EU taxes, thinking, and allowing is way different than USA!

[fxr3]

I suppose I am thankful for EU. For they are the ones advancing ebikes- I guess.
I'll use Germany from here out. Gas tax=$3.00 gallon, $6.00 a gallon at the pump. yet speed limits on hwys are 80mph. We all know how much more gas is burned at 80 vs. 65, but 65 would likely be dangerously slow. So, much driving at all could be cost prohibitive. Enter ebikes: great solution, if you don't mind top speed of 15mph! The transportation idea gets weak at 15mph, just like it does here at 20mph, after you've owned a 28mph bike.
Of course, if you don't mind the taxing of registration, you can ride the 28mph bike there.
Seems crystal clear that Europe is not pro-bike for reasons like lessening traffic, reducing emissions, and improving general health and happiness. And I cannot imagine a little more fight from general public for allowing 3.00 tax on gas, yet 15mph top speed on ebikes. The gas tax revenue is most important, otherwise ebike speed limit would be increased. I'll bet there are not many free bus or subway trips avaiable either, but idk.
Quick math reveals if USA put a 3.00 tax on gas, with over a billion gallons a day being sold, puts our impossible debt into being paid in full in less than 30 years. That tax would be a bit hard to swallow, but can you imagine then restricting ebikes speed to 15mph? Ouch
Really, just another reason to "thank god I'm American".
All my figures are not exact, but are close.

 

[pxpaulx]

I suppose I am thankful for EU. For they are the ones advancing ebikes- I guess.
I'll use Germany from here out. Gas tax=$3.00 gallon, $6.00 a gallon at the pump. yet speed limits on hwys are 80mph. We all know how much more gas is burned at 80 vs. 65, but 65 would likely be dangerously slow. So, much driving at all could be cost prohibitive. Enter ebikes: great solution, if you don't mind top speed of 15mph! The transportation idea gets weak at 15mph, just like it does here at 20mph, after you've owned a 28mph bike.
Of course, if you don't mind the taxing of registration, you can ride the 28mph bike there.
Seems crystal clear that Europe is not pro-bike for reasons like lessening traffic, reducing emissions, and improving general health and happiness. And I cannot imagine a little more fight from general public for allowing 3.00 tax on gas, yet 15mph top speed on ebikes. The gas tax revenue is most important, otherwise ebike speed limit would be increased. I'll bet there are not many free bus or subway trips avaiable either, but idk.
Quick math reveals if USA put a 3.00 tax on gas, with over a billion gallons a day being sold, puts our impossible debt into being paid in full in less than 30 years. That tax would be a bit hard to swallow, but can you imagine then restricting ebikes speed to 15mph? Ouch
Really, just another reason to "thank god I'm American".
All my figures are not exact, but are close.

I dunno - I'd gladly pay to insure and register a speed pedelec e-bike if there was proper infrastructure for its use where I lived.

 

[raymann112]

I commute 60 miles to work, usually I take the train but it doesn't run on weekends which I work at least one day of so I have to drive that at least once a week. I just filled my car up at $2.05 so I shiver to think of a $3.00 gas tax.

That said, I live out in the country and can't even ride my bike on the street in front of my house as cars go 55mph minimum on these roads (with no shoulder or sidewalk). I have to take my bike into town or a nearby subdivision to ride. I do understand the lack of infrastructure though, no one wants to pay more taxes, the population density isn't that high, and even if there were bike lanes everywhere per capita use would be much lower than in a city as people still have to travel much further to get where they need to go. Plus it's the south, temps are about to hit high 80's/90's everyday with high humidity, ain't like europe and no one wants to go into work after riding in that.

 

[Tbone]

Not unlike electric cars, e-bikes have somewhat of an uphill battle when it comes to transportation infrastructure integration. The main issue for electric cars is charging time and where/how to charge. For e-bikes it's road ways and the ridiculous cost of these things.

Btw, while checking out the real-estate market recently I looked at a renovated/restored apartment that was for sale. Part of the renovation was that the garage was equipped with high voltage connector for an electric car. Cool!

After testing the faster e-bikes (s-pedelecs) I concluded that I don't need the higher speed but instead prefer more battery distance and less stress while in traffic. I live in Germany and gave up my car last year because I'm sick & tired of the traffic and wasteful costs, taxes, etc. The part of Germany I live in easily resembles a total highway construction zone that spans the most densely populated region of the country (NRW). These construction zones are scheduled to be active for many, many years to come. (It's part of how Germans spend those high taxes on gas.) The only time you can drive the no speed limit autobahns is at 3am--and even then you can only do it until you hit another construction zone which then takes you down to US highway speeds.

Luckily there has been quite a bit of effort from Germany to integrate e-bikes (15mph) into the transport system. Although I don't agree with how the EU/Germany categorises e-bikes, I'm not sure how else at this time it should be done. To me the issue shouldn't be the speed of the bike but instead the proprietary anti-consumer aspect of the motors and batteries! In my opinion--and as a former motorcyclist--S-pedelecs (28mph) are too slow for traffic anyway and once you modify them to go even faster, their batteries are stressed out.

In the urban environment I live in, I'm betting that a pedelec (15mph), using bags and racks, will replace my car and will allow me to travel 60-100 km with ease. The only other question will be how I deal with using it in winter or bad weather.

Oh.

And then there's the issue that I ordered a Riese & Müller Charger GX Touring in mid-March and I'm still (f'n) waiting for it. Major bummer! If I ever get it, I'll post more about the experience here.

-t