New companies selling direct-to-consumer e-bikes are popping up almost monthly. Baby boomers who gave up riding are getting back in the game, thanks to a little pedal-assist. Families who don’t want to buy a second car — or any car at all — are turning to kid-carrying cargo e-bikes.

And increasingly, Seattle’s workforce of mostly young professionals is going electric, using our network of dedicated bike lanes instead of sitting in traffic.

The bikes fly with almost no pedaling effort, allowing Seattleites to rocket up hills and get around the city with ease.

“You think about what factors are keeping people from riding a bike,” said Tom Fucoloro, founder of the popular Seattle Bike Blog. “One of them is our hilly terrain. Having an e-bike is going to change that calculus.”

A new commuter bike

It’s another busy afternoon for commuters along Dexter Avenue at Mercer Street. Cars — mostly carrying single drivers — choke the busy roadways.

There’s also a steady stream of bike commuters. Just after 5 p.m. — quitting time — a long line-up of cyclists waits patiently for the light on Mercer to change. And among them, increasingly, are e-bike riders like Chase Maben, who works at Amazon.

“I wanted to get a good commuter bike for work,” Maben said as he stood astride his Rad Power Bike, sold by a thriving e-bike company in Ballard. Maben lives on Queen Anne Hill near Seattle Pacific University. “It takes me 13 minutes to get to work,” he said.

The light changes, and off he goes as another set of riders moves into position at the intersection. Maryann Moore, who works in the Denny Triangle, pulls up on her Rad Power Bike.

“I bought it last September,” she said. The electric-assist bike “totally reduces the friction,” allowing her to travel to her home in Ballard in about 30 minutes, she said.

Most e-bike manufacturers say their main demographic is older riders — baby-boomers with mobility issues. But Maben and Moore are both young professionals working in the busy downtown core.

“The demographic is shifting younger and younger,” said Ty Collins, co-founder of Rad Power Bikes.

“As e-bikes are getting more popular with commuters, people aren’t necessarily going car-free — they’re going car-light,” he said. “In Seattle, you can often get to places faster on an e-bike than you can in a car.”