Are e-Bikes real bikes? Are they good or bad? Opinions?

[PamNY]

If someone chooses an "e-bike" over a scooter, I have serious concerns about their attitude towards safety. Do they feel they can ride an e-bike, but not a scooter, without paying attention to traffic? On the sidewalk? Without a helmet? Without good motor control? Without good leg strength to support the bike at a stop? None of the above are true.

You raise interesting questions. I see quite a few e-bikes in Manhattan and haven't noticed unsafe riding. As a group, I'd label them conservative riders (this is just an impression, of course, not a scientific observation). They do ride on the bike path, which is probably technically a violation of the motorized vehicles rule, but they don't cause problems that I've seen.

In Manhattan, and I'd guess in other urban areas as well, e-bikes do offer advantages over scooters. First, you can bring a bike inside an apartment building, so there's less danger of theft. Second, gas stations are few and far between.