If we could make the world a better place, with ebikes playing their part, what could we dream up? The Alternative Transport Association put in this submission to the Federal Government's Draft Road Safety Strategy for 2011-2020. The author noticed they had a comment regarding electric bikes, 'which was basically the restrictive idea floated by the RTA in NSW'.
ATA Electric Vehicle Interest Group: Proposed Rules for Electric Vehicles February 2nd, 2011 See fourth green heading down page for link.
http://www.ata.org.au/index.php?s=electric+bike
This submission mentioned 32kmh speed limiting and a 750w max for ebikes, with an interesting trade-off for speed limiting. The document used current road rules applied to the e-bike context which 'Removes the conundrum from the whole e-bike debate and avoids the nonsense from the RTA proposal'.
Their webpage abstract included:
'As the public consensus for a transition to a low carbon economy continues to increase, the choice for more sustainable transport options will also be demanded from the community'.
'Responding to this demand are a number of radical new vehicle designs which come under the heading of Light Electric Transport that are in the prototyping stage or have recently been put to market that conform very poorly, if at all, to the current regulations'.
'Also, the drafting of legislation for electric bikes, electric scooters and other wheeled devices has been reactive and has become problematic as evidenced by inconsistent rulings across different jurisdictions, both nationally and internationally'.
'The general approach has been to draft legislation from the perspective of the bicycle which really only caters for those vehicles that resemble a bicycle in design'.
'If legislation was drafted with the view of embracing solutions for reducing urban transport congestion and de-carbonising the transport sector then a far wider range of vehicles designs could be accommodated for'.
Commenting from my 200w legal ebike perspective, my ebike motor's
power fades to nil input at 32kmh. So 32kmh speed limiting (above submission) would represent the current status quo with Australia's ebike legislation, or at least how that manifests in Victoria. Electric motors differ considerably from petrol motors in their performance paradigm. That is, max torque occurs at startup speed (eg 1kmh) and max HP around half way through their rpm range (perhaps 16kmh). A hub motor needs to spin quicker than it's wheel to have best power, so my Bagang motor has approximately 16:1 planetary gear reduction. By the time an ebike is doing 33kmh, its' HP output is nil; and we're talking flat/calm pedal-assisted kmh here. Hence, for a 200-250w ebike, there is no need for speed limiting. This motor limitation characteristic is reinforced by the 20-30+kg weight of the ebike and wind resistance rising 'exponentially' above 30kmh. Have you ever cycled carrying 8-15kg of groceries? That's the weight penalty an ebike has imposed over an averagish 15kg bike. It's fairly punitive to say the motor won't go fast, carry extra weight and suffer wind impedance >30kmh; AND we're going to cut power to your motor at 23-25kmh. For a spend of $2000-3000, people need to experience the small benefit that a 250w (0.35hp) motor can provide.
This week, I road tested my
250w EU motor ebike hill climbing the You Yangs park to the lookout parking lot. I'll reinstal the 200w motor and do the same climb again soon, to provide comparative data. The climb route was from the turnoff for the lookout up 1.44km to the parking lot and a sign overlooking Melbourne's western planes with a view to the city, and is a medium difficulty climb. The
average speed for 4 climbs was 21.7kmh. I'm a 59y fit cyclist, and do 50km Beach Rd rides with a carbon/Ultegra groupset bike regularly on the weekend, and can mix it with pelotons (although can drop in hills). I also did a 12km circuit on a good quality gravel road around the base of the You Yangs. In flat spaces, the highest max speed I could crank out was 29.1kmh with this EU 250w 21kg Jamis Coda Sport 27 spd ebike with 32mm tyres. Battery is 36v 14Ah Li-ion, motor an EU standard 250w Suzhou Bafang front hub drive (10.4A max), using a thumb throttle and 15A controller. Next time around with a 200w Bafang motor, I'll use the same 15A controller, throttle and 14Ah Li-ion battery; so will be comparing 200 and 250w Bafang motors with other variables common.
I have commented occasionally that Australia has gone to several wars to protect our sovereignty, so why are we leaning towards adopting a retrograde EU ebike standard so happily (Bicycle Victoria's enthusiasm comes to mind)? I once said this on an Audax 100km ride, and the listener quickly retorted that Australia has only ever fought at the behest of its imperial masters. He had a good point, and I don't often make the comment anymore. To give currency, what would be Australia's interest in spending $1bn a year waging war in Afghanistan, at the cost of 29 servicemen's lives? Protecting subsistence level goat farming?