Should electric bikes go faster

[Keezx]

…on the other hand, there’s the two kids on a tatty-looking no-pedal jobbie, with flattish tyres, pelting past me towards the mini-roundabout at the main road, which they just about managed to negotiate… their speed? It’s hard to judge, I know, but I’d peg it at somewhere between 20 and 30 mph. Exciting stuff!

Are you talking about fatbikes?
As we speak a real plague around Amsterdam....

[MartinC]

I've resisted posting this for a while but it's probably time now. I'm surprised that the people pressing for constraints on the performance of EAPC's to be raised haven't worked out that if they got their way it would be fairly promptly followed by a reasoned and popular campaign by the usual suspects in the mainstream media stream to get all EAPC's licenced, insured, taxed and banned from cyclepaths. You need to be careful what you wish for.

[rareposter]

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2024/f ... ike-motors

Article in the Guardian today, DfT opening a consultation on increasing the permitted max power of the motor. There's a fair bit of detail in there about what is/isn't included in the proposals.

[simonineaston]

I don’t want my bike to go faster. If I want a single track vehicle with better performance I’ll go back to riding a motorbike. One of the various reasons I use a bicycle is the high level of autonomy that goes with it. I don’t want to get involved in complications that result from bicycles like mine being perceived as one of those that “should be taxed, licensed and insured”.
I’ve managed without those requirements, safe and sound, for decades…

[toontra]

In my part of London where the percentage of electric bikes is approaching 50%, as an "unpowered" cyclist I already feel more at risk from these, particularly delivery riders and hire bikes, than I do from cars. They are less predictable, share my part of the road and are more likely to go through red lights and generally ride like idiots.

If their speed limit was legally increased the problem would get much worse, much more quickly.

Honestly, I can appreciate the want, or in some cases need, for power-assisted bikes but there has to be a compromise somewhere along the line. I see thousands of fit/healthy/young people using electric bikes now. It's rapidly becoming the go-to choice for getting around town and they aren't getting the health benefits from un-assisted riding.

[slowster]

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2024/f ... ike-motors

Article in the Guardian today, DfT opening a consultation on increasing the permitted max power of the motor. There's a fair bit of detail in there about what is/isn't included in the proposals.

This is already being discussed in the thread 'Is 250w enough power for modest speed up steep hills' - viewtopic.php?p=1831581#p1831581.

This thread was started to comment on a particular petition to raise the ebike speed limit, and I suggest that those wishing to discuss the consultation and the wider issue of maximum power use the other thread.

[Parklife101]

I do get disappointed with the answers here, E-bikes are not just about cycling they are aimed at the rider who wishes to use a bike to get to work on most of my club rides we cycle along at 18-22 mph i cycle a lot typically 5000 miles a year a typical e-biker who has just got an e-bike for work will simply despair when the motor kick's out at 15.5 mph its too slow to cover the miles required to commute.

No one when commuting at speeds of 15.5mph will use the new death traps called cycle lanes...lanes shared with dog walkers and pedestrians lined across the paths...no we use the now much narrower roads because of the space given up for bike lanes used for family
days out at speeds no more than 8mph.

We needed the bike lanes to be made a part of the road where no pedestrians would use and happily travel along at 20mph whether it's an E-bike or not.
The trouble here is that cyclist have have taken bikes on the various ride to work schemes are not lycra clad roadies who ride with a club
but normally travel in work gear with waterproof gear they need an E-Bike and one that will travel at 20mph at least that way they will use the car less

[Carlton green]

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/shou ... -thinks-so

Would you sign this petition?

Threads drift and, whilst useful discussion sometimes does emerge, from time to time they also benefit from being brought back towards the original post … which is what has just happened.

[mattheus]

Prof Ian Walker has given his view on this; he's in favour of 20mph:
(see screenshot below - also includes a good comment on how important eBikes are to the planet)

Copy-n-paste text version:

X · ianwalker
100+ likes · 1 day ago
As an ebike owner, I'd say the Wattage is fine - but the speed limiter needs to be raised slightly to 20 MPH.

Ian Walker

X · ianwalker
2.4K+ likes · 3 months ago
"The world's 280 million electric bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars".

[Carlton green]

I do get disappointed with the answers here, E-bikes are not just about cycling they are aimed at the rider who wishes to use a bike to get to work on most of my club rides we cycle along at 18-22 mph i cycle a lot typically 5000 miles a year a typical e-biker who has just got an e-bike for work will simply despair when the motor kick's out at 15.5 mph its too slow to cover the miles required to commute.

No one when commuting at speeds of 15.5mph will use the new death traps called cycle lanes...lanes shared with dog walkers and pedestrians lined across the paths...no we use the now much narrower roads because of the space given up for bike lanes used for family
days out at speeds no more than 8mph.

We needed the bike lanes to be made a part of the road where no pedestrians would use and happily travel along at 20mph whether it's an E-bike or not.
The trouble here is that cyclist have have taken bikes on the various ride to work schemes are not lycra clad roadies who ride with a club
but normally travel in work gear with waterproof gear they need an E-Bike and one that will travel at 20mph at least that way they will use the car less

To my mind I’m not unsympathetic with that perspective but it does bring us right back to what’s a moped and what isn’t. The privilege of limited power and speed electrical assistance we now are lucky to have on what are nominally push bikes will be lost if this is pushed too far. Let’s simply be clear that anything beyond the limited power and speed we now have as a privilege should be regarded as a moped. Personally I think mopeds and small motorbikes are great enablers and far better for the environment than cars, but that’s a separate discussion.

[mattheus]

Let’s simply be clear that anything beyond the limited power and speed we now have as a privilege should be regarded as a moped. Personally I think mopeds and small motorbikes are great enablers and far better for the environment than cars, but that’s a separate discussion.

Yes, twice yes!

But how many people are using them? The "privilege" of ease-of-use that comes with eBikes also ecnourages thousands to use them.
So the whole of society benefits.

[of course we do still have to decide on the magic speed number that divides these classes, and that is going to be a looooooooooooooong complicated debate!]

[toontra]

[of course we do still have to decide on the magic speed number that divides these classes, and that is going to be a looooooooooooooong complicated debate!]

What's wrong with 16mph? That's the speed of a relatively fit regular cyclist. Electric bikes limited to 16 also have the huge attraction of assistance going uphill - probably the single biggest deterrent for those new to cycling who are considering it.

Once you get beyond 16mph you're into a different realm, more akin to other motorised forms of transport and away from the concept of a "bicycle".

[Bonefishblues]

[of course we do still have to decide on the magic speed number that divides these classes, and that is going to be a looooooooooooooong complicated debate!]

What's wrong with 16mph? That's the speed of a relatively fit regular cyclist. Electric bikes limited to 16 also have the huge attraction of assistance going uphill - probably the single biggest deterrent for those new to cycling who are considering it.

Once you get beyond 16mph you're into a different realm, more akin to other motorised forms of transport and away from the concept of a "bicycle".

Your final sentence put me in mind of the famous scene from Back to the Future

[Carlton green]

[of course we do still have to decide on the magic speed number that divides these classes, and that is going to be a looooooooooooooong complicated debate!]

What's wrong with 16mph? That's the speed of a relatively fit regular cyclist. Electric bikes limited to 16 also have the huge attraction of assistance going uphill - probably the single biggest deterrent for those new to cycling who are considering it.

Once you get beyond 16mph you're into a different realm, more akin to other motorised forms of transport and away from the concept of a "bicycle".

Arguably the speed cut out limit should and could be lower than it currently is, what we have is generous. E-bikes are for assistance in keeping going, like into a head wind and up hill, they are a safety net to help ensure onward progress. They should not be a device to help folk go faster than or even at the same pace as a fit rider. It’s really important that e-bikes are primarily seen as an aid to and enabler for the physically challenged that supports basic (so limited speed) mobility.

[PH]

They should not be a device to help folk go faster than or even at the same pace as a fit rider. It’s really important that e-bikes are primarily seen as an aid to and enabler for the physically challenged that supports basic (so limited speed) mobility.

Why not? Do you apply the same restrictions to other forms of transport? Are those capable of walking not allowed on the bus?
What's really important is not to impose our ideas of what a cyclist should be on others.