“I was telling my good friend, Joan Groizard (General Director of IDAE), that now an electric bicycle – something that is difficult for me to understand – costs the same as an electric motorcycle. If we do not help from the Government's point of view to ensure that the purchase option is the bicycle, what we are going to find – which do not actually have such a positive effect on cycling mobility – are low-quality electric motorcycles on the streets of Our city”.
This statement that you can hear at this link and that was delivered by Álvaro Fernández, SG of Sustainable Mobility, of the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, during the Presentation of the 2024 Bicycle Sector Report on Friday, June 14, is the most evident example of that at the head of one of the most important ministries in our country, the priorities are not clear.
It is not easy to understand such a gratuitous attack by a public official on a sector as important to the Spanish economy as the motorcycle, and on a solution as important to reduce pollution in cities as the electric motorcycle. It is also not easy to understand the harassment and demolition that the sector receives time and time again from institutions, not only leaving motorcycles out of plans, but publicly despising them.
Perhaps this is the last straw that has broken the camel's back for a ministry, that of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, which instead of going unnoticed as it should and doing a good job in silence, is always on the front pages.
Our road network needs obvious improvements in maintenance, public transport is collapsed, with daily problems, the roads are saturated and the cities are full of pollution, but the best option politicians have is to attack cheap electric motorcycles saying that they are of low quality.
The most affordable electric motorcycles are not of poor quality and in the midst of the Spanish Government's attack on hoaxes that misinform, promoting it themselves is something they should avoid.
And this nuance is the most important, because Fernández (who has not rectified for the moment) talks about how a bicycle is expensive and that is why people choose cheap motorcycles.
Well, the cheap motorcycles that are on the market pass a series of controls and approvals that bicycles do not pass, they have insurance, which bicycles do not have, they have a load capacity that bicycles do not have and security systems that They don't have bicycles either. In addition, their range of action is much greater and, like bicycles, they do not emit those gases that are flying over cities.
Furthermore, another very important point is “help the consumer” to buy bicycles. This point is even more overwhelming, since the motorcycle sector generates other added economic investments (maintenance, equipment, insurance, driving licenses or permits, circulation taxes…) that the bicycle does not. So, if we stay only on an economic level, it is also much better that the streets are full of electric motorcycles rather than bicycles.
And all this without mentioning the most important point, that of citizens freely choosing the means of transport that best suits them based on their needs. And an electric bicycle can be a good solution for a short trip, but in large cities or for those who come from the periphery they are implantable.
In short, a lack of rigor, common sense and a display of ignorance at best that the economical electric motorcycle does not deserve. Spanish companies are working hard to offer the best possible options at competitive prices.
Perhaps what Mr. Fernández and, incidentally, Minister Puente, should consider if they want to encourage the use of electric bicycles is the reason behind such high prices. Because let's recognize that the bicycle bubble is worthy of study. Another former minister who was always in all the sauces already said it “it's the market, friend.”
