You Want an Electric Bike? Have You Considered the Law of the Land?

I have always wanted an electric bike. I wanted an ebike with a good strong motor for hauling a small cargo trailer or just for getting me up a steep hill. I had not really considered the law. I mean it was just a bicycle with an electric motor or a pedal assisted electric bicycle. I can understand the laws about gas engines being put on bicycles.

There was a friend of mine who had put a gas engine on a bicycle and when he tried it out, he got the bike up to 40 mph before he lost control, and had to be taken to the emergency ward. I would use the motor for those occasions when I just did not have enough pedal power to get up a hill or if I was almost exhausted. At 49 years of age my knee joints feel a lot more stress than they did when I was younger.

My project would be based on building a bike similar to the one at Electric Cycle. I was looking at building my electric bike, or purchasing one of the rack. I liked the fact that if I built one, I would use a 1000 watt electric motor. As I was investigating this matter, I happen to come across a government website that had put a limit of 450 watts on an electric bicycle. Under further investigation, in some jurisdictions anything over 450 watts was considered a motorized vehicle, and would be covered by motorized vehicle laws - mostly, those laws that governed mopeds.

This is when I discovered the laws governing electric bikes or ebikes. You do not want an electric motor that will take you, say faster than 20 mph on level ground in many states, or you are bordering on your ebike being classified as a moped and you will require license, registration, and insurance. You will also require all the necessary equipment that a moped requires -- horn, lights, signal lights, etc. Or in the case of the state of New York, your bicycle will not be permitted to be on any roads period.

In New York, the government is in the process of changing their archaic laws when it comes to ebikes, NY state amendment A02393 seems to be in the process of bringing New York State into the 21st Century when it comes to ebikes. There are several states that have ambiguous legislation when it comes to electric bikes. So, check your local laws. The manufacturer of Slipstream has had discussions with the New York Department of Motor Vehicles, and apparently in New York state his electric bike is still considered a bicycle, even though it has a top speed of 30 miles a hour. Many states and countries put a limit on the top speed of these ebikes at anywhere from 16 mph to 20 mph. This is the limit even if you are using pedal assisted power. Even if you buy a top of the line electric bicycle, the top speed would still be limited to 20 miles an hour in most states.

Just to give you an idea what other country's restrictions are that govern electric bikes, for example in Ontario, Canada the limit of a motorized ebike is 500 watts and 32 k/m, in Australia the limit is 200 watts, the European Union is 250 Watts and 25 k/m. You wonder why anyone would want to put a 200/250 watt electric motor on a bicycle, the bike would not take you very far for very long. So, take a look at your governments laws before you decide to purchase or build an electric bike.