From The Telegram: It’s spooky, being on a two-wheeled transport that makes only a humming sound and requires no physical effort to keep up with late afternoon downtown St. John’s traffic. It gives the operator freedom to gawk around, and that’s what many of the adventurers who seek out Jasmine Kean’s Newfoundland Electric Bikes (www.nlebike.com) want to do — rent an electric bike and spend an afternoon taking in the sights around our old harbour town.
Read the complete article at: Very easy rider: an electric bike adventure
Tags: bike trips, easy rider, ecycle, Electric Motorcycles, Jasmine Kean, Martin Hanzalek
It’s great to see Electeic Bikes taking over our roadways, and people like Jasmine Kean and Martin Hanzalek are the type of catalysts we need to make the crutial changes to our transportation sector. When I first met Marty Hanzalek he was operating a successful adventure tourism on the west coast of Newfoundland with a hugh push on environmental practices and conservation. Later he ran for the green party and managed to get some major advances on alternative transport in the province. Today both Hanzalek and Kean run nlebike and have made their green passion into a reality.
I know Martin Hanzalek back from 1998 when we used to ski and snowboard together in Western Canada. On the way up the mountain we would have lots of time to discuss ideas and dreams, and Marty sure has a lot of them. He used to always tell me that Newfoundland was the place to be and that when the technology was better he would get an electric car or van and stop burning fuel. Over a decade later it’s awesome to see Marty Hanzalek living his dream and helping others do exactly what he said he would do in the late 1990′s. I am really impressed with Hanzalek’s business because not only is it a solid business concept but it is one that is good for society, good for the environment, and excellent for the planet as a whole. When I went to google and plugged in “Newfoundland Electric Bike” and this article on Marty Hanzalek popped up it put a real smile on my face.
It makes me happy to see more interest in alternative transport and electrically powered vehicles. It’s just a matter of time before gasoline and fossil fuel becomes unattainable, regardless of the amount of carbon credits you buy. As a socociety we need to prepare ourselves now while it is still reasonably easy to make the transition. My friend joked with me the other day “I could get a solar panel an wind generator but I don’t really need one” he said. I told him that when the time comes and that is his only option for making power, they will probably all be sold out. Many people say electrically powered vehicles are a novelty but watch out, that is not really the case anymore. I cam go up to 100km on my electric Yamaha vino and for the most part nobody knows it is electrically powered. I can keep up with traffic, do my shopping, and enjoy life without ever going to the gas pump.
Thanks for the kind words. It is true that when it comes to mass adoption of alternative electric technologies much of the balance hinges on supply and demand. When demand for petrochemicals is high and supply is low, the cost goes up… and people inevitably start looking for economically viable alternatives to fossil fuels for their transportation and energy needs. It’s this demand that drives technology and ultimately makes the technology available to the consumer. We are now seeing government subsidies and incentives for alternative energy solutions here in Canada but they are grossly disproportionate to the huge subsidies given to oil and gas. We all know that petrochemicals are a non-renewable, non-sustainable resource that needs to be transitioned from, and right now we have a chance to make that transition in an organized fashion… but watch out, because we are a global crisis away from fighting with thousands of others over the last available solar panel, wind generator, and ebike if tomorrow our supply of fossil fuels becomes unavailable. If we use the resources we have now to build the infrastructure of the future, transitioning from dirty energy to clean energy will be just as painless as when we transitioned from the horse too the car (which, by the was was electric).
I found this video of Martin Hanzalek on the web and thought I would share it. While it’s not an electric bike that Marty is riding it sure qualifies as non-consumptive self propelled transport that Hanzalek is taking advantage of!
Martin Hanzalek alternative transport video.
2010 was the largest tourism year Newfoundland and Labrador has ever seen with over 500,000 visitors to the Province. That is more than the population of Newfoundland! Even at the date of the Silver Spider Award, it was not fathomable for such visitation to be seen here in the Province. Newfoundland has come a long was when it comes to tourism and it is companies like My Newfoundland Adventures and entrepreneurs like Martin Hanzalek that have made much of this possible. It is a shame that the Silver Spider Award is not being given out every year still to individuals and groups like Hanzalek that show excellence in the feield of Environmental Stewardship, Conservation, and Tourism Development. If there are two things we need more of here in Newfoundland and Labrador, it is more Tourism Development and more Green and alternative transportation businesses.
There has been a lot of controversy lately about electric bike rules and regulations in Canada, particularly in Newfoundland Canada. Last year the Newfoundland department of transportation tried to change the laws and classify electric bikes and ebike scooters as mopeds rather than bicycles (which would mean you would have to get a licence, insurance, and registration. It was only after CBC Televison did a story about it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ6-nA8zcII and made a big stink that the transportation minister changed his mind and allowed ebikes to be classed as bicycles as in the rest of Canada. It just goes to show that government is always there waiting to take away your rights if you do not stand up for yourselves.