California wanted to buy e-bikes for residents. Glitches, funding short-circuited the effort

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Amid a statewide push to take cars off the road and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, California embraced a novel alternative: electric bicycles.The thinking went that the devices, which have grown increasingly popular in recent years, would give residents a feasible alternative to driving to work, the grocery store, or to visit relatives.

To offset the cost of the e-bikes, which can run in the thousands of dollars, the state launched a generous voucher program — one that heavily subsidized, and in some cases completely offset, the purchase price.Demand soared.

That’s when the problems began.With safe, protected bike lanes and streets designed for humans, not only cars, we can have a future with an environmentally sound commuting option.Vouchers were quickly snatched up.

A website set up to manage applications crashed amid heavy demand.Despite wide public interest, the program quietly and abruptly ended last year — a victim, in some ways, of its own success.Now the state is pivoting, leaving cycling advocates disappointed and those who were able to snag e-bike vouchers counting their lucky stars.Briana Villaverde was one of about 2,300 Californians who secured a state-funded voucher that reduced the out-of-pocket cost for her Urtopia e-bike.The 26-year-old Paramount resident relies on her ride to get to the L.A.

Metro A Line in Compton as part of her daily work commute.Her bright yellow two-wheeler would often turn heads.

That attention would turn to intrigue when she explained that the sweet ride had only set her back $90.“There’s this program,” she would tell admirers.“Whip out your phone.” The California Air Resources Board began the California E-Bike Incentive Project in 2022 with the goal of lowering cost barriers to e-bikes, which use electric motors to propel riders along faster and easier than a normal pedal-powered bike.

The pilot program differed fro...