E-Bike Potential as a Car Replacement, Cuenca Pilot
As one of the flagship pilots of the eCuenca Electromobility Plan, Cities Forum designed and ran a study of the potential of the electric bicycle as a replacement for the private car in Cuenca.
Year: 2022–2023 | Client: GIZ / TUMIVolt — with Cuenca universities & EMOV EP | Country: Ecuador (Cuenca)
As one of the flagship pilots of the eCuenca Electromobility Plan, Cities Forum designed and ran a study of the potential of the electric bicycle as a replacement for the private car in Cuenca. With the city already committed to expanding cycling and shared mobility, the pilot set out to test empirically whether e-bikes could realistically substitute car trips in an Andean city of demanding topography, and to gather the evidence needed to justify further investment.
Our approach
The pilot combined a real-world field test with rigorous data analysis. Participants used electric bicycles fitted with GPS tracking, generating detailed travel data that Cities Forum and its academic partners processed and analysed (with raw GPS archives cleaned and structured for statistical treatment), alongside ex-ante and ex-post surveys capturing behaviour, attitudes and the barriers to switching. The work was delivered in close collaboration with Cuenca's universities, including the Universidad del Azuay, the Universidad Politécnica Salesiana and the Universidad de Cuenca, and with local mobility bodies, mobilising student researchers and theses within a "mobility data hub" approach that also built local analytical capacity.
What we delivered
To place Cuenca's findings in context, the study benchmarked against established public bike-share systems such as Madrid's BiciMAD, Barcelona's Bicing and Bogotá's scheme, and drew on local suppliers for the e-bike hardware. This allowed the pilot to assess not only whether individuals would shift from car to e-bike, but how a supporting shared or subsidised e-bike offer might be structured for the city.
Impact
The pilot generated concrete, locally grounded evidence on the e-bike's role in Cuenca's modal shift, feeding directly into the measures of the wider electromobility plan and strengthening the case for cycling and micromobility investment. It exemplifies Cities Forum's data-driven, academically anchored approach to mobility innovation, testing solutions in the real world, quantifying their potential, and building local capacity in the process, within its broader Ecuadorian electromobility portfolio.
