Will 500w electric bike motors soon be made legal in the UK? 👀
Out of seemingly nowhere it was announced that the DFT have begun consulting on whether the legal limit of an electric bike motor should be DOUBLED from 250w to 500w.
There’s been a real mix of opinions already so let’s discuss!
Check out the LEGAL throttle electric bikes from Pedibal: 🚲 ⬇️
🇬🇧 UK https://pedibal.com/
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Read the Guardian article: 🤓 📖
🔗 https://www.theguardian.com/news/2024/feb/29/ministers-to-consult-on-doubling-the-legal-wattage-of-electric-bike-motors?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Read Cycling UK’s Statement: 🚲
🔗 https://www.cyclinguk.org/news/statement-proposed-changes-e-cycle-regulations
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Hello Electro heads on the last day of February I did what most people do I woke up and I check the news but this wasn’t a normal scroll until you’re late for work kind of day actually that’s a lie I pride myself on punctuality this
Time I was hit with an article with the title ministers to consult on doubling legal wattage of electric bike motors I rubbed my blur eyes to make sure I wasn’t seeing things damn I thought now I don’t know about you but the news of the consultation seemed to come out of
Nowhere but you know what should be a give you hitting that subscribe button hit it click that Bell icon and stay up to date with all the latest Eide news reviews and Electro heads content so the department for transport officially launched the consultation on Thursday February the 29th and now shout out to
All you leapia babies the dftt were making their own leap with a proposal to look at changing the maximum allowable power of an ebike motor from 250 watts to 500 watts the article stated another possible move is to allow ebikes to be powered by a throttle currently throttles without any pedal assist are
Allowed with a Max 4 mph speed cap mainly marketed as a walk assist now it’s not believe that the current legal speed limit of 15.5 mph will increase if you want to hear some thoughts on that then you can watch this video right here on why I actually do want faster speed
Caps but it must be said there are arguments against that cover 20 mph being a lot more energy to dissipate if you fall off compared to 15.5 mph an increase of speed could also mean obligatory helmet use which has been proven in other countries to reduce the
Amount of people that cycle but back to the motors regulation essentially this could have a huge impact on eikers other Road users the industry and Beyond so there are some important questions and comments raised in this article that I need to talk through I’ve also been chatting with Nick from boost and mark
From pedal to get some more perspective and insight so you’ll see them pop up along the way so if that sounds good then stick around now my initial response when I first saw the headline was what and then great 250 Watts it’s adequate and from the amount of comments
I get from you lot at home I know that for heavier folk for those who live in hiler lands and e-cargo users 250 Watts just doesn’t really cut it but having spoken to a few contacts in the industry an allowance for 500 watts is not that simple in the guardian article the
Bicycle Association our referen is having concerns that the 500 WT motor allowance will make the bikes quicker more powerful and heavier because a bigger battery will be required making it more dangerous in crashing is if the cap goes from 250 WS to 500 WS there are concerns that this also risks having to
Place electric bikes into a whole new category that is more akin to a motorcycle than a bike doing this means the potential of needing training a driving license insurance registration it could make ebikes far less accessible but let’s put the added power into perspective it’s argued that whil 250
Wats is about the level of power a human could produce with their legs 500 WS is a lot more take a 50 cc moped head which is let’s say a very entrylevel motorbike you do need to have a driving license and take a CBT course and they can reach
A top speed of up to 28 mph now its power is around 2 to 4 horsepower this can go up a little bit more depending on what model and make that you get 500 W electric motor is equivalent to 0.7 horsepower so 500 wats is at the
Very least about a quarter of the power of 50 cc moped and typically weighs about a quar two so that gives you an idea in terms of relation to power but something else to consider is how much power is actually being outputed because when we talk about wattage caps we have
To take into account that this is actually talking about nominal power which means the motor is designed to survive running at 250 WS all day long but the physics side of things means you can put a lot of power temporarily through a motor and it won’t melt
Preserving your ebike so in reality your 250 W Motor is most likely doing more already and a 500 W Motor generally will do even more and when you consider that there are ebike owners who take Liberties and hack the bike software to remove the 15.5 m per hour speed limiter
Could now have access to a more powerful and generally heavier bike we can all appreciate that this raises concerns how is this going to be policed it will be very difficult to do so and so therefore a more stringent approach of introducing courses or licenses could be rolled out
To try to make it harder for those who abuse the rules and looking at it from a manufacturer’s perspective I was chatting to Nick from boost bikes who makes a very valid point adding 500 watts to the options creates a market where manufacturers will only get sales
If they sell 500 wats well yeah unlike batteries where you get a penalty where the bigger batter is going to be heavier I think everyone would always just sell 500 watt Motors and they’re generally bigger motors which just kind of means that your brakes need to be bigger your
Bike needs to be bigger and so the whole thing just moves away from lightweight Mobility towards actually being a bit more like a motorbike the motors get larger the batteries get larger and the bikes have to to get larger and stronger and for Boost in particular you create
Conversion kits what does that mean for you guys and because already you’re having to apply these motors onto bikes that technically haven’t been built to become electrified so what does that mean for you yeah so the bikes have been built to a certain strength standard and the additional power and weight that you
Add to a bike with a conversion system is the same or less than a rider would be able to add so it doesn’t feel like you’re adding anything different to what the bike was designed for but I mean 500 wats is a lot more power than most
People can put out through their legs and that is going to put more strain on onto a bike which would probably then cause you to look at how strong the bike was so it has it has a ripple on effect with the strength of the oal bike it
Could also create a serious problem if the UK diverges from the EU standard right now we have the same rules and regulations as the EU for ebikes but here in the UK there’s no compliance testing to speak of so there’s a question of how anyone would actually be
Able to put their bigger powered eapc through any sort of testing so yeah if you want to test a bike in the UK at the moment if you’re a local manufacturer you could only used to be able to get it done in Portugal and Germany if you want
To get a frame tested you have to go to Germany and their standards will we built around the European view of what an electric bike or assisted bike is which is probably going to remain 250 wats I don’t see any European ambition to change change this so I don’t
Entirely know how you would qualify with who would actually do the testing for these bikes if the power was to be increased I think the overall thing is that you change something small like a number but it just has a it has a whole KnockOn effect with so many different
Parts of the supply chain of the products that you’re working with I’m trying to work with a few other manufacturers on a a kind of Cooperative around how we can do a degree of testing in the UK because at the moment it makes it very small for low volume frame
Builders to actually test their test their bike you’re looking at €10,000 every time you want to test a frame so it’s a it’s not it’s not a trivial amount of money and as we’ve seen recently with cargobike manufacturers it is important that things are tested cuz otherwise you end up with recalls that’s
Actually very bad for the industry so you know testing is important the UK could do with more testing so we can actually start manufacturing stuff here we need testing to make sure that these e rides are built well and comply with the rules and then there’s concerns about bigger batteries creating bigger
Fires naturally a 500 watt motor will need more power which will mean the bike will be more expensive which in turn could encourage more people to look for cheap third party options that are the main cause in the rise of Eide fires but as I said from the start you cannot deny
That there is a need need for more powerful motors for the hiler terrains heavier Riders and e-cargo bikes electric delivery vehicles tandems and recumbents I think um it’s always good to see the government engaging with ebikes and the apcs because there is a lot of there’s a lot of cases where the
Government doesn’t take a lead on this so the fact that they are asking for consultations and engagement is is positive I I don’t see this one becoming legislation anytime soon but it’s definitely interesting to see it brings Focus to the industry and I think that in itself is a really positive thing if
You’re still here by the way you should definitely hit that like button and you should absolutely subscribe only the cool kids subscribe to Electra heads so don’t be left behind but on the topic of a potential move to allow throttles this throws up a lot of for and against I
Think it’s a good thing if anything because it’s good that they’re actually looking at the industry which is what he needs for those who have a physical impairment that means they rely on a throttle and the current 4 miles per hour cap just isn’t enough there are companies who are already finding their
Way around those rules like ped V just because you can’t mass-produce throttle ebikes doesn’t mean you can’t take each bike to the dvsa to get it tested and certified and that’s exactly what pabal does I’ll be doing a video on their Cruiser and folder ebike models in the
Months to come so keep an eye out for those each bike you take has to be booked in tested take to the testing station they run it through a test like anot they check certain specifics of the bike they check the specification the weight comes into it’s fact that it’s
All tested the brakes are tested they have it on the rolling rolling roads is tested as if it was a a motor vehicle and then and then they issue certificate once it’s past all those elements but there is a market for throttle bikes and Brands like pabal and they’re responding
To that we find our product and the feedback we’ve been given has been benefited by so many riders riders that have limited functionality regards to mobility and there are so many of our trust pilot Pages come up with a they think it’s fantastic and it’s it’s got
Them confidence to go back onto a bike and it’s obviously the the health benefits so they’re there straight away which is fantastic obviously our bike at the moment meets the 250 watt requirement meets the 15 1 half milph requirements they’re the two key factors and then with the Twist and go through
All it’s the EU legislation that obviously limits it to 6 km an hour but the UK doesn’t set any specifics around the type of throttle or any parameters around the throttle that can do that which is with the testing then the certification makes that fine to use but
As you can see there are a lot of angles on this speaking to Nick and to Mark it’s just not as simple as what 7 a.m. Alish thought it could be remember this is at the consultation stage so a very long way from anything actually changing and would require a lot of legislative
Change I’d love to hear your comments on this one let me know down below and I will of course keep you updated when I hear more but for now guys Peace
37 Comments
What do we think? Should the UK allow a 500w motor? 🤔
No matter it is 250w, or 500w, or 1000w, as long as the law is restricting the maximum continuous rating power, not the peak output, the ebike maker simply put new label of 500w on the existing motor with a new price tag, and that's it…
You guys that claim 250W wont get you up hills must have pretty rubbish bikes, I have a VOLT PULSE with a 250W rear drive BAFANG motor and 250W will get me @ 90kg plus a fully loaded bike up any hill with little effort, my pal borrowed it recently, he has very limited fitness and I actually struggled to keep up with him on hills riding a 2023 Specialized Creo electric road bike, 250W should be enough if its a decent bike
So a 500W = 0.7 HP = a Three legged Horse 😆 Not dangerous 😉
Complaints about the bike being heavier in a crash……..? How many 2 ton death machines are on the roads with no speed or power limitations. Come on people were talking about push bikes, why does everything in this country need to be licensed and put under legislation? Just get out there and ride your bike.
Why double the power to 500w ? 350w 30 kph (18.75 mph) in line with the US, would be good middle ground. A reasonable speed increase would mean it was pointless hacking the system – the hack is only available because bikes are produced for US market.
250watt is simply not powerful enough for hills, 500 and 750 watts ebikes are in abundance in the uk ive had mine over a year and love it, im in my 60s driven a car for 40+ years and now ride my e bike to places i used to take the car, so we should just be left alone to enjoy the great riding experience, and of course saving the planet!
anything we can do to get people on electric bikes, so yes, any wattage as long as it has functioning pedals, anything above 1000w should be insured with car driving licence
All powered bikes should be registered that way the pedestrians that are injured can be compensated and fines can be issued when rules are broken. When fines are issued any demerit points are then applied to the persons car license.
As an American that has 750w and 50 km/h speeds available, yes, it's so much better.
People already are riding 500+ watt bikes as well as throttles without getting into trouble and damn they go like a bat out of hell. More wattage is definitely needed when it comes to steep inclines, my town has some huge ones and a 250w one would have some trouble. Getting the extra power for inclines would be nice, they could limit a larger wattage motor for non-incline riding.
They should increase the speed limit to 20 mph, remove any power limitation entirely and introduce a maximum weight limit .
20 mph would allow you to keep pace with traffic (and many normal cyclists can achieve it)
A weight limit would be a better indicator of the amount of energy in the bike in an impact.
Imagine banning any car brand just because they can go over speed limits or because of too much power. nonsense
As others have said, higher speeds don't automatically come with higher power. Older and differently abled people could really benefit from the power boost. Wouldn't you prefer if older folks could ride 35kg electric bikes rather than drive a 1000+kg automobiles?
The idea that mandating helmets makes cycling more dangerous – is based on safety in numbers. So it should not not have any effect here, as most cyclists will still not be mandated (only 500W cyclists) and keep cycling the same routes. So drivers will keep looking out for them. The only real data we have is from AUS where they mandated helmets. Even there the publicity and press around it was handled poorly – giving people the impression cycling is very dangerous will lots of talk off accidents and the need for helmets. It was the way the press handled it that put some people off cycling thinking it was very dangerous. More than having to wear a helmet (which let's face it is no big deal when get used to it). Which in turn led to slightly more accidents due to safety in numbers (drivers see cyclists about and drive anticipating them more).
It is already I expect 500W realistically , because results are being spoofed and test conditions porly specified., I am sure Performance line is peaking at that (5500) at higher cadence. So I think for simple hub designs for a load uphill with a heavy rider, you need it to get uphill, I would say a genuine 750W , with non trivial to hack speed and acceleration limiters .
Throttled bikes, I am not so sure you are into moped territory and having 500+ W self propelled bikes sharing space with pedestrians (there is a lot shared infrastructure as well as non compliance to restrictions) and regular Cycles, Is likely to see a political backlash
its not about the motor, you can have 1000w motor if you wanted. It's about the cyclist.
Pure e scooter already has a 500w motor so its perfect for up hill and acceleration but its still restricted to 15.5mph which is fine
do not let them fool you, i build e-bikes and let me tell you a 500w motor is only gonna increase the weight by about 100-200g, it's nothing. you don't necessarily have to increase the battery size with a bigger motor, you could use the same battery, but for the sake of argument, let's say we increase the battery so that it could go the same range as the 250w one, the battery would be around just 300g heavier, again it's nothing. claiming that it's significantly heavier is a lie and saying it's more dangerous in crashes because it's heavier is just a scare tactic, it's total bs.
What we need is more moped scooters with fast charging instead of being supplied by 3 pin wall plug which is useless if the bike requires a charge while on the road
So many videos on this channel are about the health benefits of ebikes and how they are as good as or similar to the health benefits for mechanical bikes. If throttles can be legally added, I assume you will be taking down all those videos?
I ride a regular bike on London cycle paths. Electric bikes can be a real nuisance as they are too heavy and fast compared to regular bikes. I think increasing the power or speed of electric bikes will force regular bike users off the bike paths turning them into roads.
Like with 50cc being a class of motorcycle, 250w should remain as a class of e-bike – essentially a normal rider on an ordinary bike but assisted. As the owner of an older. Legally throttle equipped bike, I think that they should be legal. Other higher powered bikes should be legal within a framework of simple bureaucracy (if possible) these can have a classification and regs as appropriate. We all know who uses them inappropriately and anyone can see them being dangerous in city centres. Make laws that deal with the issue but allow someone else to have life-changing mobility.
I think the kids round my area have already answered this question a long time ago!
“Where did you guys dig up this guy? A 500-watt e-bike is not a 2000 one. I understand that lightweight bicycles he converts into electric ones have their limitations. But people travel long distances across the country with camping gear. Usually, such a loaded bike (not an e-bike) weighs 30-35 kg, so additional power and a suitable battery open up the possibility of such tourism for a much larger group of people without worrying that their e-bikes are illegal. And in the case of cargo bikes, in my opinion, the motor should be even 750 watts.”
Let everybody ride what they want and if they cause an accident by being wreckless they are held personally accountable in court. The government and EU and all the nerds out there need to stop making the few outliers everybody else' problem.
500 w is like the second lowest that exists . Your sounding like it's a motorcycle. They have the same govener the batteries are almost same size. Only need bigger batteries for more range
Deliveroo rider have chinese kits fitted and do anything up 35-40mph
500w, thumb throttle to 15.5mph, mak pedal speed 20mph, lights and bell fitted.
Totally caught “Queen”! Nice detail 😉
I'd love a throttle ebikes it would mean I don't have to get a car
My 500 watt urban ryder 7 speed electric ebike from greenlite cycles in Burnaby BC Canada goes 25mph or (40kph) speed limit for ebikes is 20mph but i ride full throttle through Traffic in Langley/Surrey British Columbia. and the RCMP dont care. nobody does! its a hoot throttling through traffic at 25mph. I feel bad for our British Counterparts in the UK with stupid nanny state laws on Ebikes. I had a 250 watt ebike and i hated it. I cant imagine having to pedal up a British hill up north or wherever. only to have your measly 250 motor bog down!
BS🤔
I really like the throttle for going from a complete stop to getting out of the drivers way at the intersection is so much safer with a little twist and pedaling. The throttle use stabilizes the rider from wobbles as well. Its nice to have that stop to go acceleration in the name of safety, so the cars are not waiting and being upset with a rider, but also the rider is not struggling. Having that throttle to be smooth on take off is nice.
The throttle also is very nice to have when going through busy, slow parking lots. By standing tall on pedals allows me to see over most cars and to be seen is significant, compared to just pedaling. Plus I am stable on the bike. I'm used to heavy motorcycles, so having a 60lb bike is so nice and easy. Fingers on the brakes and using the throttle, stable and able to stop on a dime. I have mastered the safest way to navigate a busy parking lot, like getting in and out of trader Joes just fine with all those cars about, the throttle twist, head on a swivel. Standing and pedaling is difficult but standing, not pedaling and using the throttle is all about control, balance, and being reactive at slow speeds. Its all about safety, and once a person learns to use a throttle the advantages are seen. Here in the states I have a class 2 ebike, top speed 20mph, 750w hub motor and a bike weight of 60lbs. Its just fast enough to stay out of the way of cars and trucks. But its slower than the slowest gas moped or motorbike.
More power to the people!
I live in the US in an area with large hills. I am a Veteran that was injured in combat and have a damaged knee and foot. I was not even supposed to be able to walk without a device and brace. I spent years trying to rehabilitate myself. I can walk okay on pavement and flat level ground. I can ride a bike okay on level paths and small slight hills but I cannot put heavy pressure on my knee and go places where others can. I should say not for very long.
I am over 6 foot tall and almost 300 lbs. I am built like a football lineman. I am of Scandinavian descent and all of my family are large framed.
I converted an old heavy framed MTB into an E Bike. I had to custom build it to get the specs I needed to assist me in pedaling uphill. I ride an 18 inch frame with 29 inch wheels.
It is a heavy built Chromoly alloy frame meant for abuse. I built it with a 2000 watt rear direct drive hub motor. It has a twist throttle function and a large 72 v battery pack and controller.
I normally leave it in pedal assist 1 or not at all on flat bike trails. If I am riding in town on city streets I leave it in P1 and use the throttle assist to quickly move me out and through intersections for safety.
If I come up to a large steep hill I can bump up the pedal assist or use the throttle until I get over the hill.
I cannot walk up or push the bike up the hill sometimes because of my injuries.
A common E bike on the market with a 500 watt hub motor is not enough to meet my needs.
If they can limit my power specs it would not be fair or equal to restrict my needs and slot me into the specs of someone who weighs 176 lbs and rides on level pavement.
there goes my subscription