\u201cThe cost of filling a tank now is getting pretty expensive for a lot of people, but to fill the tank on an e-bike it\u2019s usually only about 20 cents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maurice Wells, owner of Electric Bike Team, a specialist e-bike retailer near Karangahape Rd in downtown Auckland, said the past month had been one of the busiest on record.<\/p>\n
He said many customers had been considering a purchase, but rising fuel costs had sped up their decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople aren\u2019t necessarily being pushed into it, but higher fuel prices are confirming what they were already thinking,\u201d Wells said. <\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of customers got quotes last year and are choosing to go ahead now because the economics stack up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trade Me data shows e-bike searches surged 49% in the five weeks to March 25 compared with the same period last year, while e-scooter searches rose 68%. <\/p>\n
Items are also selling faster, with average days-to-sell down 8% for e-bikes and 7% for e-scooters.<\/p>\n
As of writing, unleaded 91 was at an average of $3.42, with diesel at $3.80, according to Gaspy.<\/p>\n
Cycling in Auckland is leading the pack, with Auckland Transport (AT) data showing cycling across the city rose 6.3% in February and March compared with the same period last year.<\/p>\n
Just under 1.24 million cycling trips were recorded over the two months, up from 1.17 million in 2025 \u2013 despite a higher number of rainy days this year.<\/p>\n
AT head of active modes Tania Loveridge said cycling numbers had been increasing year-on-year, with a noticeable rise in recent months.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s never been a better time for people to be on their bike, both from a health and a cost perspective,\u201d Loveridge said.<\/p>\n
Cyclists on the new 3.5km cycleway connecting M\u0101ngere Bridge and M\u0101ngere Town Centre. Photo \/ Auckland Transport<\/p>\n
The growth was not confined to central Auckland. <\/p>\n
Cycling trips on Rathgar Rd in Henderson nearly doubled year-on-year, with AT noting the increase was around school hours. <\/p>\n
Strong growth was also recorded in Manurewa and M\u0101ngere, where new cycleways were recently built.<\/p>\n
AT said it was on track to deliver more than 15km of new cycleways this year.<\/p>\n
At the bike shop, Wells said another factor driving an uptake in e-bikes was a relatively new but underutilised bike benefit programme.<\/p>\n
Employees can pay for an e-bike from their pre-tax salary. <\/p>\n
Employees essentially spend their salary before they pay tax, reducing the overall cost of the bike by about 30%, depending on the scheme.<\/p>\n
Deloitte tax partner Robyn Walker said more businesses might be interested in offering this to employees if fuel prices remain elevated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really been a bit of a slow burn in terms of getting some traction in the market, and that\u2019s just really an education piece for employees and employers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Companies such as The Wheel Deal, North Ride and WorkRide manage the process for employers, making it a low-cost or cost-neutral benefit for businesses. <\/p>\n
The model could also help with staff retention, as employees repay the bike cost over 12 or 24 months.<\/p>\n
For anyone thinking about getting an e-bike, Tritt said the best place to start was to visit their local store and take a test ride.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe cost of filling a tank now is getting pretty expensive for a lot of people, but to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1443,95,51,16424,138,25906,32294,802,8809,4480,14035,2678,3499,111,139,69,801],"class_list":{"0":"post-384090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-about","9":"tag-and","10":"tag-auckland","11":"tag-boom","12":"tag-business","13":"tag-cents","14":"tag-charge","15":"tag-costs","16":"tag-cycling","17":"tag-drive","18":"tag-ebike","19":"tag-fuel","20":"tag-growth","21":"tag-new-zealand","22":"tag-newzealand","23":"tag-nz","24":"tag-rising"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}