When you’re an electric bike company, every day is Earth Day.
That’s because for every car-replacement mile a rider racks up, it ends up cutting their carbon footprint by about 400 grams of CO2 — roughly the equivalent of burning a half pound of coal.
That may not seem like a lot at first glance, but as North America’s largest ebike brand, we have over 650,000 riders globally.
If each person chooses to ride instead of drive for just 50 miles each year, that adds up to the carbon equivalent of 14,326,996 pounds of coal, 172 tanker trunks of gasoline, or 30,098 barrels of oil – each and every year!
And hey, considering that we have loads of riders who’ve used their ebikes to completely replace their cars, we’re probably looking at much bigger numbers than that.
But Rad is about more than just equipping folks with clean and accessible transportation. Here’s what else we’re doing for our big, Rad planet:
Recycling Ebike Batteries
Last year, Rad Power Bikes kicked off a first-of-its-kind ebike battery recycling program with our friends at Redwood Materials.
To date, we’ve collected 13,559 pounds worth of batteries – 95% of which can be recycled and reused in next-generation batteries.
That means we’ve prevented 5.8 metric tons of batteries from ending up in landfills, which is the equivalent of 13 grand pianos!
If you have an old Rad battery that you'd like to recycle, you can drop them off at any one of our U.S. RadRetail stores.
We'll also accept small batteries and rechargeable devices for recycling, including lithium ion batteries, tablets, laptops, electric toothbrushes, and even old power tools.
Cutting Down on Waste
We’re constantly on the lookout for ways to cut down on waste in our packaging, and this year, we’ve made a huge leap!
For our new lineup, we’ve reduced non-recyclable packaging materials by 750 pounds per 1,000 bikes.
Here’s what that looks like:
Protecting the Ebike Revolution
19 years ago, our founder cobbled together his first ebike in his parent’s garage. Since then, Rad Power Bikes has been on a non-stop mission to introduce more people to the life-changing benefits of electric bikes.
As the pioneers of the ebike revolution, we don’t want to see anything slow it down. That’s why when we noticed it was under threat, we developed something that won’t just protect the micromobility movement, but send it into absolute overdrive.
According to The Verge, “as electric bikes become more popular in the US, the risk of deadly fires stemming from cheaply made batteries has become an unfortunate side effect that risks derailing the momentum of an important climate change fighting tool.”
Our response to these growing concerns? Safe Shield Batteries.
While our bikes and batteries have always used high-quality cells and met strict safety standards, we wanted to push the industry forward with a new product that provides ultimate peace of mind.
Safe Shield Batteries feature thermal-resistant technology for an extra layer of safety, whether it’s on or off your ebike.
Each cell is wrapped in a unique heat-absorbing resin that can effectively stop the spread of a localized thermal event, and can even extinguish it.
Want to learn more? Check out these five reasons we’re getting charged up about these new UL Certified batteries.
Shop Ebikes
