Cameron Newland
Well-Known Member
I've got a production ebike that has a listed top speed (28 mph) that is, shall we say, "conservative".
I haven't been going all over town telling people about my S-pedelec's true top speed because I've realized that it might be better for the industry if the entire e-bike community were to publicly maintain that all of our ebikes topped out at 20 or 25mph, which might draw less negative attention from federal/state/local transportation lawmakers and from law enforcement, and might help to keep ebike sales rising at a rapid clip due to less interference from safety-zealot regulators.
I know there has been a lot of discussion over the years about listing the true range of ebikes, because manufacturers tend to overstate range significantly, so that might put us ebike consumers in the camp that might want more accurate facts about ebikes coming from manufacturers, but when it comes to top speed, do we really want to know the true top speed, or would it be better for everyone if we were kept in the dark and given vague or inaccurate top speeds, as is the case with my ebike?
Also, does your ebike go faster than its listed top speed? Do you even want it to?
I haven't been going all over town telling people about my S-pedelec's true top speed because I've realized that it might be better for the industry if the entire e-bike community were to publicly maintain that all of our ebikes topped out at 20 or 25mph, which might draw less negative attention from federal/state/local transportation lawmakers and from law enforcement, and might help to keep ebike sales rising at a rapid clip due to less interference from safety-zealot regulators.
I know there has been a lot of discussion over the years about listing the true range of ebikes, because manufacturers tend to overstate range significantly, so that might put us ebike consumers in the camp that might want more accurate facts about ebikes coming from manufacturers, but when it comes to top speed, do we really want to know the true top speed, or would it be better for everyone if we were kept in the dark and given vague or inaccurate top speeds, as is the case with my ebike?
Also, does your ebike go faster than its listed top speed? Do you even want it to?