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Electric Bikes Won Over China. Is the US Next? (bloomberg.com)
Sales of electric-bike is growing in many parts of the world. Asia-Pacific region, for instance, is estimated to see 32.8M of them sell this year, and 1.6m of e-bikes are expected to be sold in Western Europe by the end of this year. In China, in particular, the ban on motorcyle has lead to massive e-bike adoption. Over the years we've seen many companies such as BG and Pedego dish out models after models, offering bikes ranging from elegant folding versions to flat-tire variants. Despite all the growth elsewhere in the world, North America and Latin America are estimated to see less than 250,000 inventories move this year. But going forward, the number is likely to see a major growth. From a Bloomberg article: Electrics "finally have legs to be able to take off in the U.S.," because cyclists are feeling safer on the roads, battery and motor technology is improving, and retail prices are dropping, says Todd Grant, president of the National Bicycle Dealers Association. However, e-bikes have been banned in some U.S. cities because of safety concerns. [...] The U.S. market could develop "way faster" than Europe's did, says Claus Fleischer, who heads Bosch's e-bike division. The German multinational began selling motors and batteries for electric bikes in 2011 and now supplies more than 60 brands, primarily in Europe. It opened a subsidiary in Irvine, Calif., in 2014 and is sponsoring e-bike expos across the U.S., including one in Portland, Ore., that ran for three days in late May.
wackos aside, electric bicycles are considered mopeds or motorcycles in many jurisdictions in the u.s.... and along with that, licensing, insurance, age restrictions, and stricter rules on where you can and can't ride.. so that's the reason why they won't be 'taking over' the u.s. any time soon..
I went to Shanghai and Hangzhou about 18 months ago, and saw this stuff for myself. The newly-built portions of these Chinese cities (ie the ones that used to be open fields 20 years ago or razed slums) have their nice and shiny new roads layed out as follows:
1. Storefronts
2. A portion of the sidewalk taken up by space for bikes and electric scooters, with power strips provided by shopkeepers for their customers
3. Rest of the (wide) sidewalk
4. Dedicated bike+electric scooter lane, maybe 6-8 feet wide
5. Small median (~1-2 feet, bigger for bus stops)
6. Traffic lanes, 4 or more lanes total, sometimes in groups of two or three, sometimes with a set of reversible lanes, sometimes dedicated bus lanes.
5 downto 1 in reverse order on the other side.
At almost all intersections, the bike lanes have separate traffic signals (usually overlapping with pedestrian walk signals), and sometime the bike lanes have separate left turn signals which coincide with exclusive left turn signals for the car lanes. If I remember right, the car left and right turn lanes can be either on the interior or exterior of the road and there are signs to indicate which set of lanes allow you to turn which way at the upcoming intersection. This is to deconflict turning vehicles from bikes/pedestrians going straight at the outside of the road.
Overall, it was a pretty good system. But (especially in Shanghai) you could tell that half the people on the road didn't have an f'ing clue of how to operate a vehicle in traffic, and one time when I was riding a bus, a woman cut of the bus changing from one set of lanes to another (in a way that just wouldn't happen here) and got her rear tail light knocked out.
The other thing is that this all takes space. You couldn't do it unless you were building from scratch or were willing to knock down large numbers of existing buildings. But the Chinese had to do it this way because maybe only half of their people can afford to own cars, and even fewer back when this was built 20 years ago. So the streets were layed out to accomodate an equal number of people on bicycles and buses/motor vehicles. That's a ready market for electric scooters.
If it's two stroke engine bikes then there are still gas options.
Motorcycles are NOT banned in China. They are only banned in the core areas of major cities, like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, and even there they are allowed if you are a resident and you have the emissions checked. Motorcycles are common in smaller cities and rural areas.
A major reason e-bikes are popular in China is that you can ride them in the bicycle lanes, which is way safer than riding in traffic. They are not popular everywhere. They work well in flat cities like Shanghai or Beijing, but you rarely see them in hilly cities like Chongqing.
Not only that. The laws limit the speed to 20 mph max for electric. Worthless on flat roads when you can easily reach 25 mph. It prevents them from being used on the roads properly.
No surprise, but cow-herd misrepresents the laws. In my State the cutoff is 15mph, not 20, but that isn't a speed limit of any sort.
That is merely the speed where it becomes a moped or scooter instead of a "bicycle." So if your device can go over that speed, then it is type of light motorcycle rather than a bicycle, and can't be used on bicycle-only paths. The funny part is that your complaint is that the rule interferes with being able to use electric bikes on roads; no, that is exactly the solution those rules explain to you: if you want it fast enough to be useful on most roads, then you'll have to drive it... on the road.
Also, it has nothing to do with electric; in most states it applies to any power-assisted bicycle, regardless of technology used. And before these laws were written, all power assisted bicycles were mopeds, a type of light motorcycle! These laws were added specifically to allow those devices which operate at a low (device-limited) speed to operate without licensing and on bike paths.
Normal human beings do not maintain a racer's pace if they are not actually racing.
A 3 mph walk will burn ~60 watts, which will get you 9 mph on a bicycle without being any more sweaty than walking for the same amount of time. Do you need a shower after walking from your car into the building where you work?