Recently, I hit a major milestone on my Urban Arrow electric cargo bike – I crossed the 5,000-mile mark on it! I bought this bike in October 2022 as a car replacement vehicle, primarily to get my kids around. When I got this bike, my second child was just about to be born and I needed a way to transport two kids. We’re a one-car household and my wife needs the car to get to work out in the suburbs, so the choice was either to get a second car (which most people would have done) or go for an electric cargo bike.
As regular readers of this blog know, I’m all about ebikes and their massive financial benefits. So of course, instead of dropping $20k or more on a used car (or way more than that if I went with a new car), I opted for the cargo bike.
And let me tell, you, this cargo bike has been a complete game-changer for me. Not only has the cargo bike been a ton of fun to use, but it’s also saved me a huge amount of money compared to getting a car. And it’s opened my eyes to how insanely useful an electric cargo bike can be.
This wasn’t a cheap bike either. While there are less expensive cargo bikes out there, I went with a higher-end model, which ended up costing me $9,000. I know, crazy. And yet, despite this seemingly insanely high initial price tag, this bike will still be one of the best financial decisions I’ve ever made.
All that being said, one thing I wanted to do was track how much this bike has cost me over those 5,000 miles to get a sense of how expensive it is to keep an electric cargo bike running. I use this bike like a car, so as you can probably tell, it gets a lot of miles on it. But how much does it cost? Let’s take a look.
Cost of My Cargo Bike After 5,000 Miles
The nice thing about an ebike is that the costs are pretty easy to track. The biggest costs are the initial purchase price of the bike, plus ongoing maintenance (things like replacing brakes, changing tires, etc).
Refueling costs with an electric bike are a bit harder to track, but the cost of charging an ebike battery is, in my view, insignificant – measured in cents per day. Even if you charged a battery from 0% to 100% every single day, you’d be looking at monthly charging costs of a few dollars per month. And since most people aren’t charging their battery from 0% every day, the cost is generally going to be less. It’s even less if you’re sometimes charging for free outside of your house (such as at work or in coffee shops). For purposes of my expenses, I treat charging costs as nothing, but if you want to be more accurate about how much the bike costs, you can add $30 to $50 per year in electricity costs.
So how much did I spend on my bike? I tracked the cost of my ebike over the 5,000 miles that I’ve ridden it so far, which spans the end of 2022, all of 2023, and through now in 2024.
1. Total Spent In 2022
For 2022, my bike costs came out to $9,583.40. Here’s what that consisted of:
- Initial Purchase Price + Accessories (Car Seat Adapter, Rear Rack, and Rain Cover): $9,463.40
- Slipped Belt Drive Repair: $120
That initial cost is massive and I will admit that it’s far more than most people can or will (or even should) spend on a bike. I will say that if you can wrap your head around the fact that a cargo bike can be a full-fledged car replacement, the initial purchase cost becomes much more bearable – and even a massive bargain perhaps.
After that initial purchase cost, I also ended up with a maintenance issue where the belt drive came off the bike while I was riding and I had to bring it to a nearby bike shop to get it fixed. Belt drives aren’t the same as a normal bike chain that you’re probably familiar with and the bike mechanic at the shop didn’t really know how to work on it, but gave it a shot. He did fix it for me, but I ended up having to pay for his time, which is why it ended up costing so much.
If you want to see what happened, below is a video from last year when I was doing some DoorDash deliveries on my Urban Arrow, and the bike broke down while I was riding.
2. Total Spent In 2023
For 2023, the total I spent on the bike was $1,068.89. I spent $747.30 on repairs and replacement parts and $321.59 on accessories. Here’s the breakdown of my bike costs for 2023:
- Tune-Up (including replacing brakes and rotors and buying a new front tire): $389.50
- Flat Tires: $34.88
- Shifter Cable Repair: $33.46
- Brake Line Repair + Rear Brake Pad and Rotor Replacement + Replace Brake Cable: $224.56
- Rear Pad Replacement: $64.90
- Front Bench + Install: $321.59
Admittedly, some of these things, specifically replacing the brake pads, could be done myself, but I’ve essentially opted to treat my cargo bike like a car and have it professionally maintained.
The brake pads are a particularly noticeable ongoing cost. Because my cargo bike is so heavy, it puts a lot of wear on the brake pads, especially the rear pads. With my riding style and the mileage I put on my bikes, I typically have to replace them every 3 months.
Some of the other maintenance issues in 2023 were my own doing. For example, the brake line repair happened because I had my backpack hanging on the side of the bike and one of the straps got wrapped around the rear wheel. There was a metal part on the strap and it cut right through the brake line. Since they’re hydraulic disc brakes and the bike is a weird shape, replacing them can be a bit of a chore.
Finally, I bought the front bench accessory for my bike since my youngest son is old enough not to need to sit in the car seat anymore. The bench was $300 and increased the seating capacity of my Urban Arrow from two kids to four kids. Since I don’t need the car seat adapter anymore, I might try to sell that and get some return on it.
3. Total Spent In 2024 (So Far)
We’re still early into 2024, so I don’t have a lot of maintenance costs yet. Here’s what I’ve done so far:
- Warranty Replacement of Rain Cover: $0
- Rear Brake Pad and Rotor Replacement: $116.59
Again, I run through these rear brake pads quickly, so I had to get those replaced, as well as the rotor recently (every 3 months or about 1,000 miles is the schedule I’m on now).
The rain cover was replaced under warranty because it got a rip in it. I was able to send the pictures of it to my bike shop and they worked with Urban Arrow on the warranty claim. That claim was approved pretty quickly and I received a replacement rain cover at no charge.
I’m planning to bring the bike in for a tuneup as well, which will probably cost me around $200 for the tuneup and the replacement parts I’ll probably need.
So since I bought the cargo bike, I’ve spent a total of $10,768.88. The total cost of the bike and accessories was $9,784.99. For maintenance, I’ve spent $983.89 over those 5,000 miles and 15 months. That comes out to $65.59 per month in maintenance costs.
My Cargo Bike Can Replace Almost All Of My Normal Trips
The initial purchase price for my bike seems insane – and I will freely admit that I think a bike like this is going to be out of reach for most people. I do think it’s important to note that a lot of people, including people who shouldn’t be buying nice cars, can still purchase expensive cars because car financing is so easy to get.
The facts bear this out. The average new car buyer paid over $48,000 for a new car in the past year. Meanwhile, the median household income in the US was about $74,000. I know that medians and averages aren’t quite the same measurement, but I couldn’t find the median car price in the US and this information still does tell us something – that people spend a lot of money on cars and are only able to do so because they can finance it. When you think about it, someone with an expensive bike like mine demonstrates they have more money than someone in a luxury SUV since a bike can’t be easily financed while a car can.
Anyway, I know comparing a bike and a car might seem like comparing apples to oranges, but I can tell you that based on my experience, an electric cargo bike can replace almost all of the trips someone in a normal city doing normal things would do. This includes getting kids to school, picking up groceries, going to parks and restaurants, and visiting friends. It can even handle specialty tasks like moving furniture or picking up a Christmas tree.
Here’s a video of me carrying $200 worth of groceries from Costco last summer in my electric cargo bike:
And I’ve even carried weird things like furniture and Christmas Trees. In fact, picking up the Christmas Tree with my cargo bike was so easy it was almost disappointing how anti-climatic it was.
In fact, in some instances, having a cargo bike can even be the only way to get kids around. Not too long ago, we were watching my nieces for the weekend, which meant we had four kids in the house. Our car only seats 5 people and can’t possibly fit 3 car seats in it. But with our cargo bike and another bike with a trailer, my wife and I could transport 4 children around in a way we couldn’t do with our one car.
One big thing about a front-loader cargo bike is that it makes it so you don’t have to think too much about how to carry stuff. With a normal bike (or even a longtail cargo bike) I have to think about how I’m going to hold stuff on my bike. But with my cargo bike, I can go to the grocery store and all I have to do is put my groceries directly into my bike.
And I think it bears emphasizing that I’m not saying to never drive a car again. What I am saying is that cargo bikes like the one I have can do almost everything your typical car can at a fraction of the price to purchase and operate. Even if the initial purchase price for my cargo bike is expensive, it isn’t expensive when you think of it as a real mode of transportation and not as an expensive toy.
Final Thoughts
So that’s a look at what I’ve spent so far to maintain my electric cargo bike. I’ve talked about the financial benefits of ebikes before in this post (An Ebike Could Be The Best Investment You Ever Make) and how this single purchase can make you a millionaire.
When you consider the average cost of car ownership these days is somewhere between $7,000 and $10,000 (and AAA put it at over $12,000 per year in a recent study), my cargo bike can pay for itself in just one year if I use it as a car replacement. Those extra savings, meanwhile, can go towards more important goals.
I’m continuing to keep records of how much this bike costs, so I’ll probably put out another update after 7,500 miles and 10,000 miles. With how much I’m riding, it won’t be long until I hit those next milestones.
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More Recommended Ebike/Scooters
Check out these other ebikes and scooters I've reviewed:
- Urban Arrow Ebike – Last year, I made one of the largest purchases I’ve ever made – I bought a $9,000 electric cargo bike from Urban Arrow. In my Urban Arrow review, I will discuss what it is and why I decided to buy this bike, as well as discuss how impactful a bike like this can be on your journey to financial independence.
- Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Ebike – The Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is a fat-tire ebike that I’ve had the pleasure of riding for a while now. It has amazing power, great looks, and awesome range. If you’re looking for a great fat-tire ebike that offers a lot for the price, the Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is definitely one for you to consider. Check out my Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Review.
- Hovsco HovBeta Ebike – The HovBeta is a folding ebike with great specs and a lot of interesting features, and importantly, it’s sold at a good price point. I’ve had a blast commuting with it and using it to do deliveries with DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. Check out my Hovsco HovBeta Ebike Review.
- Vanpowers Manidae Ebike – The Vanpowers Manidae is a fat tire ebike that I’ve been riding as my primary winter commuting bike and have also been using it to do food delivery with apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. After clocking in a decent number of miles with this ebike, I wanted to write a post sharing what my experience with the Vanpowers Manidae ebike has been like. Check out my Vanpowers Manidae Review.
- Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding EBike Review – A Great Value Folding Ebike – The Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding Ebike is an entry-level folding ebike that offers a lot of value for the price point. I’ve been riding the Sohamo S3 for a while now, putting the bike through its paces, and I have to say, this bike has exceeded all of my expectations. Check out my Sohamo Review.
- KBO Flip Ebike – The KBO Flip is an excellent bike. I’ve had a great time riding it and think it’s a versatile bike that can be used for a lot of purposes and can fit a variety of lifestyles. It’s worked out great for me as a general commuter bike and as a food delivery bike. Check out my KBO Flip Review.
- Hiboy P7 Commuter Ebike – The Hiboy P7 is an excellent electric commuter bike that’s offered at an affordable price point. The range and speed of this bike are both very good, so you won’t have any trouble getting anywhere you need to go with it. As a food delivery vehicle, this is also good – with how much range it offers, you’ll be able to work all day on a single charge. Check out my Hiboy P7 Commuter Electric Bike Review.
- Himiway Escape Ebike – The Himiway Escape is an interesting bike for anyone looking for a moped-style ebike. If you’re a gig economy worker, the Himiway Escape is particularly interesting and it’s possible to think of it as an investment, especially if you can opt to do deliveries with the Himiway versus using a car. It’s not cheap, but you can definitely make your money back when you compare the mileage you’ll put on your car versus using an ebike. Check out my Himiway Escape Bike Review.
- Espin Sport Ebike – The Espin Sport is a good ebike for someone who is looking for an ebike that feels and rides more like a regular bike. There are many ebikes that are really only bikes in name. In reality, they’re basically electric mopeds. The Espin Sport, by contrast, is a bike you could probably ride without the battery and you’d feel like you’re just riding a regular bike. Check out my Espin Sport Review.
- Varla Eagle One Scooter – The Varla Eagle One is an excellent scooter that can make sense for a lot of people. It can work as a primary mode of transportation. You can use it to work on gig economy apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. And it can also be a recreational vehicle if you’d prefer to use it for that. Check out my Varla Eagle One Review.
- Varla Falcon Scooter – The Varla Falcon is an excellent scooter that offers a good amount of power at a lower price point compared to more powerful scooters. It’s not exactly an entry-level scooter, nor is it a high-powered scooter. I think it fits somewhere in-between those two categories – an intermediate scooter if I had to give it a category. Check out my Varla Falcon Review.
- Hiboy S2 Scooter – The Hiboy S2 is an excellent entry-level commuter scooter that's perfect for someone looking to save some money in transportation costs and improve their commute. Check out my Hiboy S2 Review.
- Hiboy S2R Scooter – The Hiboy S2R is one of the more interesting electric scooters I’ve been able to test out. It’s not a high-powered scooter, but for an everyday transport option, it’s very useful, especially given some of the unique features that it has. Indeed, for the price, the Hiboy S2R might be the best value scooter I’ve used. Check out my Hiboy S2R Review.
- Fucare H3 Scooter – The Fucare H3 is a fun scooter and I’ve enjoyed testing it out. For a daily commuter or quick trips or errands, the Fucare H3 is probably the scooter I’ll use. It’s portable and easy to maneuver, so it’s just easier to take on the road when I need it. Check out my Fucare H3 Scooter Review.
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- Ally Bank ($100) – Of all the banks out there, Ally is, without a doubt, my favorite. At the moment, Ally is offering $100 to customers who open an eligible Ally account and meet the requirements. Here are the step-by-step directions to earn your Ally Bank referral bonus.
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Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.
Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.
Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:
- SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account with a referral link, and an additional $300 if you complete a direct deposit.
- 5% Savings Accounts. I'm currently getting 5.24% interest on my savings through a company called Raisin. Opening a Raisin account takes minutes to complete, it's free, and all of your funds are FDIC-insured. I explain how it works, why I'm now using it to store my emergency fund and any other cash savings I have, and why I recommend everyone check it out in this review.
- US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $800 signup bonus after opening a new account and meeting certain requirements.
- M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account.
- Empower. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps I use to track my financial accounts.
Feel free to send Kevin a message here.
In an indirect way, you’ve touched upon the main downside to using an ebike in California – safety.
There’s no way that I’m going to risk injury and death to myself by driving an ebike on public streets.
Mission Viejo has dedicated bike lanes on most all city streets and and numerous limited access bike paths.
However, I’d be loath to travel on any bicycle with people travelling at 50 miles per hour only a few feet away from me.
Also, the cost/benefit ratio depends on how much driving you do and how long you keep your car.
I purchase vehicles new and since I only drive about 3,000 miles a year keep them for an average of 15 to 20 years.
As a result of this, my annual costs are probably half of that $7,000 average cost of owning a vehicle.
For the safety and convenience of having a car I don’t find an ebike an attractive alternative to a car (it does rain here).
That being said, I applaud you on your frugality.
I made a lot of money as an IT consultant.
But, I didn’t spend it all on frivolous things.
I have a nice house, a nice car in a nice PUD, in a nice city.
So, I didn’t scrimp on things in life.
I had the means to go big, but I didn’t.
I’m retired now.
And, because I didn’t spend as much or more than I earned, I have a nice 401K for my retirement.
All things in moderation.
Out of curiosity, if you’re only driving your car 3,000 miles per year, or about 8 miles per day, wouldn’t that be faster and cheaper on an ebike than in a car? It sounds like most of your trips must be only a mile or two, which I guarantee an ebike is going to be faster or at a minimum, maybe a minute or two slower. It only takes me about 4 minutes to bike a mile on my ebike.
Even if you’re driving so little and spending little on your cars because of how little you use them, you’re still spending, by your own numbers, $3,500 a year to drive 8 miles per day on average? One ebike costs less than that. Given how little you drive, wouldn’t you save more money by biking the short distances you seem to travel and using an Uber or rental car for the times when you do need to drive far? Would you really be spending $290 per month on Ubers and rental cars given how little you seemingly drive?
That being said, the infrastructure issues are very real, but that’s a failure of your city, not the fault of the bike. Forcing people to buy a car just to be able to feed themselves and participate in society seems like a failure of infrastructure, not that the car is superior for every trip.
Thanks for posting this, I’m a big e-cargo bike fan myself and plan to get one someday soon.
Have you thought about including the income from ubereats/doordash in this analysis? Since you use the bike for those deliveries I’m sure the maintenance costs are elevated, but would be curious to see the profit made on deliveries after subtracting out maintenance costs. (How to include the purchase price of the bike in the profit analysis is a whole other topic, but at least you’re not burning gas delivering a can of red bull in a $30k car!!)
Yeah, I definitely think that you can make back your money on an ebike with doing deliveries. I’m not sure how I would put it into my analysis, but I would say the cost of operating my bike is substantially less than what I make doing deliveries (i.e. if I bike 1 mile and make 4 bucks, I know it doesn’t cost me anywhere close to that to bike 1 mile.
I didn’t get my Cargo Bike for doing DoorDash and Uber Eats, so the way I see it, anything I make from deliveries is a bonus. If I made $9,000 bucks doing DoorDash and stuff with my bike, I’d probably tell myself I paid off the bike with that money.
One thing I did notice is I need to get new rear brake pads basically every 1,000 miles (or about every 3 months). That pads themselves are $34, labor is $15, so about $50 to install them. If I don’t replace them quickly enough and it thins out my rotor, then I have to replace the rotor too, which costs $37 for the rotor and $20 for the install (so $57 to replace rotor). All together, that’s $116 after taxes every 1,000 miles or so. So about 11 cents per mile to operate my bike when it comes to replacing that rear pad. My front brake pads can last a year based on my experience so far.
That being said, looking at my numbers and the miles I’ve put in, it looks like it costs me 24 to 25 cents in maintenance costs per mile. So that’s actually more than I expected, although I did have a few random costs that kind of did me in in my first 5,000 miles, one of which was definitely my fault and cost me a decent amount.
Yeah bike infrastructure has a long way to go, even here in CA. You’ll be biking over an overpass and all of a sudden the bike lane disappears and you’re put inches away from a semi. Love the Christmas tree idea. How hard is it to find parking or lock it? And how much is insurance for it?
California is really maddening to me how bad the bike infrastructure is there because there’s really no excuse in places like LA or SF or SD where you have good biking weather year-round. My buddy lives in Mountain View and has an ebike, but is generally not that comfortable riding because of the huge streets and terrible bike infrastructure. Meanwhile, it’s basically 50 to 70 degrees there year round with no snow or ice ever. It should be a biking paradise.
For parking, it’s not a problem. I just use a big chain and lock it to whatever I find. The Urban Arrow has a wheel lock also so I can lock the wheel so it can’t move, and since it’s so big, it’s not really an attractive bike to target for theft. Also, my bike is rare enough that it really doesn’t have any resale value since there aren’t that many of these bikes around.
I don’t have specific bike insurance for it, although you can get bike insurance if you wanted. It’d be like $40 per month when I last checked the quotes. In any event, I don’t need specific bike insurance because my homeowners insurance should cover my bike as personal property since it doesn’t have a throttle (ebikes with throttles aren’t covered by home insurance because then they consider it more like a motorcycle).
Interesting comparison.
If I’m understanding it right this means
~$1100 per year for the bike
Vs
~$7000 per year for the car
Food for thought if your context matches.
Downside is when it rains a lot or is so hot you melt before you get to your destination.
It’s really a bogus comparison. That $7,000 a year is for a lot more miles than the ebike usage.
The more you drive, the more you spend on your car though. The car has a specific fixed cost, regardless of how many miles you drive. This includes the initial capital cost (which if stats tell us anything, averages close to $50,000 these days). The capital cost could either be paid upfront or, as is more common, via car payments (which averages over $700 per month). Then you also have insurance and registration. We’re looking at near $1000 a month in fixed costs based on what most people are doing. And that’s to just have the car. And don’t forget the parking, which you’re either paying for directly in the form of a parking spot where you live, or you’re paying for indirectly by needing to use part of your house as a garage (parking is not free, we all pay for it in some form).
Once you start driving, that adds fuel costs, maintenance, and of course, depreciation.
In contrast, the bike has one cost – the initial capital costs (which is far less than any car). Then if you never ride it, it doesn’t cost anything more. And then the maintenance is far cheaper. Even the depreciation is less because of how much less expensive it is compared to a cost. A 50% drop in value on a $50k truck means you lost $25k. A 50% drop in value on my insanely expensive cargo bike means I lost $4500.
I love this idea but this only works in urban areas and only in some circumstances.
For instance, I live only 6 miles away from work in a big city. However I have to be on highways for the most efficient route (biking requires a couple extra miles) and then cross a big bridge to get there, which closes at 9p to pedestrians and will mean I will be too late to take that way home- needing me to take a train and then bike a couple miles from there.
Taking 100% public transit isn’t a good option since it means if everything runs on time it takes 80-100 minutes depending on time of day. If I drive it’s 15-20 minutes.
I’m very very close so I can’t imagine what it would be like for people living in smaller cities/burbs let alone rural.
I wish our cities were designed better here in the states.
That’s really a shame. The car-centric design of where you live basically tells people that if they want to participate in society, they have to be willing to drop thousands of dollars every year for a car. Literally just to feed yourself. Households spend more on transportation (i.e. our cars) then we do on food.
I will note that with an ebike, taking less efficient routes isn’t so bad because you won’t get tired and hills and extra distances aren’t that big a deal.
Also, what’s up with this bridge that closes at 9pm? Like they put up a gate or something to stop people from crossing after 9pm?