In early 2024, the City of Atlanta announced a joint electric bike rebate program alongside the Atlanta Regional Commission and Propel ATL. That time has finally arrived.
Starting Sunday June 16, City of Atlanta residents could apply for one of four rebate program tiers:
- Standard E-Bike ($500)
- Standard E-Cargo Bike ($1000)
- Income Qualified E-Bike ($1500)
- Income Qualified E-Cargo Bike ($2000)
Expecting a high demand of applicants, the city only gave a one week period for applicants which expired Sunday June 23. By the end of the week, they had about 9,000 applicants.
Now, those applicants have been selected at random for the rebates and can be used to purchase e-bikes to ride on the streets of Atlanta. About 400 applicants were selected for this round of rebates.
The table below outlines how rebate funds were distributed across those four categories; General e-bike had the bulk percentage of total applicants with 34 percent, while the most rebate recipients selected came from the Income qualified standard e-bike category.
| Applicants | % of total applicants | Rebate Recipients Selected | % Selected of total applicants | Total Spend | Percent of Funds | |
| Income qualified standard e-bike | 2,402 | 27% | 150 | 2% | $225,000 | 45% |
| Income qualified cargo e-bike | 1,547 | 17% | 75 | 1% | $150,000 | 30% |
| General e-bike | 3,028 | 34% | 126 | 1% | $63,000 | 13% |
| General cargo e-bike | 1,910 | 21% | 62 | 1% | $62,000 | 12% |
Applicants who were not selected will be offered the chance to opt-in into subsequent lotteries, according to Propel ATL, without having to fill out a new application.
Awardees will be able to redeem their rebates from one of 12 shops inside the cities boundaries that are partnered with the initiative. A full interactive map of participating locations can be found here.
Kathy Woirol, owner of the electric bike shop Pedego Atlanta since 2021 and one of the 12 certified shops, is excited for the rebates to finally be in swing. She said that she’s been waiting over a year to see this initiative fully realized and originally heard it would be launching on Earth Day in 2023.
“It’s about time, that’s my honest answer,” Woirol said. “I’m hoping that it means that people are going to go out and shop for e-bikes.”
While awards were notified this past week, the partnering organizations will still need to verify the applicants’ eligibility — things like their City of Atlanta address and their yearly earnings for those applied for the income qualified tiers — over the course of the next few weeks.
Still, Woirol is hoping people will start entering her shop by late July.
These rebates should be a big help for people looking to get into this alternative mode of transportation, Woirol expects, since e-bikes can cost thousands of dollars. The bikes in her shop, for example, start at around $2000.
Regardless of how many people buy from her shop, however, Woirol also said that the initiative has raised awareness around the biking community in the city. A rider herself, she’s seen the city embrace bikes and e-bikes more and more.
“E-bikes are still relatively a new concept to the mass market, so I’m hoping that the program has raised awareness particularly for people who otherwise would not get on a bike,” Woirol said. “I’m hoping that the program is helping more people understand that they still can get on a bike and enjoy it.”
She added that events like Propel ATL’s Atlanta Streets Alive, where portions of major roads like Peachtree Street are closed to allow bikers to cruise down safely, have been helpful in raising awareness for e-bikes; the event now hosts e-bike expos along their riding corridors, where riders can see and test e-bikes to get a better feel for them.
The next Streets Alive is scheduled for July 28th.
Author’s note: This article has been updated to include the table detailing the rebate distribution across category.
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