Glitches, lack of funds derail lower-income e-bike program

Amid a statewide push to take cars off the road and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, California embraced a novel alternative: electric bicycles.

- BY KAREN GARCIA

Photographs by CARLIN STIEHL For The Times BRIANA VILLAVERDE, who secured an e-bike voucher, rides in Compton.

The thinking went that the devices, which have grown increasingly popular in recent years, would give residents a feasible alternative to driving to work, the grocery store, or to visit relatives.

To offset the cost of the e-bikes, which can run in the thousands of dollars, the state launched a generous voucher program—one that heavily subsidized, and in some cases completely offset, the purchase price. Demand soared.

That’s when the problems began.

Vouchers were quickly snatched up. A website set up to manage applications crashed amid heavy demand.

Despite wide public interest, the program quietly and abruptly ended last year - a victim, in some ways, of its own success.

Now the state is pivoting, leaving cycling advocates disappointed and those who were able to snag e-bike vouchers counting their lucky stars.

Briana Villaverde was one of about 2,300 Californians who secured a state-funded voucher that reduced the out-of-pocket cost for her Urtopia e-bike.

The 26-year-old Paramount resident relies on her ride to get to the L.A. Metro A Line in Compton as part of her daily work commute. Her bright yellow two-wheeler would often turn heads.

That attention would turn to intrigue when she explained that the sweet ride had only set her back $90.

“There is this program,” she would tell admirers. “Whip out your phone.”

The California Air Resources Board began the California E-Bike Incentive Project in 2022 with the goal of lowering cost barriers to e-bikes, which use electric motors to propel riders along faster and easier than a normal pedal-powered bike.