They banned them in my town recently. I’m conflicted. I like seeing kids outside and even more so using less gas, but they absolutely fly down the road and sidewalk. There’s a lot of nuance with e-bikes - max speeds, whether they are purely throttle assist, etc. The e-bikes around me really just seem like electric motorcycles.
Those that can go more than 25 kph should be classified as e-motorcycles. But those that are limited in speed are proper e-bikes and should remain accessible to children and have a low difficulty to buy and start using. In the Netherlands there is already a clear legal difference between the two and unlicensed e-motorbikes that can exceed 25kph are illegal, they need a license plate.
It should be pretty easy to tell by the type of motor it has. An e-bike with a low-watt motor isn’t going to suddenly become a menace by flipping a fancy switch.
Likewise if a bike has a motor capable of pulling 35 mph or whatever, then it doesn’t matter if they can turn a governor on to keep it below 25 mph. It’s still got the more powerful motor and will be classified as such
Not really, a 250W (average, not peak!) motor can exceed 25km/h easily on flat ground, the only difference to a stronger motor would be the acceleration.
Well, not “easily”. I think we can agree that all else being equal pedestrian outcomes are better when motors are 250W than 600W, whether or not limited. I think it’s totally reasonable to restrict unlicensed riders to motors with power output within normal human capacity, like 100-200W.
afaik, those numbers just don’t tell you a whole lot about the actual power of the motor. A “250W motor” could produce peak power output of 1kW during short bursts, as long as the average power over a longer time is at or below 250W, they’re fully legal.
They banned them in my town recently. I’m conflicted. I like seeing kids outside and even more so using less gas, but they absolutely fly down the road and sidewalk. There’s a lot of nuance with e-bikes - max speeds, whether they are purely throttle assist, etc. The e-bikes around me really just seem like electric motorcycles.
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
I advocate treating them like motorcycles. Because they are. So, licensing, registration, training.
Though in my experience, that makes forum jockeys extremely angry. Like I’m in the pocket of Big DMV and getting a cut of their $10 fees or something.
Those that can go more than 25 kph should be classified as e-motorcycles. But those that are limited in speed are proper e-bikes and should remain accessible to children and have a low difficulty to buy and start using. In the Netherlands there is already a clear legal difference between the two and unlicensed e-motorbikes that can exceed 25kph are illegal, they need a license plate.
It’s so easy to hide a little switch to toggle “bike legal mode” on many models, in my experience that doesn’t really stop people, sadly.
It should be pretty easy to tell by the type of motor it has. An e-bike with a low-watt motor isn’t going to suddenly become a menace by flipping a fancy switch.
Likewise if a bike has a motor capable of pulling 35 mph or whatever, then it doesn’t matter if they can turn a governor on to keep it below 25 mph. It’s still got the more powerful motor and will be classified as such
Not really, a 250W (average, not peak!) motor can exceed 25km/h easily on flat ground, the only difference to a stronger motor would be the acceleration.
Disabling the electronic limit is the issue.
Well, not “easily”. I think we can agree that all else being equal pedestrian outcomes are better when motors are 250W than 600W, whether or not limited. I think it’s totally reasonable to restrict unlicensed riders to motors with power output within normal human capacity, like 100-200W.
afaik, those numbers just don’t tell you a whole lot about the actual power of the motor. A “250W motor” could produce peak power output of 1kW during short bursts, as long as the average power over a longer time is at or below 250W, they’re fully legal.