在离婚后，44岁的广告执行官罗里·巴顿买了一辆二手Urban Arrow，花费4,500美元，用来全年接送他两个分别九岁和七岁的孩子去学校，很少打的。疫情热潮后，美国整体自行车销量放缓，但家庭电动自行车销量在上升：在The New Wheel，在过去十年里从无到占多数，像Tern和Urban Arrow这样的热门型号价格为数千美元，并且可以载多达三名儿童。

便利性比环保更推动这一繁荣：许多用户——显然大多数是父亲——提到可以绕过车流、避免汽车座椅和停车问题，并可以携带装备和孩子去海滩、训练和课程。电动自行车通常替代短途1–3英里（1.6–4.8公里）的第二辆代步车，这些路程步行太远、公共交通不便。

更长远的趋势和制约因素也重要：自1960年代以来，被父母开车送学的儿童比例持续上升，现在已成为多数；司机短缺和预算削减减少了校车覆盖并造成惩罚性的接送交通，而且多数家长表示他们的职业因为接送孩子受到了影响。安全是主要担忧——没有受保护的自行车道许多家长不会改骑车——但电动自行车的家长会变得更积极参与政治以推动更好的基础设施。

After his divorce, 44-year-old advertising executive Rory Barton bought a second-hand Urban Arrow for $4,500 to carry his two children, aged nine and seven, to school year-round and rarely uses taxis. After a pandemic boom, overall bicycle sales in America have slowed, but family e-bike sales are rising: at The New Wheel they went from nothing to a majority over the past decade, and popular models like Tern and Urban Arrow cost several thousand dollars and can carry up to three children.

Convenience drives the boom more than environmentalism: many users—apparently a large majority fathers—cite skipping car traffic, avoiding car seats and parking, and transporting gear and kids to beaches, practices and lessons. E-bikes typically replace a second runaround for short trips of 1–3 miles (1.6–4.8 km) that are too far to walk and fiddly by public transport.

Longer trends and constraints matter: the share of children driven to school has risen continuously since the 1960s and is now a majority; driver shortages and budget cuts have reduced yellow-bus coverage and created punishing drop-off traffic, and a majority of parents say their careers have suffered because of school runs. Safety is the main concern—without protected bike lanes many parents won’t switch—but e-bike parents become politically active to push for better infrastructure.