
Published on
25 August 2023
Haters are everywhere, but Bring them on. Let’s convert them to Electric!
The Internet nowadays is a great tool to connect to peers, but expressing our opinions could cause hate speech, which is different from feedback.
Our CEO, Felipe Rodrigues, answered Kev in the most polite way he knows and used all his EV Tech arguments to defeat the hater and push Ebikes and EVs one step further!
This is the post that attracted Kev to our page:
This is Kev’s message, it reads:
“You go your way, we’ll go ours. Tell me , what is the point of having a bicycle with an electric motor ? Surely , the whole ethos of riding is to keep fit . Not be dragged around by a motor and battery which needs to be charged on the national grid. My vehicle may be also a green denier, but I start it at the beginning of my journey, and turn it off when I arrive. It doesn’t have to recharge overnight, nor are it’s batteries likely to overheat and cause an expensive, damaging fire. Not to mention potential loss if life.
Now, these damned bikes streak along our pavements, 40klms per hour in heavy foot traffic. That’s good, isn’t it. You can’t hear them, they rip past before you are aware of the danger….and worst still , there are operators of these machines out there, who are so arrogant and self entitled, I wonder if they have any empathy for anyone. And you blokes think you are doing the environment a service ! Well, that’s just as arrogant too.”
As you can read, Kev is not happy, but we understand him. He grew up in a world with no other alternatives to commuting. Eventually, he hasn’t caught up with recent technologies and updated data about pollution caused by the productive cycle of fossil fuels.
Now see how Felipe answered Kev:
“Let’s meet in the same way because, in the end, we are all on the same planet.
- “What is the point of having a bicycle with an electric motor?” R: With an electric motor, the cyclist can travel further and maintain a higher average speed, allowing people to cycle more days of the week. Some can replace their car with an ebike and save the money and time of their lives. Suppose you still need to be more open to this art piece of technology. In that case, I leave you with this analogy: Why have internet, camera and text message on a mobile phone if the main functionality is to make phone calls?
- “Not be dragged around by a motor and battery which needs to be charged on the national grid.” R: There are three ways of exercising on an ebike: A. riding with zero electrical assistance, the bike will be a bit heavier than a regular bike, which is suitable for exercising, and the rider still has the dashboard with odometer, speedometer and many safety items like front and rear lights and brake lights. B. Riding at maximum power and trying to go as fast as possible is good for cardio and training reaction time. C. Going for long rides, crossing 10-15 suburbs while on a regular bicycle, one could only cross 3-5 suburbs in the same timeframe.
- “My vehicle may also be a green denier, but I start it at the beginning of my journey and turn it off when I arrive. It doesn’t have to recharge overnight, nor are its batteries likely to overheat and cause an expensive, damaging fire.” R: If your car is petrol-powered, you must consider where your oil comes from. Australia imports 100% of its oil from overseas, which means we have less than 3 weeks of oil in land as reserves; if there’s a war, Australians could be at extreme risk of extinction if the oil stops arriving at our ports. To extract-transport-refine-transport to final consumers, your petrol vehicle produces 100x more emissions and environmental damage than you might think you’re causing in your daily drives. Your car’s refuelling and oil changes have caused many oil spills and environmental damage. Also, the dispute over oil has created many wars, and petrol prices are low because government subsidies account for 10 billion AUD per year. All appliances in your home are electric, your computer is electric, the lifts in buildings are electric, the train is electric, your mobile phone is electric and we don’t see many things catching fire, isn’t it? Have a look at data of petrol vehicles catching fire vs. electric vehicles catching fire; you will see that there are more petrol vehicle fires than electric vehicles in a proportional rate (fires/vehicle sold). Look at the benefits of EVs; with 1 standard solar panel (200Wp), one could be self-sufficient with their electric bicycle that’s less than 1m² on their roof. Someone will have electricity for their ebike for 25 years. For an E-car, we would need about 30 similar panels; that’s why ebikes are great; they are so efficient and require less material to manufacture and to top up their batteries. For example, we estimate that 1 SUV could manufacture about 150 E-bikes in raw materials and energy to manufacture the components. Isn’t it saving the environment?
- “Now, these damned bikes streak along our pavements, 40klms per hour in heavy foot traffic. That’s good, isn’t it? You can’t hear them; they rip past before you are aware of the danger….and worst still, there are operators of these machines out there who are so arrogant and self-entitled, I wonder if they have any empathy for anyone.” R: We discourage people from riding on the footpath, and you have to see the cyclists’ side, too; the cars do not respect cyclists, and the government wants cyclists to cycle on the road. A road bike ridden by a weekend cyclist can easily keep up at 40km/h, so that’s not an ebike-related issue, but cycling in general. About being arrogant and self-entitled, have you ever considered that people are driving cars that weigh 2000kg or more, that have hundreds of horsepower, that are extremely loud like sports cars and motorbikes, that their cars occupy 10m² when on the road, that each car only carries 1 driver in most vehicles on weekday trips and that all those drivers are not aware how their oil arrives in their fuel tank? Moreover, road rage incidents are all over the internet; type it, and you will see. Most of them are caused by people in cars; why are they so stressed? Why are they arrogant and self-entitled, thinking they can block traffic and assault others? We think people would live better driving smaller and lighter vehicles and exercising while they commute; those are two things an ebike can do and will certainly reduce the stress of living in the city.
- “And you blokes think you are doing the environment a service! Well, that’s just as arrogant, too.” R: We understand your viewpoint because we at the office also have our driver’s licence, and we have had cars in the past. However, you’ve never ridden an electric bicycle, and your viewpoint shows it. When you jump to this side of the fence, you will see how much brighter, less stressful, lower commuting costs and healthier life can be. You might deem this greener invitation arrogant, but it is not an ignorant thing. When you permit yourself to experiment with an electric bicycle, Cyberbikes will be here next to you.”
Until now, Kev hasn’t replied to our post.
Hope he comes for a test ride very soon.
If you know a better way to reply to a hater, please leave it in the comments below. We’d love to hear your feedback.