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news
Don't expect to get into racing on the new e-bikes (CC BY-NC 2.0 by Bill Collison:Flickr)Department for Transport plans faster, more powerful e-bikes
The Department for Transport has opened consultation on changes to the regulations governing electric bikes to allow them to be faster and more powerful. But don't get too excited—high-speed electric bikes aren't on the table, the changes will just align UK rules with European practice.
At the moment, electric-assisted bikes are limited to 200 watts and 15mph. The proposed rules will increase the power to 250 watts and the speed at which the power assist cuts off to 15.5mph. That whopping speed boost comes because European rules set the speed cut-off for electric assistance at 25 km/h - 15.5mph.
Carlton Reid, executive editor of trade magazine Bike Biz, describes the DfT's consultation process on new rules for bikes, electric and otherwise, as "glacially slow". The DfT last reviewed the rules in 2010, and the latest proposals arise from research by the Transport Research Laboratory.
Mostly, this is an exercise in trimming red tape and bringing the rules up to date. The current rules, the Electrically Assisted Pedal Cycles (EAPC) Regulations 1983, were drawn up in the lead-acid battery era and set rules about the weight of electric bikes and even how many wheels an electric-assist vehicle can have. Under the proposed rules, electric-assist quadricycles - pedal cars - will become legal in the UK.
The rules also clarify slightly the position of "twist and go" electric bikes. Bikes that can be ridden with just the motor providing power were the subject of passionate debate in the trade a few years ago. The Bicycle Association (BA), the GB bike maker and importer trade body, decided twist and go e-bikes were electric mopeds and wanted nothing to do with them.
The British Electric Bicycle Association (BEBA) argued that twist and go electric bikes were so low-powered they should be viewed as bikes. After all, they pointed out, a fit cyclist on a regular bike can hit 30mph, so why should bikes capable of only half that speed be viewed as a motor bike.
The BA and BEBA eventually buried the hatchet and merged, and the DfT has come down on BEBA's side of the twist and go argument.
Twist and go bikes will be subject to type approval regulations from 2016. In Great Britain, the proposed new electric-assist rules will apply to twist and go bikes too, as long as they can be powered by the pedals and can't go faster than 15.5mph under power.
The DfT says: "Because of the particular benefits for elderly and disabled users, pedal cycles providing electrical assistance without initial use of the pedals - usually called "twist and goes" - would continue to be covered by these regulations."
The consultation on the new rules is open now and runs until December 8. The consultation document is here.
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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21 comments
I'm surely not the only person who thinks that an e-bike is somehow cheating?
And not very 'green', if you have to plug them in to charge their battery.... (yes, I have rechargeable lights, and can appreciate the irony).
25 km/hr is fast enough for daily commute/ errants. The number of older people cruising at 25 km/hr on the (now) narrow bicycle lanes in the NL is a bit worrying. On the other hand, cycling has been given a second electric powered wind. I am convinced further improvement to cycling infrastructure will follow. Life is so much more enjoyable when you can leave your car at home!
This is also a problem where I live in Münster. It's nice to see old people using bikes as there No.1 form of transport but the problem is with the doddery pensioners swerving from the left to the right constantly.
Some of them are downright dangerous and have zero spacial awareness of there surroundings.
Would this one count?
https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/motorhead-uk/lunatic-inventor-creat...
(has it already been mentioned somewhere on this site?)
(I suppose its a j-bike rather than an e-bike).
These e-bikes are not speed limited. The limit is simply a speed beyond which the motor will not provide power. Point it down the Snake Pass (or similar local incline) and you can quite happily bowl along at 40mph plus.
These e-bikes are not speed limited. The limit is simply a speed beyond which the motor will not provide power. Point it down the Snake Pass (or similar local incline) and you can quite happily bowl along at 40mph plus.
I am looking forward to the Department of Transports rules on reducing the speeds of cars.
Seems crazy that there can be rules for e-bikes but not cars.
I am looking forward to the Department of Transports rules on reducing the speeds of cars.
Seems crazy that there can be rules for e-bikes but not cars.
You're missing the point that e-bikes don't require the rider to be licensed, unlike a car or motorcycle (where restrictions exist according to age/capacity/power).
Lets hope e-bikes aren't used as a trojan horse to bring in rider licensing. You know, 'for safety'.
No, the point is that a motorist isn't licensed to drive at excess speed. It's a contradiction that unlicensed vehicles are speed limited, but the more dangerous licensed vehicles are not.
I'm not suggesting that the speed limit should be set to the national speed limit, but all cars sold in Japan for example are speed limited and have been for a few years. That was by industry agreement so as to avoid regulation.
These are the sorts of incidents we've had in London in the last twelve months, so as to illustrate the problem.
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/east-london-bus-crash-one-dead-and...
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/north-circular-crash-three-young-m...
Friends of ours recently hired a car. Part of the agreement was that if the GPS system showed they'd ever exceeded the speed limit by 15 mph or more they would pay a penalty for each infringement. Looks like the basis for a more general solution.
What I find interesting about this is that ebikes are both power and speed limited.
Unless I'm mistaken, that would make them the only form of motorised transport that has a speed limiter by law. I can buy a car capable of double or even triple the national speed limit, without limitation or additional licensing requirement.
You are mistaken.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limiter
These rules need relaxing further, 0.5kW and 18mph then we'll see a significant number of people ditching the car and learning how to ride in traffic on an eBike while they gradually get stronger and realise they'd be faster on the real thing. Think of it as a gateway drug...
I'm a pretty strong cyclist but found on some just-for-fun test rides that the biggest enjoyment of ebikes was the acceleration in traffic. You feel so secure, being able to just hold the middle of the lane. Great acceleration (0-15.5mph) on the dearer bikes!
Touring in Germany and Denmark recently I was pleasantly surprised to see how many older people were out on e-bikes. Some were touring quite long distances as well, charging in camp grounds over night.
I see an E-Bike on the commute home effortlessly gliding along and it seems the rider has hooked up a front light to the battery too as it's more like a small flourescent tube on his handlebars.
Well they are being sold as off road bikes and using them on road and they are allot more powerful than above .
Electric Mountain eBike Carrera Vengeance 2015 – 48v 1000w
One of these easily maintains 22mph
FWIW - I think ebikes are a good thing. Don't think that came across in my above post
Power cut offs are easily disabled. 10 mins on Youtube and anyone could learn to do it.