I can't say I agree. For one thing there is this: "The federal government has deemed Class 1 e-bikes as exempt from motorized vehicle classification"
"The federal Consumer Product Safety Act defines a "low speed electric bicycle" as a two or three wheeled vehicle with fully operable pedals, a top speed when powered solely by the motor under 20 mph (32 km/h) and an electric motor that produces less than 750 W (1.01 hp). The Act authorizes the Consumer Product Safety Commission to protect people who ride low-speed electric vehicles by issuing necessary safety regulations.
[61] The rules for e-bikes on public roads, sidewalks, and pathways are under state jurisdiction, and vary.
In conformance with legislation adopted by the U.S. Congress defining this category of electric-power bicycle (15 U.S.C. 2085(b)), CPSC rules stipulate that
low speed electric bicycles[62] (to include two- and three-wheel vehicles)
are exempt from classification as motor vehicles providing they have fully operable pedals, an electric motor of less than 750W (1 hp), and a top motor-powered speed of less than 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) when operated by a rider weighing 170 pounds.[63] An electric bike remaining within these specifications is subject to the CPSC consumer product regulations for a
bicycle.
Commercially manufactured e-bikes exceeding these power and speed limits are regulated by the federal DOT and NHTSA as motor vehicles, and must meet additional safety requirements. The legislation enacting this amendment to the CPSC is also known as HR 727.
[64] The text of HR 727 includes the statement: "
This section shall supersede any State law or requirement with respect to low-speed electric bicycles to the extent that such State law or requirement is more stringent than the Federal law or requirements." (Note that this refers to consumer product regulations enacted under the Consumer Product Safety Act. Preemption of more stringent state consumer product regulations does not limit State authority to regulate the use of electric bicycles, or bicycles in general, under state vehicle codes.)
While Federal law governs consumer product regulations for "low speed electric bicycles", as with motor vehicles and bicycles, regulation of how these products are used on public streets is subject to state vehicle codes. There is significant variation from state to state, as summarized below."
There is nothing in the Federal law that states anything about Class type bicycles, those regs are the ones being adopted by states, starting with California, and being backed by People for Bikes which is the lobbying arm of the bicycle manufacturers. So all an eBike has to do under Federal regs is to abide by the 15 U.S.C. 2085(b) as stated above in bold.
According to HR 727 the Federal regs as set by the CPSC don't allow use of higher wattage or higher speed than 20 mph and the Class 3 law is not more stringent but more lax. However the language in the last sentence does open the door for state vehicle codes to regulate eBikes so I assume that is how the Class laws are being enacted. However if there is a problem at some point with a Class 3 bike the Federal regs could be looked to I suppose.
Not all states have enacted the Class laws and I would think that not all states will. The Federal regs are actually fine as they stand IMHO and the Class 1 laws being championed by PFB are just more convenient for the manufacturers that sell bikes here as well as in the EU as they, with the exception of the higher 32kmh speed limit, mirror them so they don't have to do much more than a software change to the bikes.
There is not going to be any quick solution to trail access here in the states regardless of the laws or how they are interpreted. It is going to take time for eBikes themselves to prove that they are not what the mtb users think and it is going to be up to those that want to see the change to act responsibly and do what they can to bring about the change over time.
