Cornwall e-cycles pilot shares lessons learnt

A compilation of lessons learnt and case studies from the Cornwall e-cycles pilot – to inform and inspire others planning e-cycle initiatives.

The Cornwall E-Cycles Pilot (2021-2022) aimed to give Cornish residents e-cycle taster experiences, to encourage them to purchase their own e-bike and get cycling more. It was funded by the Department for Transport and delivered by Cornwall Council and Wheels 2 Work South West.

The Cornwall E-Cycles Pilot Evaluation’s Practitioner Guide overviews the pilot’s three initiatives:

• E-cycle roadshows
• ‘Opportunity to try’ fleet loans
• ‘Wheels 2 Work electric’ loans

The guide shares 15 lessons learnt from these schemes, as well as from the pilot’s experience of buying, insuring and maintaining a large fleet of e-cycles, and of monitoring and evaluation. The guide also includes case studies of participating workplaces and individuals, notably Devon and Cornwall Police.

Cornwall E-Cycles Pilot Evalution

The companion Cornwall E-Cycles Pilot Evaluation report reviews the overall impact of the pilot, showing that it:

• Bridged the cycling gender gap – with similar participation levels from women and men
• Attracted interest from a younger age profile – as many e-cyclists are typically 60+
• Got more people cycling – as a quarter of participants were not previously cyclists
• Got people on lower incomes to work and training – via Wheels 2 Work electric loans

PROCESS EVALUATION

For this project, The Smarter Choice Consultancy led the process evaluation. We held qualitative interviews with key people involved in the delivery of the project, as well as with a selection of the businesses and individuals which took part.

In drafting the Practitioner Guide our aim was to present the key learning from the pilot in an engaging and easy-to-read format, so that policy-makers and practitioners planning their own e-bike initiatives can dip in to it for inspiration, and pre-empt potential issues and their solutions.

This project was completed as a sub-contractor to Transport for Quality of Life, working in partnership with the University of the West of England’s Centre for Transport and Society. The client was the Department for Transport. 

Find out more

Explore the suite of evaluation reports:

• Cornwall E-Cycles Pilot Evaluation
• Cornwall E-Cycles Pilot Evaluation: Social Research Appendices
• Cornwall E-Cycles Pilot Evaluation: Learning for Practitioner’s

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