For Delivery Workers in Latin America, Affordable E-Bikes Are a Superpower

Post by itishappy » Wed, Mar 19, 2025, 1:46 PM UTC

luma wrote: post #40

kibwen wrote: post #31

For this use case you really care about reducing the lifetime total cost of ownership, which means making the bike as reliable, serviceable, and repairable as possible. I love e-bikes, but IME they have a long way to go to get to same level as normal bikes in this regard. It's good that the bikes in the article are locally-built, but I'd like to know whether or not they emphasize using standardized parts with high av…

Do you deliver packages in a tropical climate? If the answer is no, maybe you have a different use case than the people in the article. Being able to make it through the day might carry more significance for these users than being able to tear the thing down without any electrical knowledge. HN in a nutshell - you see an article full of first-hand reports of the users and their use case and your immediate reaction is…

Post by citiguy » Wed, Mar 19, 2025, 2:09 PM UTC

sevensor wrote: post #39

brokenmachine wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Australia too. They don't follow any road rules and ride on the footpaths at insane speeds. They're not actually legal - I believe the law is that if they can go over 17kph without pedalling then they must be registered, have indicators, etc. But nobody seems to do anything about it. I guess some elderly pedestrians must die before something is done.

An elderly pedestrian I know was recently struck by a car. Compound fractures, dislocated joints. He’s looking at a long recovery and a pile of medical bills, because the driver was barely insured and in the US we’re somehow fine with that. So it comes down to momentum transfer, and I’d much rather he’d have been struck by an e bike.

Post by citiguy » Wed, Mar 19, 2025, 2:11 PM UTC

andrepd wrote: post #41

brokenmachine wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Australia too. They don't follow any road rules and ride on the footpaths at insane speeds. They're not actually legal - I believe the law is that if they can go over 17kph without pedalling then they must be registered, have indicators, etc. But nobody seems to do anything about it. I guess some elderly pedestrians must die before something is done.

That is because there are millions of kms of roads for cars and virtually 0 for bikes. Plus cars kill thousands of people every day , and we just sort of accept it as a natural fact of life. Why is a bike going 20kph suddenly a problem?

Post by mock-possum » Wed, Mar 19, 2025, 2:23 PM UTC

rob74 wrote: post #59

So, a 50 year old former "business manager in a government role" is now working as a delivery worker in Colombia, and the fact that the company gave him a loan for an e-bike (they didn't even provide it to him!) is listed as a "reason to be cheerful"?! I swear this is the most depressing thing I read this week so far, and that's something if you consider how depressing the news has been recently...

Post by JKCalhoun » Wed, Mar 19, 2025, 2:56 PM UTC

rurban wrote: post #55

JKCalhoun wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the scooter is going to be the winner in the U.S. People not used to biking are averse to being unable to sit and have both feet solidly on the ground at a stop. And it will also be a "cargo" scooter because carrying things.

Just that the e-scooter batteries last much shorter than the e-bike batteries. And they won't work in colder temperatures. Typically 2 years only. E-bike batteries last much longer.