The slogan „Go Pedelec!“ is the name of a EU-cofinanced project, carried out by four municipalities, three non-profit-organizations and three private companies. The common goal of these ten partners from Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy and the Netherlands is to raise awareness about pedelecs among citizens as well as among municipial decision makers.
Pedelecs – Bicycle with electric motor assistance
Focus of the project is a special type of electric two-wheelers so-called „pedelecs“: electric motor assisted bicycles which are never powered solely by the motor, but the motor is just supporting the pedalling cyclist, e.g. doubling his current muscle power contribution. Compared to other electric vehicles, this concept has the following advantages:
Because of the lightweight construction and the muscle power of the driver, pedelecs have the lowest energy consumption of all motorised vehicles of private transport, their consumption of primary energy is 20 times less than that of a car.
Riding a pedelec is as simple as cycling – as far as the motor just increases the pedal power proportionally, their are no additional controls, just pedalling gets easier.
Thanks to the pedal drive you allways get home, even if your battery is empty.
The necessity to pedal in spite of the assisting motor is better for health and makes rides in winter warmer, than on a moped.
In comparison to a conventional bicycle, the assisting electric drive of a pedelec is of the following use, justifying the higher price:
Particulary slopes are easy to overcome.
Because of higher speed, more destinations are accessible in convenient time.
Business clothing is not stained by sweat.
Go Pedelec! Road-Show Information Days
The most impressive part of the project will be 15 road-shows, which will be held in five countries, giving to the citizens the possibility to experience the feeling of electrically assisted cycling on a test track. For this purpose, in every participating city there will be installed a test parcours with a steep ramp for several days. During the road-show information days, there will be the following supporting activities for special target groups:
Consultancy and exchange of experience for and with municipial decision makers from different cities
Training and consultancy for bicycle retailers, which often do not have necessary knowledge upon the new components of a pedelec – Battery and electric motor
Further activities and deliverables
Apart from the road-shows, within the project will be carried out the following activities and elaborated the following deliverables:
Local pilot projects about:
Update and translation of an existing handbook about pedelecs into the project languages
Market assessment and survey among citizens, retailers and municipial decision makers
Building a network of municipial experts concerning pedelecs and how to promote and integrate them into local transport policy
Press / About the project
