2020 Can Do Colorado E-Bike Mini Pilot Program Study

The Colorado Energy Office conducted a mini pilot program study as part of the Can Do Colorado initiative, providing e-bikes to 13 low-income participants.

The program aimed to encourage energy-efficient transportation during the COVID-19 pandemic as transit services were reduced and people were concerned about exposure. The insights garnered from this small-scale pilot study informed the design of a full-scale, 2-year pilot in locations across Colorado. For more information about the mini pilot program, see NREL's Preliminary Results Report.

Micromobility options such as e-bikes offer a solution for reducing carbon emissions and improving energy efficiency for short-distance trips, especially in urban areas. Pedal-assist e-bikes use an electric motor and battery to help power the bike. The motor amplifies the power behind each pedal stroke, augmenting the energy you put into the bike.

Data Collection Agency

The Colorado Energy Office conducted the survey.

Survey Methodology

Participants in the program received a Momentum LaFree E+ e-bike (Class 1) and accessories at no cost and manually submitted travel data and feedback for 3 months using the CanBikeCo App. The smartphone app, developed in partnership with NREL, used a customized version of the NREL OpenPATH platform.

Survey Records and Data

Survey records include a total of 13 participants.

This dataset contains 3 months of end-to-end, multimodal travel data manually submitted via smartphone app by 13 low-income essential workers in the greater Denver area. The data includes distance, mode (e.g., e-bike, car, transit), trip purpose, and demographic information.

Transportation data and associated documentation are available as zipped files. Download Winzip.

For the study's latitude and longitude data, learn how to access the spatial data.

How To Cite the Data

If you use TSDC data in a publication, please contact us and include a citation in your publication consistent with the following format:

"Transportation Secure Data Center." [(year)]. National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Accessed [date]: www.nrel.gov/tsdc.

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See cleansed data from other transportation studies and surveys.