It certainly would. One can get a lot further and move more things on an ebike compared to on a bicycle.

Not to forget the advantages of ten times less road maintenance, ten times more throughput, ten times less parking requirements, more social contact, ten times less energy consumption than an electric car, and on and on.

The main thing I've noticed here in slightly hilly Leuven, Belgium, is that so many more people I would never have seen on a human powered bike will actually use ebikes.

If you're a believer in government steering citizens to make the right decision, stimulating ebike use certainly makes sense. If in doubt, you might want to think about the war going on with one of our main energy suppliers.

More than 25% of the UK population lives in the five largest metropolitan areas, with the London urban zone being almost 15% of the UK population. Subsidising e-bikes and electrified public transit for those areas would be the most efficient and highest impact use of those funds for climate change mitigation.

Out of interest, how so? E-bikes are very popular in the Swiss countryside.

I would have thought an e-bike would actually have more use in Devon, than in a relatively flat city like London.

True, but don't more people live in London than in Devon?

I imagine a government would want to prioritize the highest impact action.

London already has excellent public transport. Devon has a bus on Tuesdays and they can't afford to put diesel in it.

Why would electric bikes be bad in Devon, though? Geography?

Practicality. They'd be fine for leisure, but not for travel to work if you live outside of Exeter and maybe some other big cities. The population is much more spread out than in larger urban areas. Most people live in smallish towns and villages and commute to work in urban centers (public transport is not good). Either that or they're agricultural workers who need cargo capacity and for whom ebikes would be useless. Also useless for famliles with children who go to school in another town or village. Plus, totally useless in the winter—the winter roads around here and Cornwall are bad enough when you have an SUV.