Salem’s ‘Volt & Vibe’ event showcases e-bike options

Furthering efforts to support more sustainable travel on its roads, the city of Salem recently hosted its first exposition to highlight e-bike and personal electric vehicle options for the public.

On June 29, the city hosted “Volt & Vibe: An Eco-Rider Showcase” on the campus of Salem State University. Attendees were able to learn about e-bikes and personal electric vehicles, and test-ride the vehicles.

“This showcase is a great way for people to try something new and explore alternative modes of transportation,” Mayor Dominick Pangallo said in an announcement about the event. “It is another example of Salem’s ongoing efforts to reduce emissions, traffic, and congestion, and make it easier to get around the city in a healthy and fun way.”

Stacy Kilb, Salem’s engagement coordinator and energy coach, has previously organized expos for electric cars and vehicles.

“I really thought personal electric vehicles — like bikes and scooters and one-wheels and unicycles — really kind of needed their own setting, their own thing,” Kilb said, “because I’ve just seen more and more of them around town, and the interest is there.”

“Volt & Vibe” arrived just a couple of months after the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center launched the Massachusetts E-Bike Voucher Program, to provide income-based incentives of up to $1,200 toward electric bicycle purchases.

Kilb said the roughly 25 people who attended the event represented a range of interests and needs. At least half of the exhibitors came from Boston PEV, the area’s largest community-run group of people with personal electric vehicles. Others were vehicle owners Kilb met through outreach and networking at other events, including the Salem Kicks Gas electric vehicle expo in April. One of the exhibitors rode in on two unicycles, with one foot on each.

“I think just having real people there who own the bikes and ride them every day — for them to talk and answer their specific questions that were particular to their situations — was helpful,” Kilb said.

The event featured about 20 vehicles, including long-tail cargo bikes that can carry passengers; a smaller cargo bike; a bunch bike, resembling a tricycle in reverse, with the rider sitting above the single wheel and a bucket placed atop the double wheels in front; a standard, non-cargo electrical bicycle; 10 unicycles; and a scooter. One exhibitor brought a Tracer Raptor bicycle, which Kilb described as the “low rider of e-bikes.”

“The coolness factor of that was just off the charts,” she said.

Kilb also worked with several sponsors, including HomeWorks Energy, A&A Services and Armstrong Field Realty, which paid for the police detail and box lunches for the exhibitors and volunteers. Other participating organizations included the Salem Alliance for the Environment and the Salem Bicycling and Shared Path Advisory Committee.

Kilb said safety was a key focus of the event. Work is underway on a Salem Safety Action Plan to improve road safety, and the Salem Walking Advocacy Group is engaged in safety issues for cyclists and pedestrians.

Based on positive feedback from exhibitors and attendees, Kilb said she would consider having another “Volt & Vibe” event next year, but she might move the event to September, when more people are around. This year’s event was a good start, however.

“I think, overall, that people had a great time,” Kilb said.