Conversions and the law

Ace of Herts

Finding my (electric) wheels
Sep 16, 2020
9
0
Guy’s I’m planning on my first conversion and would obviously like it to have enough range & power to satisfy my needs but if I understand correctly the legal limit is 250w motor.
I see a lot of posts here referring to much larger motors & am wondering if I’m missing something or have misunderstood the legal side? Or is it just a case of no one ever checks?
 

soundwave

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 23, 2015
16,127
6,314
police are not interested but a motor has no power limit under the 15mph law for ebikes.

my bosch bike can pull way over 600w climbing a hill.
 
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MontyPAS

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 16, 2020
390
148
police are not interested but a motor has no power limit under the 15mph law for ebikes.

my bosch bike can pull way over 600w climbing a hill.
Agree, I would like to know the percentage of forum users, whose Pedelecs, are capable of exceeding the legal wattage limit, or knowingly overpowered / overated?
Think we know that already..... when we order the self install kit!
 

vfr400

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 12, 2011
9,822
3,986
Basildon
There is no legal power limit. The rule is that the motor must be rated at no more than 250w. how much power you put through it is up to you. The rating is what's on the label or in the listing, nothing to do with how much power it can handle.
 

MontyPAS

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 16, 2020
390
148
There is no legal power limit. The rule is that the motor must be rated at no more than 250w. how much power you put through it is up to you. The rating is what's on the label or in the listing, nothing to do with how much power it can handle.
OK.....I'll rephrase the hypothetical question

I would like to know the percentage of forum users, whose Pedelecs, are rated exceeding 250w or knowingly more?
Think we know that already..... when we order the 250 - 1000w self install kit! ;)
For use on our private estate land of course:rolleyes:
 

vfr400

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 12, 2011
9,822
3,986
Basildon
It's still a tricky question because you can buy exactly the same motor with different ratings, and what's more, many kits come with motors with no markings. Lastly, there's no way to test the rating of a motor, so if it has no markings, it would be difficult to determine what it is unless you 'fess up.

Let's say I ordered a motor that was identical to one in a branded 250w bike, but it's listed as 500w and has no label or it has an easy-peal label on it. Unless a prosecutor was able to go through your Paypal account to find the record of the motor you had ordered and was able to match it to the one on your bike, it would be impossible to prove that the motor doesn't meet the legal requirements; however, there's another requirement that the bike or motor is labeled with the max speed and power or manufacturer of the motor, so you have an obligation to say what it is.

Given all of the above complexities, I would say that as long as you have the correct assist speed limit set, it would be extremely difficult to prosecute anyone for having an illegal motor unless it was stamped or labelled with anything over 250w. Even then, it seems that they're still not interested.

Until now, nobody in mainland UK has been prosecuted for having an illegal pedal bike. That includes the guy who killed a woman while going very fast on a clearly illegal bike.

To answer your question, I've seen lots of instances of BBS02, BBSHD and those 500/1000/1500w direct drive motors used by forum members.
 
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Ace of Herts

Finding my (electric) wheels
Sep 16, 2020
9
0
Thanks for the replies guys.

It would be interesting to know the percentage of those using motors rated over 250w as Monty says.
 

egroover

Esteemed Pedelecer
Aug 12, 2016
976
578
56
UK
21.375%. It was 21.229% this morning, when you first asked, but a guy fitted a 1000w BBSHD this afternoon, so it's gone up.
It's back down to 21.229% now as BigJohn72 overheated and blew up his Yose350W while giving his mate a backkie on the way to the pub this afternoon. He's slung it in the neighbours skip in a fit of rage, and was last seen heading for Halfords apparently mumbling about going legit with a Carrera Crossfire-e
 
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vfr400

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 12, 2011
9,822
3,986
Basildon
It's back down to 21.229% now as BigJohn72 overheated and blew up his Yose350W while giving his mate a backkie on the way to the pub this afternoon. He's slung it in the neighbours skip in a fit of rage, and was last seen heading for Halfords apparently mumbling about going legit with a Carrera Crossfire-e
Thanks. I'll update my records.
 
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