Electricity bicycles

spacey2012

As I said anything that was of any use has been castrated by the Government and EU.
They had the potential to put oil companies on a downward spiral, if 10% switched to electric bikes the cost would be huge.
In came the new laws and the electric bikes you can buy here are now useless .
Dont fall for all this Green carp, what they say and what they do are not the same.
Buy a moped, you can drive it on a car licence if your had your licence before they started on that as well.

Cornucopia

And yet they are huge in Italy.

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/italys-electric-bike-boom/3361

no_more_cards_for_me

From the op first post, this is a 7 mile journey on the flat, so I would suggest a simple push bike rather than these electris contraptions.

My own journey to work is 12 miles of various hilly terrain. I arrive at work and shower, do a full day then cycle home. The journey takes about 45mins, granted its a quick pace but for a 7 mile trip then 35mins/40mins would be a very easy pace.

Electric bikes probably have their uses but the UK spec offers little advantage over a good quality commuter. Being limited to 15mph means that some racing bikes will be much faster over similar terrain for a reasonably fit individual.

I'de spend the money on a good bike, enjoy the health benefits, live longer and have a much better sex life

nogginthenog

whay dont you buy something like this.
http://www.dayun.co.uk/dayun-electric-tandem-bike/


Much better looking.

motch

So if the said electric bike/scooter goes over 15mph (using just the electric)it's going to be classed as a scooter and needs tax/insurance/hard shell crash hat, etc (this correct?)

If you want it to go over 15mph it will need a bigger motor than 250watt, to get it to say 35mph it will need probably 2000+watts continuous motor on it.
So using a switch or something to by-pass the 15mph legal limit. If you're wizzing along at 35mph on something like the above classing it as a normal electric bicycle it probably wont be very safe for you (brakes), plus if police pull you it will be obvious your breaking the law, the chinese cops might not be bothered in china but if you hit someone at 30mph on one of those you'd be up shitcreak with the law.

motch

nogginthenog wrote: »

whay dont you buy something like this.
http://www.dayun.co.uk/dayun-electric-tandem-bike/


Much better looking.

wouldn't look that good when a grandma rides past you with the slightest of tailwinds.

ev70

@nogginthenog

This link shows a much better electric moped. Due to its weight at 58kg it does not fall within the rules for an EPAC electric assist bike. So you would still need VED, MOT, number plates, license, insurance etc.....

Norman_Castle

As I said anything that was of any use has been castrated by the Government and EU.

Electric bikes of higher power are avaliable and classed as mopeds or motorbikes which have more legal requirements. If they were not cycle routes would be full of 14 year olds doing 60 mph.

motch

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Electric bikes of higher power are avaliable and classed as mopeds or motorbikes which have more legal requirements. If they were not cycle routes would be full of 14 year olds doing 60 mph.

Could a Racing Bicycle or Mountain Bike be custom fitted with a aftermarket front fork/electric hub (say 1000watt) with unrestricted speed and be legal? using the above approach, what would be needed to make that road legal ? cheers

Jaffa_cake

Warmest thanks to every one here who is helping to unravel the eBike for UK.

Here are the spec's for the 48 volt eBike.
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The details, although in Chinese, I will read them for you..
But here is a help.
1600*600*1045 is the size of the eBike
16" is 16 inch wheels with 2,25 inch tubed tyres.
>35Km is it will do better than 35km/h
75kg, is rider weight.
(not mentioned on this spec sheet, but the total capacity carry weight of 150Kg)
48v is 48 volt battery it is traditional lead acid.
12Ah is the 12 Amp Hour (smaller capacity battery)
240W is the rear hub motor power.
48V is the voltage of the hub motor.
6.5N,m is the rear wheel torque
260R/min is the revolutions of the powered wheel
42v is when the battery needs charging
15 + 1 is the charge current into the flat battery
AC220V 50Hz is the power into the charger
4-8H is the charging from flat.

Almost every hub motor is 240watts
Wheel sizes can be 12 inch, 14 inch or 16 inch.
The older eBikes were 18 inch and 20 inch wheels, but that trend has fallen away.
Spokes wheels has largely gone, ans they are all cast alloy now.

These eBikes are exceptionally popular in Asia, not just China where they first started, many years ago.
However, Vietnam, Philippines, they are all taking to eBikes in big numbers.

I would like to understand more regarding the Italian stance on eBikes.
The Chines eBikes can be made to CE regulations or not, there is a small price difference.

I am genuinely very interested in pursuing the electric eBike or electric scooter, and perhaps a European challenge could be questioned, if the details of Italian law could be further defined.
As UK is a member of the EU, and therefore may not differentiate between other EU member states, (don't get mixed up with Schengen) then one may find that the current UK ruling on eBikes is unlawful.
If the rules could be proved unlawful then a test case to the ECJ may be a way forward.
Should the UL lose the case, if they decide to pursue it to the ECJ, then there would be no cost to the petitioner.

J.C.