The Idiocy Of US E-Bike Regulations, Proven By One Brown Wire - CleanTechnica
The Idiocy Of US E-Bike Regulations, Proven By One Brown Wire - CleanTechnica
Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News! While I really like my e-bikes, they have one big problem: steep inclines. With my asthma and not great shape I’m in, I can’t always make it up the steepest hills. And 500-750 watts ... [continued]
Dumb article. The author wants electric motorcycles without the hassle of licensing, registration, and insurance. She does not want an e-bike.
Eh, I think she has a point about the wattage limitation. I can see an acceleration and speed based restriction as being safe, but limiting wattage seems like an arbitrary standard.
That’s true to some extent. Those wattage numbers are pretty fuzzy depending on how it’s measured (continuous vs instantaneous power and such).
However the actual article is almost exclusively focused on being able to go 40mph+, and the hassle of making the motorbike street-legal and getting licensed.
Eh, 750 watts is like having 1.5 Tour de France elite cyclists pedal for you. It’s plenty to get up the hill.
While I really like my e-bikes, they have one big problem: steep inclines. With my asthma and not great shape I’m in, I can’t always make it up the steepest hills. And 500-750 watts of assist? That’s not going to help much on steep inclines.
Hold my 250 W European e-bike.
How steep is the "steep"?Touche
That's world tour level power output. No one need more than that to get up the hills
It varies wildly by locale, this person may live somewhere extremely hilly like San Francisco, or they may live in Kansas (scientifically proven to be literally flatter than a pancake). I can't be bothered to check.
I'll say I'm confident this person is just being a big baby about having to pedal, and basically just wants an electric motorcycle.
There are hills in SF my gas powered 125 cvt could not start on. Some had a stop sign right at the top. I would have to turn sideways across the lane, throttle and turn to start up the hill.
But that was starting from a stand still. I'm not sure how a 750w bike would handle it without having to stop. I could see them struggling though.
It's the US, everything has to be bigger for some reason.
Regarding ebicycles, which those regulations are for, I would prefer a acceleration based limit over a wattage based one. I am over 200lbs and my adult niece is probably 110/120lbs. That is a big difference for a small electric motor not even getting into cargo. Add in limits for battery size and bike weight for safety.
Regarding the brown wire issue. Couldn't they have just made it with 2 keys? A black for on public areas and a red one for private property?
Not sure the devices that are being describe in the article should be under class 1/2/3, but rather under a titled scooter category. Don't know if one exists though.
Why not just leave it at speed limits and use the power whatever the motor has until the speed limit is reached?
We already do this for cars - and we don't differ between an athlete and ..well, me, when it comes to acceleration on regular bikes, where the power limit is the human.I really don't get such low power limits on E-Bikes
Difference of needing a license to operate.
That's not proven, that's committing crime then being upset you're treated like a criminal.
But to be fair, those e-bicycles with motorbike engines should be illegal too. Cuz they're basically just "buy me to commit crime" vehicles.
There are bicycles with too big engines where I live too. They're illegal, but law enforcement is struggling to figure out how to stop them