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The city of Atlanta is the latest to see the value in encouraging their populace to ride e-bikes. On June 16, Atlanta residents will be able to apply for a rebate on a standard e-bike or a cargo e-bike. Residents will have one week, until June 23, to apply.

The rebate program will use a point-of-sale strategy where the rebate amount will simply be deducted from the purchase price. This will save residents the aggravation of submitting a receipt and waiting for a check or tax credit that may take months to materialize.

There will be two tiers of participants, based on income. Income-qualified residents will receive a $1500 rebate for the purchase of a standard e-bike, or a $2000 rebate for a cargo e-bike. Other Atlanta residents will receive $500 for a standard e-bike or $1000 for a cargo e-bike.

The City of Atlanta has funded the program with a $1 million investment.

The rebate program has several requirements for qualifying purchases. First, buyers will have to produce proof that they reside within the city limits; residents of Alpharetta and other suburbs won’t qualify. Applicants must also be 18 years old.

Qualifying forms of proof of residency include driver’s license, passport, birth certificate, rental agreement, mortgage, most recent utility bill, vehicle registration and Georgia voter ID card.

The rebate will cover Class 1, 2 or 3 e-bikes or e-trikes with a maximum nominal power rating of 750W.

One restriction that some shoppers will find frustrating will be that they cannot purchase their e-bike from a direct-to-consumer brand. The e-bike must be purchased from a local bike shop. Many of these brands, though, are beginning to sell their e-bikes through brick-and-mortar shops.

Shoppers can find info about Atlanta’s rebate program in an extensive FAQ here. People can also sign up for a newsletter that will keep interested parties informed with notifications.

The City of Atlanta expects the program to net between 800 and 1000 e-bikes to be purchased through the rebate program.

Among countries that invest in cycling infrastructure, Belgium ranks fifth in spending on a per capita basis. The country invests 5.2 euro per inhabitant. Those funds are directed into infrastructure and policy, making it both safer and easier to get around by bike.

That’s not all the government does for its citizens, though. While the national government doesn’t offer an incentive to purchase an e-bike, several regional governments and many cities offer incentives to purchase e-bikes.

In the Brussels-Capital Region, residents can receive up to €505 that can be used to purchase a new or used e-bike (provided the used e-bike is sold by a retailer) as well as many different accessories ranging from accessories such as lights and locks to child seats or helmets. The amount of the incentive is based on the purchase price.

In Wallonia, the government offers an e-bike incentive of up to €1250. Depending on the type of e-bike, residents may receive up to 20, 30 or 40 percent of the purchase price. Flanders does not offer a purchase incentive, but there is a program for employers to pay their employees €0.23 per kilometer ridden to and from work.

More than three dozen municipalities in Belgium offer their residents e-bike incentives as well. They range from €50 at the low end up to €500, depending on the city.

A man traveling to work escaped injury when his e-bike’s battery burst into flames. The man, who had ridden his e-bike to a London train station as he was commuting to work, was standing nearby when the battery started spewing smoke. Moments later an exploding cell dislodged the battery and knocked it to the ground. A succession of explosions began as other cells in the battery became compromised, soon engulfing the entire e-bike in flames.

The incident sent afternoon rush hour commuters scrambling for safety to escape the smoke and flame.

The 25-year-old man who owned the e-bike told authorities that he had purchased it from an online marketplace just four months prior and had had no previous issues with it.

During the pandemic, Belgium saw a rapid and significant rise in the number of its citizens riding bicycles and e-bikes. Much of this riding took place on a series of interconnected bike paths referred to as “bike highways” that allow riders to avoid roads. Upon seeing the rise in ridership, the Belgian government took action in a three pronged approach to support those riders. They took action to increase cyclists’ safety, improve physical infrastructure and make new policy to support cycling. It’s an effort that we’re seeing across Europe.

Since 2020, the Belgian government has invested a massive €1.4 billion in cycling infrastructure. Compare that with the nearly €680 million—still, a remarkable sum by U.S. standards—the legislature apportioned in the five-year period from 2014-2019.

Of that funding, €450 million was devoted to the bicycle highways. The money was used to expand the network as well as build new tunnel and bridge crossings.

According to an analysis released by Belgium’s Green Party, only 33 percent of the €1.4 billion has been spent so far; they expressed concern that at the current rate of spending, 12 years will pass before all of the allocated funds are used.

E-bikes are rising in popularity in Belgium, much as they are in the rest of the world. In research published by FPS Mobility, roughly one in four Belgians rode an e-bike at least once in 2023. In 2022 some 22 percent of Belgians rode an e-bike, while in 2023 that number rose 4 percent to 28 percent.

More than half of all Belgians—57 percent—ride bikes regularly. Cycling is most popular in Flanders, where a whopping 76 percent of the population rides. Among Belgians as a whole, 13 percent of riders who don’t own an e-bike are considering purchasing one. In Flanders 18 percent of the population gets around by e-bike. That’s 18 percent of the total population, not 18 percent of cyclists.