UK gov' consultation to allow higher power ebikes and throttles

Hi

The UK government is running a consultation to see if its a good idea to increase the legal ebike power limit.
they are thinking about increasing the power limit to 500w and allowing throttle control, which seems sensible.
If youre in the UK can you fill out the form?
you have untill 25th of April.


Thanks, Matthew

Wow, rare is the situation where government asks it's citizens i they want more freedom or not.

Don't miss this one! I'm going to temporarily pin this post for better visibility

Most of us currently in the uk will be too old to ride or pushing up daisies by the time the government sort anything out.
Consultation, big word, the meaning in government terms, "can be forgotten about for the next 4 or so years."

I am going to vote against both proposed changes. Thanks.

monster said:

increasing the power limit to 500w

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Power from an electric motor is partly a function of speed (=torque x rpm). I want power to get heavy loads up hill.

Safety can be addressed by mandated speed limiters - power is not relevant.

Illegal changes to controllers are exactly that - illegal. I've read another post recently about (I think it was) Dutch police using testing machines to ensure speed limiter compliance, and I agree to that - much more relevant than power limits. Another proper response is better policing of e-bike use, perhaps by putting more police on e-bikes?

I've read in the news of police in Sydney tackling people riding illegal e-bikes physically to stop them, and I applaud that, with concern about the safety of the police officers. I've also read that New South Wales state (Sydney is there) has increased it's e-bike motor limits to 500w - limit the speed and enforce it, but let us use the e-bikes to replace cars.

We can have a free-for-all or we can have a society. I have no problem participating in a society, and I have no problem with society putting limits on people who try to make this a free-for-all. I have no problem expecting people (who are adults) to be treated as adults and to expect to be treated as adults. If you want the freedom, admit and accept your responsibility to your fellow adults - leaves grow on trees, e-bikes (and hospitals and electricity) do not.

The real safety issue is speed, not power or whether you have a throttle. You can buy a Tesla plaid with over 1000hp and legally drive it on the street. Speed is relatively easy to enforce compared to technical details. You could mandate speed limiters but that approach is likely to fail.

offGridDownUnder said:

Illegal changes to controllers are exactly that - illegal.

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Can you elaborate what do you mean by illegal changes to controller? In UK you can do with controller whatever you want except derestricting assistance speed limit and derestricting throttle.

UK law puts a limit on continuous rated motor power at 250 watts. There is no limit on peak power otherwise everybody would have to get off and push their bikes up hills.

So it has nothing to do with what the controller and battery can deliver to the motor.

The motor needs to have a 250 watt label on it from the manufacturer and you can have any controller or battery you like, as long as you set up the controller to cut pedal assistance and throttle to the motor at 15.5 mph.

On e-bikes built after 1st January 2016, the throttle must be set up so that you have to be peddling for it to be active above 6km per hour. You can have throttle only upto 6km per hour.

E-bikes built before that date can have fully functional throttles upto 15.5 mph because they can claim grandfather rights before new EU legislation came into effect.

Off road switches are not allowed.

There is no law to say that you must cycle at or below 15.5 mph in the UK. But there must be no motor assistance above this speed.

Many cyclists are able to ride at 30 mph without motor assistance on analogue bikes. The police over here don‘t like to see people on e-bikes travelling at 30 mph without peddling, which is what many delivery riders have been doing, especially in pedestrian areas when they are picking up and dropping off their deliveries. So they have been clamping down in certain areas of the UK and impounding bikes.

This has led to some confusion regarding the law, where the media have been reporting misinformation regarding throttle usage. Many people now believe that throttles on e-bikes are illegal In the UK.

I do use my e-bike for a lot of journeys including shopping instead of the car as it is quicker, it also means that I can go thro' the park or for a forest run before going to the shops. I find where I am the main hazard is e-scooters, I have very nearly been taken out by a high powered one with two kids on it charging thro' a car park.