In early 2023, I was riding my e-bike across Grand Rapids, Michigan.

It was below freezing and my eyes watered from the cold.

Snow started to fall.

“It still beats driving,” I thought.

A few months earlier, my wife and I found ourselves suddenly without a car.

(I crashed it.

No one was hurt.)

For a variety of reasons, we didn’t want to buy a new one.

So we didn’t.

Instead we turned to the much more manageable catalog ofe-bikesand bought a couple.

Since we weren’t planning on going carless, I hadn’t set many expectations for our experiment.

It held a lot of surprises, most of them good.

To avoid the worst effects ofclimate change, we need to stop burning fossil fuels – and fast.

Swapping your gas-powered car for anelectric vehicleis one such action.

Over their lifetimes,electric vehicles generate fewer carbon emissionsthan those powered by fossil fuels.

But even when you add up biking-related emissions (e.g.

Even beyond the climate implications there are reasons to shift from cars to bikes.

After years of decline,the rate of driving-related fatalities is rising.

Still, once we had our bikes, the benefits were many and surprising.

E-bikes recapture some of the joy I felt as a kid, when biking felt effortless and fast.

The involuntary whoops let out by newbies who try out my bike support that theory.

Cars are more expensive

Before switching to e-bikes, my family drove a 2003 Acura TL.

I admittedly didn’t track our bike expenses closely.

Alongside those one-time expenses, we pay for the electricity to keep them charged.

My bike’s battery size is 352 watt-hours.

That’s still much cheaper than the electric vehicle we bought after a year.

Our 2017Chevy Bolt, which has a new 66 kilowatt-hour battery, costs about $10.19 to charge fully.

We also got a free six-month checkup from the shop we bought from.

Routine maintenance would be an additional expense each year.

Exhaust, straight from the tailpipe to your lungs.

Research has found that tailpipe emissions are responsible forthousands of premature deaths each yearin the United States.

A couple of panniers worked for me, but I don’t have kids to drive around.

The same goes for your clothing, especially if you’ll be riding in inclement weather.

Stay safe with some high-visibility gear and a helmet, too.

It took me some time to find the routes I enjoyed most and felt safest.

With an e-bike it’s easy to opt for a slightly longer route that’s more pleasant.

Shift your shortest trips to your e-bike first.

Money is a great motivator for me.

CNET’s Liliana Hall found she couldsave $4,000 by swapping her car for a moped.

Look for deals, too.

We also happily paid our friends for the occasional use of their vehicles.

Just because you’ve ditched your car doesn’t mean you’ll never drive again.

You’ll just do it less, and probably be happier for it.