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| How fast does the "fastest" electric bike go? Forty miles per hour. |
Unlike electric motorcycles, a very good idea, electric bicycles are a mixed blessing.
Electric motorcycles are a coming thing. Inherent advantages over internal combustion powered motorcycles will make them ever more popular.
Clean, quiet, energy efficient and uncomplicated, electric motorcycles also will no doubt feature advanced electronic accessories. I'd expect on-board cameras (or, at least, mounts for them), navigation aids, and communications enhancements.
But, while electric motorcycles are in our future, electric bicycles are already here. And they are proliferating.
Electric motorcycles, when they get here, will be limited to adult riders, will have to stay in traffic lanes, and be registered, licensed and insured.
Electric bicycles are -- at least according to the state in which I live -- just bicycles. Very fast bicycles.
Children of any age are allowed to operate them. They can legally go on sidewalks and in bicycle lanes, unless forbidden by local ordinance. No license, registration or insurance is required.
Pedals are not required on these so-called "bicycles."
My state, Florida, apparently does limit top speed. The law implies that the fastest electric bicycles are limited to 28 mph, but it doesn't specifically say so.
Apparently, speeds in excess of 28 mph are allowed if they are attained by the rider adding pedaling force (assuming the bike has pedals). Obviously there is no way to enforce such a vague limitation. Is the rider pedaling hard or just spinning?
Riders of electric motorcycles will have to be licensed drivers, with a motorcycle endorsement, having passed tests to prove they know how to operate a vehicle safely.
Not so for riders of electric bicycles.
Electric motorcycles will be required to have basic safety equipment: headlight, taillight, brake light, operating turn signals, a horn, rearview mirror, side reflectors. Electric bikes are free to go without any of these. For that matter there seems to be no law that an electric bike even have a brake for the front wheel.
After all, it's just a "bicycle."
I am not a hater. Electric bicycles are going to give mobility to people who otherwise might not have it, and they will take cars off our crowded roads. On balance, they are good for cities and the environment.
But keep in mind that these newly mobile people do not want to be moving slowly. Humans, whatever our age, value speed.
That's our history. It's said that the first motorcycle race occurred when the second motorcycle was built.
I don't recall too many motorcycle advertisements that touted slow speed as a feature. Can you imagine such a sales pitch?
"Go slow! Gives you time to enjoy the scenery!"
"Go slow! Avoid unpleasant wind noise!"
"Go slow! Like your mother told you!"
Not likely. Like motorcycles always have, electric bicycles will sell for their power. They'll be souped up by clever hot rodders. They'll be ridden to the limit of their power anywhere they can go. And by children.
It doesn't really matter that we're not ready for this. They're here.
Just as the use of motorcycles is regulated, so should the use of electric bicycles. In the US there seems to be a dearth of regulations about speed and power, but in much of Europe, the use of ebikes is pretty well defined. In Germany, for instance, motors are not allowed to be more than 250w, and the bikes are not allowed to go more than 25kph (15mph) unless they are registered and insured, and then theybare allowed to go 40kph (25mph). As you mention, ebikes provide a great alternative to cars, but just as with any mode of transportation, they need to be used properly.
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