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Electric Bicycle Sales Surge

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By TONY MARRERO Hernando Today

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 28, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - BROOKSVILLE - A man in his 50s walked into the Wal-Mart on Broad Street recently and walked out as one of the first people in the county to buy an electric bicycle from the retail giant.

"He said he wanted another means of transportation," recalled Bill Rodriguez, a co-manager of the store. "When I wheeled the bike out I saw what he meant. He had a brand new Lincoln Navigator."
Electric bicycles have been around for years, but were mainly considered a novelty and could be bought through just a few retail stores or on the Web. But as gas prices climb, the bicycles are going mainstream.

One clear sign: They've hit the Wal-Mart sales floor.

The E-Zip Mountain Trailz can be had for $350. It's a standard 26-inch bicycle, in women's or men's models, with a battery mounted over the rear wheel and connected to the drivetrain.

A rider can move the 65-pound bike by pedaling, or flip a switch to go to battery power, twist the throttle on the handlebar and cruise along at speeds up to 18 miles without pedaling a stroke. It comes with one battery and can cover 15 miles without help from the rider, or some 25 miles when the rider puts in some pedaling effort, according to the manufacturer.

The bike can hold two batteries to double that range. An extra battery cost about $100.

The batteries can be recharged by plugging into a standard wall socket.

Rodriguez saw the bike at a Wal-Mart in Louisiana, talked it over with his toy department manager Heather Kelly and decided to order some.

They received four and sold the two men's models within a week, Kelly said. They expect a shipment of 10 more soon. The Broad Street store is the first - and so far, only - of the 14 stores in its district to offer the bikes, Rodriguez said.

The bikes are on back order now.

"We got lucky," Kelly said.

The manufacturer, Currie Technologies of California, decided about a year ago to test sales in about 10 percent of Wal-Mart stores, said company president Larry Pizzi.

Now Currie is having trouble keeping up with the demand, Pizzi said.

"They have been hot," said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien. "We're working on getting more in as soon as we can."

The company has produced electric bicycles since it was founded 11 years ago, but "it's only been this summer with the spike of gas prices that sales have really taken off," Pizzi said.

Americans haven't ridden bicycles to get from one place to another like Europeans, where gas prices have been higher for years and bike paths are abundant.

But in America, "people are viewing these things differently now," Pizzi said. "The bike is much more of a commuting vehicle now."

Currie sold some 35,000 electric bicycles last year, he said. This year, the company is on pace to double that.

The company sells bikes from $350 price point up to $3,000. The drive train technology across the spectrum is virtually the same, he said. On more expensive models, the bicycles and components are higher quality, he said.

Another key difference: Models with price tags higher than about $1,500 have lithium ion batteries that are about a third of the weight and last four times as long, Pizz said.

The biggest jump in sales is at the lower price points, he said.

The bicycles can be ridden in recreational areas where motorized vehicles are prohibited, such as the Suncoast Trail. But Pizzi said many of his customers are using the bike not for recreation, but for transportation.

Rodriguez at the Broad Street Wal-Mart said the Navigator driver who bought his $350 bike would be using his bike to visit friends and get to a nearby horseshoe pit without having to climb into his big SUV.

"He said he spends that much on month's worth of gas," Rodriguez said.

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

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