How many calories can you burn on an e-bike?

Some people initially think that you burn very few calories, if any, on an e-bike. It’s a common misconception that you expend no energy on them while cycling, but this is far from true, and anyone who already owns an e-bike can vouch for this. They can be used as a form of effective exercise and can be personalised to the intensity of the workout desired.

How do e-bikes work?

An e-bike is an electric motorised bicycle. With the addition of a motor and battery, which supplies the electrical power to the motor, it provides pedal assistance while the rider is cycling, and the cyclist can choose the level of assistance they require. Our e-bikes have 3 levels of power assistance to give you the help when you decide you need it, hence why an electric bike can be used for exercise to burn calories.

The beauty of an e-bike is you can decide how much exercise you want to do, meaning you can decide how many calories you want to burn too. As a bonus to this, most electric bikes work on a Pedelec system, which means they won’t work unless you do, so pedalling is a must.

What is the Pedelec system?

The Pedelec system is when the cyclist needs to pedal in order to activate the motor and to start the motor-assist technology. Some electric bikes can be used with throttle only, so the rider isn’t required to pedal, and this is where the initial confusion lies with exercise and burning calories. Our e-bikes can be used in both modes, and they have three levels of power assistance to help when you need it most.

How many calories can you burn?

In a study by ElectricBikeBlog.com, they found out that you can have nearly the same amount of calories on an electric bike as a regular bicycle. To complete the experiment, the subject completed the same ride twice, one using pedal-assist and one without and they measured the stats afterward. The subject wore a heart rate monitor to measure his heart rate while completing the rides to give a more accurate measurement of the calories burned.

The results show that when the subject used pedal-assist, he burned 444 calories, and when he rode the e-bike without electrical assistance, he burned 552 calories. This means that riding with electrical assistance only burnt 20% fewer calories than completely manual cycling, and if done regularly, this kind of calorific burn could still result in significant health benefits and weight loss.

If you used your e-bike to commute to and from work, five days a week, how many calories would you burn?

The key health factor in relation to exercise with an e-bike is that you can cycle for longer without getting tired, as you can up the motor assistance when you need it, so you’re still burning calories even though the cycling feels easier.

To shop our e-bikes, click here. If you have any further questions about how an e-bike works, get in touch on our website and we can help.