In November of 2019, Nice Ride announced that for 2020 it was planning to add, “2,000 pedal-assist electric bikes to fleet beginning in April 2020.” The world has changed a lot since last fall, and many in the rental community were wondering if we would ever see anything electric on the streets this year.

With these worries, it was a welcome find to have the introduction of new electric bike parking in many of the areas that had last year hosted the blue dockless bikes. The galvanized steel gave us hope that an electric ride was just around the corner.

It appears that starting last week, electric bikes with blue wheels have been entered into service at both traditional stations with their green classic bike counterparts and the solar-power kiosks and also at these new bike parking facilities.

The new Nice Ride Lyft electric bikes offer two ways to park your bike: you can park like a green classic bike at any traditional nice ride station or you can park with the pink cable lock at any of the new marked bike parking locations.

The electric bikes also have a basket that is rated up to 25 pounds, although I believe that is a suggestion to reduce liability of people giving their friends a ride in the basket. Twenty-five pounds is equivalent to about three gallons of water.

Today, June 11, I took the new electric bikes for a round trip to my favorite coffee shop. The electric assist was not available for about rest to 5 miles per hour, but was very strong at faster speeds and I was easily cruising down the street. However, it almost felt like I had to do extra work to get started from a resting stop.

Missing from the electric bike is any kind of speedometer. There is a battery check indicator, however, on the top of the rear wheel. Press the button, and a number of LEDs light up to show the level.

What do you think of the new electric bikes? Take a ride and share your questions, your comments, and your discoveries in the comments.