Lainaus:
Yesterday this trade journal launched its new Whitepaper: “Rules and regulations on electric cycles in the EU.” It digs deep into the type approval laws that went into force January 1, 2017 as well as into all CEN standards for e-bikes, the applicable EU Directives as well as terms of use. One of the striking facts deriving from the new Whitepaper is that e-MTBs are excluded from type approval.That electric Mountainbikes are excluded from the type approval legislation that came into force January 1, 2017, has some profound consequences. It means as much as that there’s no limit to maximum speed or (electric) motor power for e-bikes as long as they are ‘intended’ for off-road use. While speed e-bikes (categorized in the type approval legislation as L1e-B ‘mopeds’) have a maximum power limited to 4kW and a maximum speed of 45km/h, such limitations do not apply to e-MTBs; the e-bike model that nowadays is rapidly growing in popularity.
Lainaus:
What is interesting here is that electric bikes ‘exclusively’ used in race competitions and equipped with electric motors with a maximum power of over 250W and over 25km/h maximum speed do not have to be type approved. For e-MTBs that word exclusively is not used. Here it says “vehicles primarily intended for off-road use and designed to travel on unpaved surfaces.” This means that e-MTBs with over 250W motors capable of (supported) speeds of over 25km/h fitted with knobby tyres as well as stickers stating “off-road” are excludes from the costly type approval procedures. To what extent this will trigger abuse in the near future remains at this moment the question.