 to replace at retail, $50 for 2 cells if you know how to get the cells wholesale from China.
Sure, it is heavy, but do you really care if the bike and motor is doing the heavy lifting?
There are additional improvements coming in SLA cells, such as incorporating a supercapacitor in it (the Aussies have the patent) that will eventually make the old fashioned lead cells perform nearly as well as Lithium ion, but at a fraction of the cost.
For what appear to be an environmentally minded group (cyclists), I am intrigued that none of the people really seem to care that Lithium batteries, as it stands, is by and large, not recycled or readily recyclable. (It is technically recyclable, but is the infrastructure there to collect them and do so????)
Lead Acid batteries are readily recyclable, and collection points are widespread and most places have excellent collection programs to gather them up and ship them off to Asia to be recycled.
Finally, there is the issue of security of supply. Lithium is a very finite resource that is controlled by countries like Bolivia, Chile, China, and only a small amount in the US in commercially useful concentrations.
Widespread use of lithium for energy storage will quickly deplete or stress worldwide supplies.
For all these reasons, the comparatively "low tech" lead acid battery powered e bike have a lot of life and viability to it that people need to think hard about.
Personally, I would like to see CTC and Walmart bring out a AGM deep cycle battery based e Bike built on a light weight aluminum frame with a good quality front and rear suspension, 50km range @40kph, and do it, fully equipped (fenders, lights, etc.) for CAD $500.
They would have to accept much lower than normal margins, but with these specs below CAD $500, e bikes would take off in popularity.