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Word. Many years ago when I started commuting by bike, parking at my workplace (a major university) was $1300 a year. That was a new bike every year. In terms of e-bikes, we avoiding have to own a 2nd car and rarely use the one.

These are all top-market bikes. The are huge number of lower cost rivals making good bikes too. Look around. Yuba makes good bikes that fill the same niches as Terns do, but are far more affordable. Like their Kombi.
yubabikes.com/product/komb...

urbanarrow.com/family-bikes...

Urban Arrow makes much more affordable bakfiets type bikes. Still pricey, but more accessible and very practical.

www.bikeride.com/riese-muller...

I test rode one of Reise and Mueller's bakfiets style bikes. Sweet ride that comes at a steep cost. If you live in a compact place like, say, Ann Arbor, Monterey, any number of US college towns, this bike will completely replace car. So cost might be worth it.

What else could you get? Tern offers an offroad cargo e-bike. If it was out when I was shopping for an e-bike, I would have gotten one of these.
www.ternbicycles.com/us/bikes/471...

This is a fast, Class 3 bike that carries a lot of gear. However, the bike makes compromises to be both a fast commuter and a cargo bike. R&M is kinda like RR in the car world. Fun to ride and quite practical.

I'm picked out a Reise & Mueller Multicharger.
www.r-m.de/en-us/bikes/...

This is an enormously practical bike. Meaning it's actually quite a large machine. However, that size means you can carry a ton of stuff. It's comfortable to ride with an upright position that offers excellent visibility. It turns really tight and handles well in confine spaces.

Even if you keep your car, the savings could pay back the cost of a high-end bike in just a couple of years. If you replace your car, you come out ahead right there. Plus, even with an e-bike, you transportation time is also fitness time. And that reaps massive rewards.

What's the advantage? In economic terms, you're not spending as much as you would to get a car. You save on gas (though less than you'd think). The bigger savings usually come from insurance, avoided parking fees, lower maintenance costs.

Our frames are convention designs. The one pictured in the article is what's known as a bakfiets bike. That's Dutch for "box bike" describes these very well. You put kids, cargo, small adults into the box and get around town with ease.

Our bikes are larger, cargo carrying bikes. Mine can carry about 100 lbs in panniers right up to a max speed of 28 mph. My wife's can carry about 200lbs at a max speed of 20 mph. Let's be honest. In LA, when are you ever gonna break 20 mph car. Traffic is often just bad even if I'm joking.

The middle market these days will deliver equivalent bikes for less than 3/4 of the price we paid. The industry is innovating at a breakneck pace. ABS braking is now becoming standard on high end e-bikes.

My wife and I purchased e-bikes a few years back and they have changed our lives. We purchased at the top of market spending over $7000 each. Meanwhile, a solid used car these days is going to run $15,000 to $20,000.

Oh my god, they're huge! I think some of my neighbors have smaller dogs. The rats are also much cuter.

S&Ms

I have studiously avoided using AI for coding. And other things. Plus, I'm not much for coding these days. I'm an economist who knows how to automate analysis with things like R and Python. The Netlogo stuff was for a project that never got funded. We were going to model social behavior.