Industry eBike regulation discussion

[JRA]

E-bike regulation discussion an ‘eye-opener’ for industry

DANA POINT, Calif. (BRAIN) — The closing session at this year’s Bicycle Leadership Conference was not the flashiest or the best attended. But it probably was the most sobering 60 minutes of the two-day conference.

www.bicycleretailer.com

The penalties already on the books are very stiff and directed at the sales/manufacturers.

 

[Ken M]

What I find very troubling is that People for Bikes along with Larry PIzzi and Claudia Wasko seemingly have set their goal to have the poorly conceived 3-class system adopted at the federal level. It's a poorly thought out system that threw in a class for throttles because the EU didn't allow throttles which makes no sense whatsoever. The definition for a "Low Speed Electric Bicycle" in HR727 is far more elegant than the 3-class system and an LSEB should be allowed to be ridden as a bike (it was that way in most states for over 12 years and it was working fine). The states should have focused on just regulating "use" and not redefining what a compliant ebike is or parsing the federal definition into classes for no reason other than approximate product harmonization with Europe.

The federal definition clearly established a power limit at 20mph and above at what would sustain a 170lb rider on a level surface at 20mph. But that is not an assist speed limit as most people interpret it as (everyone must recognize that power is what limits the speed of bikes - always has). That level of power is allowed to continue beyond 20mph. That does not make LSEBs super fast, in fact that continued assist (~300-350W) pretty much allows average top speeds in the 28mph range with reasonable effort from the rider. By the way, the largest biking study ever conducted in Europe found that over 90% of non-ebike riders would achieve speeds in excess of 28mph on most rides (obviously going down hills but regardless of how that is a speed most felt comfortable going). There was zero merit to the 3-class system defining assist "cut-offs" (which it seems no rider likes) at 20mph when power is what limits a riders ability to achieve speeds so it should also be what establishes the motor's contribution as well. The PhD electrical engineer that drafted the definition in HR727 understood this and sadly non of the lawyers or representatives at People for Bikes does.