E-Bikes Today
Electric Bicycles usage and relevance in today’s world.
The Electric Vehicle market place is an exciting and rapidly changing environment. While electric motors and even cars have been around for some time now there has been a relatively slow uptake globally for electric transport. This is until now. In the super growth cities of China the acceptance, usage and integration of Electric Bicycles is phenomenal. In fact this year alone China will manufacture and sell over 6 million electric bicycles for its domestic market alone. With populations in the larger cities pushing 15 – 20 million people personal transport is a huge logistic, environmental and economic issue. Electric Bicycles are by far the most efficient personal motorized transport product available. In any city with high population densities the function of a power assisted bicycle makes perfect sense.
Most commuters both at home and abroad average less than 15 km to and from their place of work. The average cost of a car to run back and forth from work to home is over $150 per week. The Electric Bicycle makes commuting in urban areas a breeze. The combination of pedal and power assistance allows commuters to travel distances of up to 50 KM for around 5 – 10 cents per day per charge! I would challenge any one to find a cheaper motorized transport option that makes almost no noise with no pollution! Even catching a tram in Melbourne is around $3 each way making it almost 50 times more expensive than an Electric Bicycle.
Unbelievably some Australian regulatory authorities have challenged the use of the electric bicycle. In fact in some rural towns in NSW police have banned electric bicycles. While other countries not only have embraced the fabulous benefits of the electric bicycle we continue to drag our feet in integration this wonderfully efficient, non polluting, safe transport alternative. Globally most countries offer incentives to purchase electric vehicles including electric bicycle to help keep the roads less congested, pollution down and provide an efficient transport option to consumers.
We highly recommend you read the article and report by Geoff Rose on power assisted bicycle. See the link and recommendations below.
E-bikes are clean and green
Electric bikes obviously consume energy, where a conventional bikes does not (provided we ignore the environmental cost of growing and processing food - see below). However, the amount of energy used is very small compared to a moped, motorcycle or car. Besides fuel, the only consumables are the batteries, and these can normally be recycled when life-expired. As for energy use, electric bikes typically consume fuel at an average rate of 100 to 150 watts of electrical energy, against 15,000 or so for a car (admittedly travelling much faster). In terms of fuel consumption, an electric bike achieves about (290 - 700 kilometres/litre) (d). No other commercially available vehicle can match figures of this kind.
If it's hard to place these numbers in your own lifestyle, think of a 100 watt electric light bulb burning for an evening - that's enough energy to propel an electrically-assisted bike for 30 to 50 miles...
Speed can be controlled in electric transport. The beauty of electric motors is the can be developed to deliver specific power outputs at specific speeds. For example most moderately fit cyclists on a good bicycle can maintain 25-30 km/h on flat ground. A fit cyclist on a road bicycle can easily maintain 35 – 42 km/h. Some stages of the tour de France race are averaging over 50 km/h. So interestingly the regulations in Australia have no speed limits on power-assisted bicycles. This ridiculous oversight in theory could allow an 11-year-old child to ride down the footpath at 50 km/h if the motor was geared to achieve this. How stupid! Our recommendation and extensive knowledge and expertise in the electric bicycle category are in support of the recommendation made by Geoff Rose and his team at Monash. 500watts and 30-km/h speeds limited motor. Simple, safe, effective, sustainable and manageable.
Mind you a thought that came to mind is the same regulatory authorities that don’t understand efficient transport, allow a learner motor cyclist to ride a 250cc Motor bike capable of 280 km/h and no power restriction after a 2 day test/training experience. So if you want to ride a powered vehicle you can go from a power assisted bicycle at 200 watts (.2kw) or 1/3 HP not capable of more than 30 km/h to a 250cc 100,000 watt+ (100+Kw) 280 km/h machine on L plates. What the!
So we will keep you informed on our progress to shift the mindsets of authorities here to embracing relevant efficient non-polluting safe transport options.
So who buy’s an electric bicycle now? Well many people in all sorts of categories and all sorts of needs. One of the most rewarding experiences we have with our valued customers is when the electric bicycle is used for mobility purposes. In fact around 60% of all our sales for Electric Bicycles are for a mobility function.
Many people are enjoying freedom of being able to get out and about ageing with a minimal strain on muscles and joints due to electric bicycle. We have hundreds of consumer using our products everyday who would otherwise use public transport or drive a car or worse stay at home because the have a solution for their personal transport needs. At the same time we also sell many electric bicycles to people with very high levels of mobility but see the fantastic benefits of personal transport for very little cost and have now replaced their daily commute to work from the car to the Electric Bicycle. And saving themselves a fortune by the way.
Monash University Study on E-Bikes Conclusions & Recommendations
This research has revealed that current legislation is restricting current market expansion of E-Bikes within Australia. The Australian Vehicle Standards do not apply to vehicles propelled by a motor with a maximum power output of less than 200W. Bicycles and scooters meeting this power limit are therefore able to be ridden on public roads without a licence.
Read fill article here
The current Australian regulations are:
- not consistent across Australian states, and
- are more restrictive (specifically in relation to power limits) than the recently revised regulations in comparable overseas countries, specifically the EU, Canada and America.
Consequently many products being sold overseas are not available to Australian consumers because they do not conform with the Australian regulations.
It is appropriate for Governments to revise the regulations so that E-Bikes can provide greater mobility choices. While this is relevant given the current challenge to make urban transport systems more sustainable, an equal, if not more pressing challenge is to meet the independent mobility needs of an ageing population.
Following the review reported here, there was healthy debate within the research team about the formulation of a set of recommendations. Issues debated included the extent to which only power assisted operation should be allowed, the need to specify any maximum power limit on the motor and whether the definition of a pedal cycle needed to be revisited.
The research team was also cognisant of the fact that evolutionary rather then revolutionary changes to the current regulations have a much better chance of being implemented in the short term.
Considerable discussion focused on the definition of a bicycle and the view that the definition should rest on the requirement for active human effort in the form of pedaling.
From that definition it was suggested that only ‘power assisted’ operation should be allowed under the regulations. Importantly, the current regulations do not distinguish between PABs or PBs and it would be an added complication to introduce that distinction.
It could also cause difficulties for enforcement since it would be necessary to verify, possibly in the field, whether the vehicle operated in a powered or power assisted mode. In addition, at least one industry representative was strongly of the view that the existing market for older and disabled riders would evaporate if only a ‘power assisted’ operation was mandated. Consequently the recommendations which follow do not distinguish between PABs and PBs. The recommendations therefore provide flexibility for the import or manufacture of either powered or power assisted vehicles to meet the needs of different market segments.
Another important issue, which was considered in formulating the recommendation, was the extent to which it was necessary to nominate any power limit on the motor. A move to a truly performance based standard would make the specification of a maximum motor output superfluous. However, reflecting the comment made above, it was felt that an Encouraging E-bike use: the need for regulatory reform in Australia – 29 - evolutionary rather revolutionary approach to the regulations was more realistic and so the recommendations are framed in terms of a maximum motor output and a maximum speed above which the power assistance is designed to cut out. The final recommendations are summarised as follows:
- Regulations governing power assistance on bicycles need to be revised in all Australian states and preferably specified in terms of a performance-based standard
- It is desirable that any regulatory changes not affect vehicles, which are currently legal, and so a pedal cycle to which is attached one or more propulsion motors having a combined maximum power output not exceeding 200W should continue to be defined as a bicycle. However, the regulations should be amended to allow for a higher power limit of 500W for vehicles, which are electrically powered provided that the power assistance cuts out at 30 kph:
- This would be consistent with the new Canadian standard, would sit between the American and the European regulations and ensure that these vehicles would not exceed speeds, which can be achieved on a conventional bicycle
- As in the current regulations no distinction should be drawn between ‘powered’ and ‘power assisted’ operation
- Relaxing the regulation solely for electrically powered bikes is justified on environmental grounds since two stroke internal combustion engines are highly polluting and their use should not be encouraged
- Vehicles meeting the above limits should continue to be classified as a ‘bicycle’ and require no registration or driver licensing while vehicles which do not meet the above performance standards would not be classified as ‘bicycles’ and therefore should be subject to specific regulations
- Additional research is required on issues, which could not be covered in depth in this initial review:
- Research similar to Canada’s “Electric Bike 2000 Project” or the European equivalent (E-tour) should be commissioned to address operational issues for these vehicles in the Australian context and explore the potential health and mobility impacts of E-Bikes in comparison to conventional bikes.
- Overseas experience with potential conflicts on shared use paths and footpaths should be monitored
- An assessment should be made of the feasibility of introducing a system of government rebates to stimulate E-bike use. This would involve a closer examination of the experience in Switzerland where a rebate on E-bike purchases is available through the government and also initiatives in Japan where solar panels are used for recharging E-bikes. Linking these initiatives (i.e. a rebate on E-Bikes with a solar panel recharging kit) would be consistent with Government actions in some Australian states to stimulate use of solar hot water systems and water saving devices (rainwater or grey water tanks, low flow shower heads etc.) through provision of rebates on the purchase price of the equipment.