I’ve had very limited time to continue my transport options searching since arriving here in Denmark and after letting go of my beloved UK IONIQ Electric.
But I am spotting a pattern in my current thinking. Rather than just get a simple, basic bicycle… I’m leaning towards ‘tech’ heavy e-bikes and covered e-bikes. Is this because driving my IONIQ Electric car has spoiled me for other types of transport???
Why? What does that say about me? Why am I over-thinking changing my transport habits? Here I go through my ‘top 7 worries’ about the more healthy option of cycling… versus just getting another EV.
The two covered bikes shown are the German Bio-Hybrid and Norwegian Podbike:
https://www.biohybrid.com/en/
http://www.podbike.com/en/
The Bio-Hybrid infographic is downloadable:
https://www.biohybrid.com/assets/downloads/Infografiken/EN_Bio_Hybrid_Grafik_Sensible_Transport.pdf
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Twitter @ZeroTailpipe
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I used to drive a lovely hyundai ioniq electric car in the UK and now I’ve moved to Denmark and I’m still considering my transport options you’re commuting to work by bicycle is one of those options and it has obvious benefits it has health benefits for me it has environmental benefits but has driving my ionic electric car skewed up my perceptions of what I want and messed around with my decision-making process why can’t I seem to face the thought of cycling here and if I do why does my search then immediately take me after things that almost resemble an electric car like you know electrically assisted bikes or trikes or quad bikes with coverings and so on that are kind of heavy and expensive and get less and less like a bicycle why am i overthinking this um why am i struggling to be like a Dane just get on a bicycle why am i finding that so difficult let’s talk about all that in this video so why am I making this video well I want to be honest and I want to record my sort of thinking process on my decision process because my suspicion is I’m not alone here I’m not the only one who’s having this kind of problem adjusting from one way of getting around one mode of transport to another and I think it’s healthy to challenge my preconceptions and assumptions and to see if there’s a better way of doing things and also I’m making the video because I want to register and remember my thinking at this moment where unlike most of my time in life I actually have the chance and the choice to do something different to select different transport options to consider something different and if I don’t do that why don’t I do that now I do realize that making this video might show me in a bad light as obsessed with certain things as materialistic or used to comforts but let’s be honest I’m in my mid-40s and even with just a year and a half of driving the ioniq electric in the UK and three and a half years before there of driving in is Handley fauna on a lease I did get used to this very sort of quiet comfortable convenient private and kind of you know lower zero emissions way of getting around I got used to that we’re not talking about me is being skewed by just a driving experience or even just an electric car driving experience we’re talking about a year and a half in probably the most efficient production electric car on the planet so here are my top seven worries and you can comment on each of them in the comments below number one not forgotten but not missed they do say you never forget how to ride a bike but does absence make the heart grow fonder here so the last time I rode a bike was probably like 1994 1995 1996 over 20 years ago anyway and this was on a holiday for a few weeks and the last time I regularly rode a bike is back in the mid to late 1980s when the BMX craze was kicking off in the UK and probably the USA as well since then in the intervening years and I’ve been getting around mainly by buses and public transport but have I soured on the idea of wobbling around on a two-wheeled thing where I can fall and there’s other dangers and just not as pleasant as other forms of transport at the same time I am mid 40s and I could do with getting rid of this middle-age spread and I have two children and I’d like to you know live long and prosper to see them grow and flourish and that’s far more likely if I’m doing some kind of regular exercise like cycling then sat in a sedentary way in a car even if that’s an electric car and has kind of lower environmental impact than a normal car it’s it’s still better to be doing something physically active it’s not that I’m lazy or afraid of exercise either because I’ve actually been walking like crazy since I’ve been here in all this Denmark I’ve totaled it up and it’s about 282 kilometers or thereabouts or that’s about 175 miles in the 34 days that I’ve been you so that works out at about eight kilometres a day on average or over five miles a day and I’ve been using the public transport as well I’ve been getting around it getting lost on the buses trying to use a new bus system that’s very extensive and there’s lots of places anyway so it’s not exercised it’s something very specific to do with bicycles worry number two finding the time to explore something new I’m not anti cycling in any way at least I don’t think that I am but I must admit that I’ve had a very very very limited time to search about anything to do with bikes and for me it’s a new technologies and new product it’s a new market and I’m in a new country with the new culture and new language and the shops here they have kind of restricted opening hours particularly at weekends and then they’re not open on Sundays and I’m not criticising that that’s just different and it’s just difficult there are websites I can look at and other things but you know it’s a challenge and bear in mind I’ve been trying to sell my UK has finding new accommodation here opening bank accounts going through all the registration processes that doesn’t leave a lot of time worry numbers fear of getting ripped off how do I find out what’s a good price a good product a good shop you know good warranties what kind of things are gonna break on a bike requires some product research some market research and so on if I was testing cars electric cars specifically I’m not interested in many other types of cars I would be looking for test drives is there such a thing as bicycle test drives I’ve seen on one website here in downtown office that they do offer some kind of test rides I’ve never been on an electrically assisted bike or one of these kind of three-wheeled buggies where you can put luggage or kids in and so on and I just like to experience it and try and find out if that will help me work out what I’m looking for what would work best for me and so on worry number four there’s a bike just too expensive for what it is so on to my fourth point and I can expect some kind of negative comments on this along the lines are just a cheap circuit breaker just right it just shut up you YouTube’s a great place isn’t it maybe this is the kind of ionic electric experience and the kind of just the feel of the comfort and the design of that it’s kind of got itself into me a bit on a bike that I can use for commuting for transporting things around so on I just don’t want any old sort of rubbish rusted secondhand bike I’m thinking of commuting every day on it I’m thinking of going shopping on it I’m thinking of you know using it to explore the regions beyond just ours my way of justifying why I’m looking for a three-wheeled bike and an electrically assisted one at that is that you know I don’t want to arrive at work sweaty and dirty and you know I’d rather not wobble and fall off and because of my specific requirements yet we’re talking about pushing the price into thousands of euros thousands of dollars thousands of pounds and now I wouldn’t think twice and I have not thought twice or you know maybe a bit about dropping thousands or tens of thousands of pounds although I’ve never dropped tens of thousands of pounds on a petrol diesel car on an electric car I’ve done that I’ve spent a lot of money on a lease of a Nissan Leaf and then I bought and then recently had to sell and ionic electric so I’ve done that I’ve spent that much money so what’s my problem about doing that with a bicycle especially when I want to commute with it I saw the fully charged video about one of the bikes that I’m going to show in this video and he was saying you know these bikes are about last mile transport the link between you know via the other bigger vehicles and the last connections to houses workplaces shops and deliveries and so on I’m not thinking about a bike in in just that kind of limited sense it needs to be have a lot more usability but that comes with kind of associated hikes in price worried number five does it do everything I could ever need as I said in my last video is very likely I’m gonna have to commute with my children at least one of them possibly both and at least for a few months possibly even longer term now that starts to specify quite tightly what kind of bike I would need to make that possible so this puts me into the kind of buggy or transporter type bike and probably with electric assistance for comfort and to get around a few hills that there are you especially with two children so now we’re getting up from a few thousand into kind of six seven thousand euros of dollars or pounds that some quite heavy-duty quite serious investment kind of bikes and this brings me on to worry number six what is my electric car electric bikes say about me am I so sort of shallow or insecure that I’m actually worried about what having a certain kind of bike or certain kind of vehicle says about me you know do I see a car or like specifically an electric car as a status symbol is it just about me not wanting a kind of status downgrade or is it telling me that I’m a kind of Tecna that I love new tech and I think the tech is the solution to kind of social issues and social problems and is that any better than being obsessed with my status or has driving in my eye on ik electric and getting used to the whole electric car world led me to develop expensive tastes basically you know like high costs both for me and for the planet and is that the reason why I’m drawn to all these kind of fancy covered electrically assisted quad bikes or trikes that are coming like the pod bike coming out of Norway or the bio hybrid coming out of Germany that Robert Llewellyn is covered on his fully charged show or are these actually things that I should be genuinely interested in because they are this kind of new form of transport this new kind of bio hybrid and I guess you could consider these properly self self charging hybrids because they pedal assisted is that a new form of kind of halfway between cars and bikes and I’m drawn to that because I’ve had the experience of electric cars and I know that Transport has to change to something more sustainable and I want it to be more flexible and usable than a bike because that is actually you know a kind of mode transport the humanity needs and there are people developing that bat and I’m excited by that and that’s why I’m following it I’m showing a graphic here from the bio hybrid people in Germany and they certainly buy into this and they’re showing you this kind of spectrum of where different forms of transport fit in and this is a really good one because it’s got you know the kind of efficiency and the carbon footprint in here and as you can see as I kind of scan along it and you can see that you know they’re having some kind of like pedal assisted bio hybrid if they call it some kind of electric covered quad bike it looks pretty good on paper like this it’s you know it’s a Midway maybe it can’t do everything that a car can do but it certainly can do a heck of a lot more than a bicycle can do or are these developers just as obsessed as me with you know having these kind of higher status symbol more tech fix kind of things to sort out humanity’s problems are they just as sort of tram lines and constrained as I am in my thinking perhaps worried on the seventh coming soon or coming over most of these car like kind of electrically assisted bicycle options they don’t exist yet it’s all coming soon or coming late 2020 or coming to a market near you possibly regulations in your country may vary I mean you’re not able to actually use this company bike like bicycle you may end up needing a helmet insurance and not actually being able to ride your expensive toy anywhere and further terms and conditions may also apply but is this a real sort of pace of Technology development pace of development issue here there’s a need for more sustainable technology but it takes time to develop them and people are genuinely sincerely trying to work on that but it’s just not ready yet or is this just a way you subconsciously of me deferring my decisions you know I can’t decide about it yet I wonder anything about yet because the best options they’re not available yet there’s always something better over the horizon the grass is always greener so I should I don’t need to think about it now I’ll wait till later and there’s a lot of that going on with electric cars at the moment actually you’ve got plenty of time to make up your mind or make up you might know because there’s long lead times on Hyundai Kona here a Nero Jaguar I pasted firstly there is a genuine lack of available options right now everything it does seem to be coming soon or coming you know in the next year or two that people might want but again it is also a way of the manufacturers and people themselves just putting off the decision you know I can’t make do with a small range car now or some other kind of option I’ll put it off and put it off to a better cheaper ones are available of course if everybody is that nothing moves forward my am I the same am I just deferring my responsibilities to the future and to other people to sort of move that along or should I be doing something about it right now well that’s enough about my worry so let me know in the comments do you think any of my worries are valid am i overthinking this or of these genuine concern these consents you have as well or is this all some kind of sophisticated you know nerd maths and I’m trying to work myself back into the point where I’m making a Performa to justify buying some other expensive from he for the planet electric car is that what it’s about or sure I just go ahead and get a basic bike or recognize that one of these more sophisticated electrically assisted bikes as an investment and that amount of money even though it’s sorta like a third of a price of a typical electric car at the same price as a used car in the UK it’s an investment and I should just stick with it and go with it so sound off in the comments let me know what you think about what I think thanks for watching please subscribe if you’d like to see more videos from me as I go through this process of what transport options we’re going to go with electric car electric bike or other things let’s end this video with twenty seconds of some soothing ocean sounds from the middle of one of the walks I was doing recently you’ve been watching in the footage here ok well anyway thanks for watching and bye for now
36 Comments
Thanks for the great videos and letting everyone share your experiences of a new country and also for the great information about EVs!
In 2007 I built an electrically assisted recumbent tricycle and commuted 11 km daily in Melbourne, Australia for over a year until moving to a more distant job. As the first step of trike commuting, I sold my wife’s car (while she was overseas) and gave her mine (which was newer). Moving from a two to one car household was a saving well in excess of what the trike and electrification kit cost. Apart from being cheaper, an important element of what made bicycle commuting possible was that I had a bike track running from the back of my place to within two kilometres of my workplace. Careful riding on that last stretch made me feel overall risk was not that much worse than other forms of transportation. Another motivation was that I visited Denmark in 1990 and, travelling along a motorway, I noticed masses of bicycle riders on the track alongside the motorway … even though it was dark and light snow was falling. When I got back to Australia I thought to myself, “if people can ride in Denmark in that kind of weather, then surely I can ride in Melbourne’s comparatively better weather!”
So applying this to your situation, you should consider whether you have a safe, relatively direct route for a regular ride that is manageable (<15 km)? Once safety is addressed (which includes stability, brakes, lights, reflectors, bright clothing, route optimized for safety), the possibility to “offset” the cost and emissions of another mode of transport and/or by not having any or multiple vehicles is a bonus, as is the health benefit of course, although that is only a benefit if the first requirement of not much worse overall risk is satisfied. There’s not much point in being wealthier and healthier from regular riding but dead due to a moment’s inattention by you or someone else!
I notice the photos of my tricycle motorization project are still posted http://members.optusnet.com.au/photos_2/2007TrikeMotorisationProject/imagepages/image1.htm even though I left that internet supplier years ago!
Finally, have you considered car sharing? Here in Australia we have https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_Next_Door and others and I would expect similar services in Denmark? This company https://gomore.dk/leasing even has a Tesla Model 3 on their web-page, although I can't tell if such cars are available for short term rental by others?
Set up all the options in a knockout tournament. Decide each “match” with a coin toss. The purpose is not to see which option wins but to see which option you catch yourself rooting for.
Be honest. You like the attention this YouTube channel is giving so you need another EV to make videos about. ;-D
I can't imagine denmark in winter with a bike.. I would just stare at it in my hallway all winter…wishing I had ordered a model 3 or E-niro
Also a question.. you seemed to love the Ioniq and mention its efficiency.. why didnt you just keep it and do a roadtrip video to denmark? We make sacrifices all the time for the things we love.. you could have found a way.. Just my 2 cents.
find a cheap broken Ioniq and either put holes in the floor so you can use it Flinstone style or find someone to fit a peddle mechanism with the right engineer all the family could peddle.
Many parents are driving a bike or e-bike with a bike trailer, like these ones: https://www.zweiradkraft.com/fahrradanhaenger-test/
My idea of a bike is a lightning strike carbon with a 20kwh battery.
I'm 60 , it's got to be a car nowadays , ( Ioniq Ev). You'll be frozen solid in the winter, bike's may seem appealing in summer, but winter you'll be dreaming about, heated steering wheel/seat's, heat pumps, and comfort.
Stop procrastinating and buy your kids an self regular bikes. This will give you and yours healthy, efficient and economic transport. Denmark is generally flat so the only reason you may need a battery bike is to give a bit of assist with strong headwind conditions. You've still got to charge it and this in the end is offsetting more pollution elsewhere. A 5 to 16 km commute is nothing to stress about in a cycling friendly country. You can get a removable human / cargo trailer, if your kids are small or for the shopping trips if necessary.
For real life practicality get a second hand Ionic, Niro or Kona EV in the short term. Any of these seem EVs offer the best balance of range vs cost and practicality if your not driven by you badge ego. I'd suggest the choice of EVs on the market is going to look entirely different in 2 years. It seems to me Big auto makers are now waking up to the idea EV are not a gimmick and they need to get on board or be left behind. Look at a long term solution then.
I know ice cars were/are massively tax burdened in Denmark. How bad is it for EVs?
What is the charging infrastructure like for EVs?
Are cars being eliminated from cities and towns? E.g. The evolution of Amsterdam, Utrecht and Oslo.
Have you considered an (used) Renault Twizy? It´s cheap to buy and own and because of a low consumption than a regular EV, from enviromental aspect it´s much better. 80 km/h top speed is enough for local drives. For comuting, smaller shopping it is much more usefull than an e-bike.
Full blown midlife crisis coming to your screens very soon !!
Seems like your scenario will be a simple, cheap electric car that can be fast charged, for those few days you need to travel far, BUT more probable, membership in a car pool club, if one is near,
and they offer electric cars, and a descent e-bike with transport option for one or two childrens/luggage, and yes, a regular bike for days where you are just going to work, since bicycling in Denmark is EASY because it is FLAT. Also, it will be healthy for you, to bike more, and drive less. Don't forget the used-marked, as Denmark is a big market for all sorts of bikes, and you need not just to worry about "transport options", but certainly to be more interested in the technology itself, so you for example, can fix your own bike, everything from a flat tire to changing the electric motor, which will hugely increase convenience and decrease costs associated with bikes.
Test Ride an electric bike, you will be astonished how fab they are and in flat Denmark a no-brainer, 66 year old from Sheffield (NOT flat!)
I love cycling and used to cycle everywhere, no matter the distance. Then I got kids, and I became the typical suburban Dad driving everywhere. But then bikes are near useless for families round here, maybe it works better in Denmark? Either way, good for you Duncan in challenging yourself
I got an Ioniq plug-in a month ago and I love it, the funny thing is that the price is the same for all three variants in Denmark. I also have a regular electric bike that I use in the late spring, summer and early fall (when it is not raining) for driving to work (about 50 km each day), that is a great combination for me. The Ioniq plug-in has until now easily managed the 50 km in ev mode only. You should be able to get a good regular electric bike for about 17.000 kr, either online or by getting a discount in a bike shop, you should be able to get around 10% discount.
😊Although we all should use public transport and cycle where we can we all crave the convenience of our own car to use how we wish to travel, when we want from door to door. The car maybe the most expensive but ultimately in your heart you already know the answer! Buy yourself another ioniq. As a x ioniq owner you know the what to expect and for the worries car ownership removes whilst learning and adapting in a new country has to a major consideration. For me as a ioniq owner the answer is clear🙂
My bike cost me £100 sixteen years ago. It still works and cost nothing in repairs. Refuelling has cost a fair bit though – mostly Pot Noodles and Fray Bentos pies 😉
Dunno. I ride my bike to work (6 miles each way) and drive my e-Golf when it's too wet (40% chance, or greater), or too cold (lower than 43 °F = 6 °C). It rarely gets too hot at commute times, only towards mid-day. if you need to buy a bike, do not cheap out, get something decent. The kind of EV you buy depends on your needs. Our e-Golf has 75-110 miles of range depending on the season but that's enough for everything except the 2 or 3 times each year we do longer trips — for those we rent.
Get a bike and a trailer for the times the kids(they will soon be riding their own)/groceries need a ride, a decent new 3 speed commuter bike with a parcel shelf, should be about 3-4k DKK, half that for a trailer(maybe even a used one). A good set of wind/rain clothes made for outdoor activity if you dont already have, and a good lock. Should be able to rent all sorts of combinations of bikes/trailers/trikes/battery assisted etc to try it out. Denmark is a great country to bike in, very good on hand signals and rules. 🙂
If you dont like it, its not a huge investment down the drain and the bikes will probably come in handy on nice weather days to get out of the traffic(or be sold at a decent rate).
Plenty of ev made for these short trips too, but I think you will end up using it mostly for exploring the country/scandinavia, might be nice on the few snowy/stormy days, but I think overall you will be happer on a bike than stuck in the traffic. (Yeah, for the selfish reason, i hope you get another ioniq to keep the nice videos coming, but I do think that biking is a no brainer if possible. I have a 67yo coworker commuting 8+8km on a (since last summer electric assisted) bike in mid sweden as long as the ground is snow free, and by no means a super athleete. 🙂 )
Ive started riding a bike again both for fun and additional exercise. That said, I dont go out on the bike in rain or windy days. Not sure, in fact I know, I wouldnt be using a bike to get to work.
You have a lot of what seems to me rather odd ideas (status symbolism, riding a bike being too hard) along with some sensible ones (not having a good idea of costs/value, not being sure which bike to pick).
An important consideration is how far do you need to travel. For short journeys absolutely you should be using a bike – driving a car 1 mile is just unnecessary. If it's 10 miles then it gets more debatable and an e-bike makes a lot of sense, and is pretty-much vital if you've got kids to shift.
You did mention the environment, but it didn't seem very important to you. You have young kids and you know there is a climate breakdown emergency, right, with a very limited carbon budget left for us all? So environmental consideration really ought to be front and centre, on everything, not just transport.
Yes e-cargo bikes are expensive, but then they do do quite a large fraction of what a small car does. If you aren't buying a car as well, then it's still quite cheap transport. You don't have to buy new – indeed it would be greener not to, so if you are not sure, get something s/h and see how you get on. I use a standard bike for commuting, plus a bike-trailer for shopping and load-shifting (96% of my journeys are by bike, because most are short). I do have a van too for long journeys (used for about 2% of my journeys). (That's currently very old (21yrs) and not an EV, but I will get an EV as soon as someone makes a long-range van).
Most decent bike shops will let you test-ride the machines in the UK – I'd be very surprised if it's not just the same in Denmark. The Winther Kangaroo is a great cargo trike that loads of people here in Cambridge (who have to shift kids) have. (The electric version is about £4,200 new, manual about £2,100). But it has strange steering which takes a bit of getting used to – you really want to try it out before committing.
Like you say – you need the exercise, and you are likely to find cycling Denmark a glorious experience, due to the excellent infrastructure, so it seems to me this is a very easy basic choice. The only tricky thing is which bike. and yes you are being a gear-ist by hankering after covered bio-hybrids, but if you can afford it there is no reason not to. You don't really need one, but I expect they are nice to use. And if a cover is what it takes to get you out of a car and cycling in all weathers, then fair enough (but a cag is a great deal cheaper and also works fine). Too many British people think that leaving the house = getting in the car, and dismiss bikes (and buses) as transport, due to 50 years of culture and road design encouraging this thinking. That's shortsighted and bad for us all, and the Danes and Dutch have done a much better job of giving people genuine choices. You should take advantage of that whilst there and put your English modes of thinking behind you.
I hope that was helpful. I found it interesting (if rather odd) to hear your thoughts.
If you are looking for a tricycle, most tests show that NIHOLA cycles are highest – but what suits you best depends on the needs you have. But if I was searching for a tricycle, I would start with NIHOLA and try the other brands after that.
Hvis det er en trehjulet cykel du søger – så viser de fleste tests, at NIHOLA cykler scorer højest – men hvad der passer en bedst afhænger selvfølgelig at de behov man har. Men hvis jeg var igang med at søge efter en trehjulet ville jeg starte med NIHOLA og prøve de øvrige mærker efter denne.
You need to buy another Electric Car because you know down the line you will kick yourself , you will miss it, why spend multiple thousands on a bike (even if it's a great bike) when one day you will need a car, the bike is a temporary filler to your car needs . So either buy a super cheap basic bike as a gap filler or keep looking into these cars and find one that suits 😀
Bicycle and motorcycle safety is about 14% compared to cars.
Perhaps give your self a bit more time to get settled in.
Just as with cardealers, you can always go into a bikeshop and ask for info and a testride. They are trying to sell you something after all 🙂 You can even ask a random person, maybe at a red light on the street if he/she can recommend the bike you see them use. Most people are nice you know 🙂
If getting a bike, please remember the helmet.
You won't be able to drive a car to the same place at the water…..just saying. You can always find use for a bike.
Worry #3 – Just go to any bike shop, and tell them that you want to try one because it'll help you make up your mind etc. and they'll be more than happy to let you try one.
You are not alone. I will be interested in the comments you receive here.
I have an electric bike and a plugin hybrid car (in Copenhagen), both have its uses depend on distance, weather and utility. Going downtown, the bike is the way to go, horrid traffic and hardly any parking sports. Going to Aarhus, too far to ride a bike, and the car again becomes the better option.
So it all depends, and don't think or think and 🙂
I'm wondering if you're feeling pressure to conform to local ways.
Change brings risk. Risk you won't adapt well. I'd be cautious of significant investment early.
Us analytical types over think everything 😃
I've been looking at Folding E-Bike and want something I can use carrying parcels and kids. I found the Wike https://wicycle.com/products/bikes/wike-salamander I also look at the Folding E Bikes on Alibaba. (Samples)
Delfast also makes long range E Bikes. up to 200+ miles.
Or you might consider a Powered unicycle. Segway Ninebot Z10. Like walking only better.
Thanks Duncan. Another very real worry is safety. Would you survive an accident? If so, then what injuries would you suffer? I've known several people who were killed or maimed, whilst riding bicycles. One hit a pebble on a corner at the speed of a steady jog, and broke her neck, despite wearing protective headgear. She died instantly, and was only in her 20's. Another was my GP, who spent months in hospital, with a broken neck caused by an accident in 2018. He has had to take early retirement. There are others, but you should see the point.
Some drivers, and even pedestrians, think that it's funny to cause inconvenience or injury to cyclists. I experienced that mentality on a number of occasions, as have many regular cyclists, The last time, during my 30's, was why I decided to stop cycling. It wasn't worth the risks.
Here's a compromise idea: get a sturdy ebike now and a kids trailer (like a Burley or similar) later. The trailer can be parked at the school/kindergarten after the school run and you continue to your workplace without it.
I think it is very nice to see someone being able to question themselves the way you do and I commend you for it. Having said that, I think you are missing your EV enough that it is clouding your judgement. Perhaps it is a reaction to the amount of changes in you life and you just want something to remain the same and have fixated on the car.
You mention many different reasons for getting a bike (commute, exercise, its is the local culture, environmental) but worry about it not "doing everything" (traveling with kids, safe for commuting). From experience (I own 4 bikes and have been working towards 0 car use for the last couple of years) I would recommend you get both a car and a bike for the following reasons: 1. Eliminating car dependency takes a huge effort and mental reprogramming. 2. Bikes are like cars: many models and spec levels to choose from with the associated 'utility' factor. Since you admit to know very little about current bikes and only just thought about eliminating car dependency I think it would be a recipe for disaster for you to try to just have one bike and no car.
In your situation I would get a second hand electric car if possible and a 'commuter' bike (flatbar, mudguards, panniers) that can double up as transportation for short errands. The bike doesn't have to be electric unless you live in a hilly area or further than 10 kms from work. You can then gradually work on eliminating car dependency (you and your family) .
Food for thought: I ride my bikes for commute and recreation more kms per year than I drive my car and with the money saved on petrol, tolls and parking I can afford to buy a mid-level bike every other year… I save $40 a day on tolls, parking and petrol (this is the smallest saving) commuting by bike… that is a few thousand $ a year savings…
Go Zen, build your own.
Get youself a first generation hummer, that way you'll never use it