[RodRowdyBiker]

I am thinking of getting a new electric bicycle for my office commute. My main reasoning is that the time saved is significant and I will be adding one less car to the road. I think the 10km round trip commute is ideal for e-bikes, one charge lasting about 4 trips to the office and the option to pedal in case the juice runs out.

My office also provides some money for health/fitness to the tune of about Rs. 20k so it will be subsidized, and my office has covered parking for bicycles and provides charging infrastructure as well which is great. However, I am not constrained by budget. There may be marginal health benefits to using a bicycle but I plan to use it mainly in electric mode and will rarely pedal . I will admit that I have no interest in bicycles and all I am looking to do is avoid traffic by using a bicycle to skirt a bunch of traffic rules.

Keeping the above points in mind, I started looking at options, I soon realized I know nothing about what I am doing, bikes which are Rs. 25k and bikes which are Rs. 50k seem very similar. I am also not able to get a feel for the durability of these machines. Do they need to be kept clean or will they function just fine if they are caked in mud for months on end? Do they require constant maintenance at a service center? What about the tyres, do they keep their air pressure well?

So, basically I am looking for what I need to look out for.