They're already hugely popular in Germany and Holland, but electric bikes are now gaining ground as more and more Brits shun cars and mopeds for the greener transport. Journalist Kate Hodal tries one out and finds that it's a whole lot of 'wheee!'.

It's just two degrees outside and a drearily grey night in Amsterdam. Not the kind of weather that would encourage most Brits out on a bicycle jaunt.

Yet here in Holland, where eight out of every 10 people own a bike, every single one of them seems to be out on the road.

While most of them are tootling along on rusty, upright bikes, a select few - me included - are on e-bikes, the green cycling revolution that has already taken China by storm and is now working its magic westwards through Europe to the UK.

E-bikes are just like regular bicycles, with the added advantage of a battery and electric motor. Some have a throttle that allows the cyclist to speed up, while the motors on others can function via the pedals. Either way, the motor speeds the ride up to 15mph - offering the perfect mix of exercise and power for any commuter anywhere in the world.

I've come to Holland, where e-bike sales have doubled in just the past three years, to test-drive the newest models. As I set off wobbly from the hotel, just steps from Amsterdam's central train station, my motor soon kicks in and I'm steadied as I whizz past tall blonde Dutch women carrying babies, flowers and work satchels on their own non-electric bikes.

I feel like a child who has just learned how to cycle without training wheels - free, invincible and glorious.

:: A brief history The electric bicycle was first developed in America in 1895, but it's only in the past few years that the battery technology has become advanced enough for the e-bike to become a genuine alternative mode of transport, says Mark Loveridge of Ultra Motor [www.ultramotor.com], a company specialising in e-bikes here in the UK.

"Electric bikes have really come a long way," he says, pointing to the e-bicycle's streamlined, 2.2kg, lithium-ion battery and small speed controller on the handlebars.

"As fuel prices increase and the congestion charge is introduced in more cities across the UK, the electric bike will no doubt become a serious contender for commuters.

"You can get to the office sweat-free, you don't have to wait around for public transportation, and it's great for businesses who want a quick but cheap way of making deliveries."

Here in the Netherlands, where there are more bicycles than people (18 million bikes for 16 million inhabitants), electric bikes account for a third of all bicycle sales, despite selling for between £900 and £4080.

It's a trend that is undoubtedly set to increase, says Ralf van Kempen, owner of Holland's only all-electric bike shop Juizz.

"Initially, e-bikes were bought only by disabled and elderly people, who had trouble getting around.

"But now people of all ages - literally, from 16 to 70 - are catching on to how cool they are. You can commute to work or school 15km away in just 30 minutes. If you did that in public transport or in a car, it would take double the time."

E-bikes need only four to five hours to fully charge and can travel 20 miles on a single charge - for just 5p worth of electricity. According to RAC research, a 1200cc petrol car would cost £2 to complete the same journey.

The e-bike revolution has been going for some time in China, where some 120 million electric bikes have started replacing pollution-heavy mopeds and motorcycles. In Germany, e-bike sales are expected to quadruple (from 100,000) over the next three years; in America, over 200,000 e-bikes were sold last year.

In the UK, over 30,000 are expected to sell this year, with sales trebling by 2012. Police in London already use e-bikes on patrol in the Royal Parks and big names like Trek and Raleigh have their own that sell for upwards of £1,300.

In the UK, the e-bike has just found a mainstream UK distributor, Halfords, where Urban Mover's Dutch-style upright electric bikes and mountain e-bikes retail for a fraction of what they cost in Holland (prices start at £650).

"E-bikes offer a real alternative to people concerned about rising fuel prices and environmental damage caused by conventional petrol and diesel engines," says Sue Crawford of Halfords.

"We're convinced that, as in other parts of Europe, they will not be a short-term trend."

Needing some convincing myself, I tested Urban Mover's Dutch-style upright e-bike [www.urbanmover.com], which boasts extended warranties on both bike and battery.

Despite being heavier than my normal road bike (at 22.2kg, including the removable battery), and perhaps impossible for a skinny girl like myself to carry up and down flights of stairs, as my life requires, the ride is fantastic.

Smooth, shock-absorbing and delightful, I found that I could easily adjust my speed to the size of the hills, much like using cruise control on a car, and equally could slow down at red lights or when merging with other cyclists. The motor actually cuts out when you press on the brake.

E-bikes function through a spring-loaded crank in the pedals that compresses when you cycle, sending a boost of electricity from the battery to the motor to speed up your ride. A controller on the handlebars manages your speed and tells you how much battery life you have left. The battery lasts 800 recycles, or around three years, and costs £300 to replace.

Recent UK sales trends show that the average buyer is aged 55 and over, with many couples buying two bikes to take on holiday.

"E-bikes don't replace regular bikes. Instead, they take people out of their cars and onto two wheels, rather than taking them off of non-powered bicycles," says Loveridge, also co-founder of the non-profit British Electric Bicycle Association [www.beba.com].

"They'll put them in the caravan and go abroad, or they'll buy an e-bike to replace the second car."

So why isn't everyone on an e-bike? Well, research has shown that Brits - once cycling enthusiasts before the car revolution of the 1950s - cycle less than their European neighbours because they worry about theft and road safety. In the past week, two cyclists have been killed in London alone.

While those are valid concerns, says Dutch road safety expert Roelof Wittink, they can be reversed with government help.

"It took 30 years of bike-friendly policies for the Netherlands to develop into the cycling nation that it is today.

"It didn't happen by surprise or overnight. In fact the automobile was once so popular in Holland that the city of Utrecht planned to pave over its canals to make way for more roads."

He adds that while their country may have an established transport system, it still needs investment. Amsterdam, which boasts more cyclists than car drivers, recently invested 70 million Euros to help modernise cycle paths and routes over a four-year period.

Cost-wise, getting more people cycling is a no-brainer for both the consumer and local government, Wittink says. He points out that creating roads for cars cost 10 times more than they do for cycle paths; parking for cars is 15 times more costly than parking for bicycles.

The key to cycling success in the UK, he says, is down to establishing a coherent network of safe, attractive, comfortable and direct routes available to the cyclist.

"Once cars travel faster than 15mph, you need separate bike lanes," he says, noting that this special rule in Holland has cut down on some 54% fewer cyclist fatalities (and 48% fewer car fatalities too).

He hopes that, one day, the UK will be as cycle-savvy as its tulip-flowering neighbour, where even the royal family has been known to cycle to official appointments.

"We really do use the bicycle for everything," says Wittink.

"People even get married while cycling."