What do people think about electric bike law?

[rog_london]

Unless they agree to swap and call it quits.
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Haha! You're assuming the copper catches him, presumably? All sorts of daft thoughts come to mind thinking about that, which I'll keep to myself as there's at least one policeman on here who has taken exception to my sense of humour in the recent past....

Rog.

 

[Mussels]

I certainly think the 15mph assist limit is as much as we could hope for, especially as it's unlikely to be rigidly enforced. Many on here seem to return to the 'if only they were a bit faster' time and again, but that's never going to happen in general.

If the limit was raised to 20mph then people would be calling for a limit of 25, I have occasional close shaves on cycle paths at 20 due to speed* so 25 would result in crashes.
* Usually from cars driving across it without looking.

 

[Patrick]

I think the only sensible part of electric assist bike law is the assist speed limit to keep them akin to bicycles.

The power available within that is a matter for designers, not legislators, and they should be free to provide a range of powers to cope with all hills for every degree of user fitness, enabling all the elderly and the partially disabled to be better served..

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The upper weight limit has no point and shouldn't exist since designers will always try to make e-bikes light anyway.

It's not just speed that needs to be limited but momentum and acceleration as well.

If you get rid of the power and the weight limit then you could turn any powerful electric motorbike into an ebike by adding pedals and limiting it to 15mph, you could get some real two wheeled tanks.

I think that the power limit could in principle be replaced by an acceleration limit to allow for more power uphill etc., but I'm not sure how practical that would be. In that case the weight limit would need to stay to stop two wheeled monsters, but as you say it doesn't really effect most manufacturers who are trying to keep their bikes as light as possible.

 

[flecc]

If the limit was raised to 20mph then people would be calling for a limit of 25

True, and that's the trouble with limits. If we didn't have one no doubt most e-bikers would still be riding around at reasonable speeds like 15 mph with the occasional one doing 20 as they already do anyway.

We had a precedent with the petrol add-on cyclemotors in the 1950s which had no speed limits, but they were generally used sensibly.
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[flecc]

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If you get rid of the power and the weight limit then you could turn any powerful electric motorbike into an ebike by adding pedals and limiting it to 15mph, you could get some real two wheeled tanks.

The law does already require that the pedals be realistically functional to deal with the powered scooters with vestigial pedals that were brought in a while ago, so that would protect against any "tanks". I couldn't see anyone creating such a tank anyway with the speed cutoff almost instantaneous at 15 mph.

I don't think acceleration is a problem, the most powerful ebikes with strong rider assistance already getting to 15 mph almost too quick to measure, so more power wouldn't gain anything appreciable. The range requirements already provide a barrier to really excessive power and I think this sort of natural design limitation infinitely preferable to excess laws.
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[Alex728]

As far as I know nobody has been 'pulled' for doing any of that, but sooner or later it will happen, and I think our best defence is to keep a low profile. If a copper on his nice new police Wisper gets left for dead by someone on an Optibike, I can see we'll all be in trouble sooner rather than later.

Rog.

I believe there have already been investigations and arrests in Met / City of London areas due to illegally converted electric rickshaws.

IME most bobbies who are genuinely interested in bicycles (and there are some) are very clued up about them and willing to monitor and enforce the laws relating to bicycles...

also AFAIK there is no official speed limit for bicycles, conventional or electric; the offence is "careless/dangerous cycling" or even the rather archaic definition of "furious riding" and the definition of exactly what this entails is left up to the discretion of the constables..

 

[flecc]

I believe there have already been investigations and arrests in Met / City of London areas due to illegally converted electric rickshaws.

It wasn't a police initiative though. There are various interests strongly opposed to the "rickshaws" and only too pleased to make trouble for them, and council officials were involved in this inspection operation, accompanied by the police.

also AFAIK there is no official speed limit for bicycles, conventional or electric; the offence is "careless/dangerous cycling" or even the rather archaic definition of "furious riding" and the definition of exactly what this entails is left up to the discretion of the constables..

Yes, our speed limits are part of motor vehicle legislation so bikes would need to have separate speed control law. The position is not so clear cut for e-bikes though. The UK e-bike legislation refers to them being exempted from some provisions of motor vehicle legislation, so there's room for a test case to squeeze through that loophole.
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[JohnInStockie]

True, and that's the trouble with limits. If we didn't have one no doubt most e-bikers would still be riding around at reasonable speeds like 15 mph with the occasional one doing 20 as they already do anyway.

We had a precedent with the petrol add-on cyclemotors in the 1950s which had no speed limits, but they were generally used sensibly.
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Yep makes sense to me. If we had the 250W limit, then no speed limit sounds cool after all there is no limit applied to a non-electric bikes. Of course the battery technology is self-limiting to a degree. As we all know the energy required to go beyond 20mph is mostly used fighting wind resistance.

 

[flecc]

Of course the battery technology is self-limiting to a degree. As we all know the energy required to go beyond 20mph is mostly used fighting wind resistance.

That's exactly the approach I prefer John. When the technology applies it's own limits, it's surely better to let that occur naturally than impose imperfect and unnecessary laws. The law as it stands seems to be both belt and braces, the power limit and the speed limit both aiming to do the same thing, but just conflicting as a result.
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