A bicycle that is as reliable as a car.
I bought a top of the line cargo ebike from a German manufacturer that cost half as much as a cheap new car. It needs scheduled maintenance every 2000km. After 5000km the entire drivetrain needed to be replaced, the front brake completely failed when temperatures dropped below freezing, the motor sometimes cut out due to a firmware bug in the controller and the suspension seatpost broke when I rode down a curb.
Imagine any car having safety-critical faults like that after 5000km.
My e-bike (Onyx RCR, basically a motorcycle) hasn’t needed anything of the sort. So it might be either a specific manufacturer thing and/or a cargo bike thing. I can imagine them using regular bike parts even though it’s taking way more weight/stress.
For pedal bikes, they can be that reliable if you want to pay for it:
hub gearbox (a rohloff gets 100,000km minimum)
decent belt drive (30,000km)
solid tires get 5,000km. Not as good as car tires but there’s a reason; any additional durability will add noticeable drag/weight. Super thick e-bike tires could probably get 70,000km like a car
A bicycle that is as reliable as a car.
I bought a top of the line cargo ebike from a German manufacturer that cost half as much as a cheap new car. It needs scheduled maintenance every 2000km. After 5000km the entire drivetrain needed to be replaced, the front brake completely failed when temperatures dropped below freezing, the motor sometimes cut out due to a firmware bug in the controller and the suspension seatpost broke when I rode down a curb.
Imagine any car having safety-critical faults like that after 5000km.
My e-bike (Onyx RCR, basically a motorcycle) hasn’t needed anything of the sort. So it might be either a specific manufacturer thing and/or a cargo bike thing. I can imagine them using regular bike parts even though it’s taking way more weight/stress.
For pedal bikes, they can be that reliable if you want to pay for it: