ride a bike for almost two hours each way ... [or a] 18 minute car ride.

That's the problem we want to fix.

Telling Grandma/grandpa to use an ebike in the snow or in lethal wet bulb temperatures isn't a real solution. It's great that it worked for your folks but it cannot work for mine.

It's not uncommon for population centers in the US to be basically uninhabitable without AC/climate control.

The air can be so saturated with water that you cannot evaporate sweat which is the primary way your body sheds heat.

It is unsafe for anyone, let alone the elderly, to travel in these conditions unless you have a vehicle with climate control.

You don't even have to be old. Ebikes are car replacements and can tow children, groceries, and furniture with ease. They flatten hills, get you to work on time and without sweat, and significantly extend the realistic travel radius around your home/work/last transit stop. Expect to pay pennies to recharge it, rather than two or three figures for a full tank of gas.

Any fitness benefits you get are just a cherry on top. Ebikes just make it so much easier to skip the car trips in your village or city.

I know this might sound pedantic but I will try to write with love. 90% of the world population buy groceries weekly or more often. Many European countries buy fresh food on the daily. Yes, from the grocery downstairs, or across the road. Car centric urban design fucked you up. It's built for the car, not for human beings. Your perception and expectations are completely out of wack with normal human existence.

For example, Costco style mega stores are not a thing in almost all of the world. No, no one needs a 3 year supply of mustard for a family of 4. Most businesses don't need a heavy duty truck, why would a middle class family need one just to get to the school and office. You don't need a 4x4 for the two trips a year you take to the mountains, on an asphalt road.

It's all bizarre, it is all out of proportion. But it is not a personal failure, oil corporations and car manufacturers created this weird mar on the planet that is suburban sprawl and car dependent infrastructure. We just live with the consequences.

I wouldn't ask my 9YO on a bike at 7:30 am on winter to go to school everyday

Why not? In a lot of the world that's pretty normal.

When I was a kid I walked 30-40 minutes to and from school in the winter. I would have preferred to bike, but they didn't clear the bike lanes. In places in Europe they make plowing the bike lanes a priority, so everybody can count on being able to commute by bike.

The place we go to the most is on the other side of mountains 3 hours away by car.

You shouldn't have to rely on a car to get somewhere that's that far away. It's more reasonable to take a train to get that kind of distance.

Groceries would have to be more regular. I currently fill the car and go like once a month or month and a half

Do you not like fresh food? Do you ever eat fruit or vegetables? Or meat that hasn't been frozen?

You can just take some other transportation for long trips.