Documentation of European E-Bike Regulations

[AUbicycles]

Direct Link to PDF: EU regulations for e-bikes pedelecs and speed pedelecs

While Australian road laws differ from state to state, most states have adopted e-bike reulations in accordance with European standard, hence the relevance of this document. It is 14 pages and quite readbale, so not too much tech rambling, making it a good general read as well. The European market is threatened by the cheap Chinese E-Bikes which don't comply to the regulations and also dumping. Many of the E-bikes come from Asia though are European heritage brands or new brands based in Europe and built to comply.

[myforwik]

Sadly like most EU regulations, they are way over the top.

The tests for EMC compatibility are so powerful the radiation is lethal to humans and they have to do be done in extremely expensive labs. They have no genuine purpose. Its cost around 30,000 EUROs to get one designed bike certified as compliant to EN 15194 and if any problems are found, you have to pay 30,000 again, and again, until it passes.

When you add in the design work required before testing, you are looking at costs of around $500,000. I know that super pedestrian had to adjust their budget and allocate over $1.1 million to get EN 15194 compliance for their electric wheel. They subsequently had to increase the price of the wheel from $699 USD to $959USD.

This is ok for the big guys but it creates a massive barrier for entry. The guys already in support the rules and make then bigger and harder to comply because it restricts competition.

What we really need is a very simple standard that only covers power output and how to measure it and top speed cut-off. What we actually have is a regulation designed to make it as hard as possible for anyone to make and sell an e-bike.

Anyway e-bike enforcement is a joke in Australia. You can just buy a sticker saying "EN 15194 Pedalic 250W", police are not going to power test your bike, as long as it looks stock you can zoom around at 60km/hr on a 1000W bike and they mostly do nothing (at least in my area).

Having said that, I did see one guy get caught on that Australia Police Patrol show. He got done with a home made 800W bike. The penalties were gigantic. Its basically treated as driving an unregistered unroadworthy motor vehicle... ouch.

[find_bruce]

We have a simple Australian standard of 200w - the additional euro standard was introduced after lobbying to allow import of cheaper bikes from a volume market.

[eldavo]

Sadly like most EU regulations, they are way over the top.

The case for recognising other standards, is to not continue to saddle our small market with the problems of ADR alienation that has happened elsewhere (e.g. ADR helmets).
If the standard exists (despite the difficulty of it suffered by others), we're just riding the back of it (which helps mitigate their costs) rather than shooting ourselves in the foot with ADRs being the exception to the larger markets.
200W is simple and easy, but it puts us as ADR exceptions again.

For rare scenarios e.g. legal able bodied home builders on flat terrain, the 200W law is nice because you can wind and gear motors to operate in a narrower band that suits your need, e.g. when you pedal to 25kph easily on the flat, you could make it not operate below 12kph, have 200W nominal power range in 25-30kph to deal with head winds if you don't have hills.

For less able bodied retiring population needing convenient local transport with lifestyle benefit, the 250W pedelec options including crank drives coming from alpine markets, should cater for everyone's needs and budgets.

[myforwik]

I think the real issue is not the 200W and 250W. The power rating are 1 of several thousand requirements.

For a bike to match the EN standard it has to be made a certain way, with certain materials, certain wiring, certain batteries, certain recycle obligations, meeting european things like RoHS etc. etc. By requiring the bikes to be EN rather than 250W pedal, its basically impossible for pedalics to ever be legal unless they are manufactured in europe.

[eldavo]

I'm still failing to see any real issue at all.

Whatever the new laws propagating through the states are, they obviously aren't restricting or causing a problem for import, local manufacture, sale or use of electric bikes.
e.g. looking at the budget end
http://www.bikeexchange.com.au/a/electr ... /102389665" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://surgebikes.com.au/about_our_bikes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

100% usability:
All our e-bikes are designed strictly to follow EU standards which is adopted to the ADR (Australian Design Rules) and they are certified with EN15194:2009. That means, our all our e-bikes are 100% legal for ride on all bicycle permitted Australian roads, bicycle lanes, paths, trails and routes.

Surge is a start-up so should be conversant with what degree they can claim 'certified with' applies here, and one of the few that goes into that much detail on the topcic.

If you really felt it was an issue, you could contact them to confirm, or escalate to the ACCC.

[cj7hawk]

I was wondering about this - compliance with EN 15194 doesn't mean certification - the way the laws have been implemented allow the manufacturer to self-certify as long as they conduct the tests in accordance with the standard. So it looks like the regulations as adopted in Australia aren't as bad as they seem based on web-paged reviews of the standard.

OK, having just purchased a copy of the new standard and now seriously considering building a bicycle to "Meet the standard of EN 15194:2009+A1:2011" as required by all states, I have just discovered something - My new petrol design actually could comply with the standard... A petrol-powered EN15194 compliant bicycle... Which would guarantee legality in every state in Australia. I'm going to need to evaluate what parts I can use COTS, and modify the charger circuit with some safety devices, but although the standard wasn't intended to do what I am planning on doing with it, it does look like they've considered the possibility and provided instruction on making such implementations legitimate as a Pedelec.

So... Looks like I might raise my sights now from just a bicycle mounted APU to building a fully compliant petrol-enhanced Pedelec that conforms with the standard

Regards
David

[human909]

Personally I don't see what is wrong with our current laws. It allows EU bikes and it allows 200W bikes (which should be more than enough power). It doesn't allow super powerful ebike and it doesn't allow Chinese electric scooters with pedals.

On the flip side, how can our laws be improved?

(Personally I don't want to see anything with a petrol motor being classified as a bicycle. Noisy, smelly etc. I don't want whipper-snippers engines on our bike paths. Cj7hawk, as an hobby engineer I applaud your endevours. But we'll just have to disagree about the petrol motor thing. )

[cj7hawk]

Personally I don't see what is wrong with our current laws. It allows EU bikes and it allows 200W bikes (which should be more than enough power). It doesn't allow super powerful ebike and it doesn't allow Chinese electric scooters with pedals.

On the flip side, how can our laws be improved?

(Personally I don't want to see anything with a petrol motor being classified as a bicycle. Noisy, smelly etc. I don't want whipper-snippers engines on our bike paths. Cj7hawk, as an hobby engineer I applaud your endevours. But we'll just have to disagree about the petrol motor thing. )

That's OK, not everyone likes them, but don't forget that if it wasn't for petrol bikes, e-bikes wouldn't exist. Pbike laws started to come in around 40 years ago - that's where the 200w limit comes from.

Unfortunately, the NSW interpretation of the 200w laws exclude most home-made electric bikes and could leave riders open to prosecution based on "peak" output values, and European laws effectively exclude anything made in Australia... I'm working to fit into one of the narrow gaps that's left over -

It's actually easier for me to build a petrol pedelec and comply with the euro-laws than it would be for you to build an electric pedelec and comply with the laws... Mainly because of how the EN standard is written - and if you check the power output on most 200w electrics, and, say, slow the motor to around 10kph and apply full power, they would probably exceed 200w. That doesn't leave us with any legal leeway, and the DoT has already screwed things up with rules that you can't coast on an electric bike and that peak power provided by electrics does not comply with the 200w rule. I had to go down to 120w to ensure I complied there.

That's what's wrong with current laws.

At some point, I'll get more involved in trying to have them changed. WA looks to be merging them and may provide a workable model, but all other states laws are in a mess... First I'll have to build an accurate dyno though, because it's difficult to do anything when there's little collected data on the topic.

David

[jdh500]

I think a dual standard for road and shared cycle ways is more appropriate, ie. 500w to 1000w for roads and 200w to 250w for shared cycle ways where the expectations is that you should be going slower.

I currently use two flat bar road bikes, one self powered and another with a 250w hub motor, The issue is how to enforce it so I guess that's why we have a motor capacity that captures all.

Regardless of the law you will always have the odd idiot with a home made 5000w contraption motoring down shared cycle ways at 60+ km/h.

JDH

[human909]

I think a dual standard for road and shared cycle ways is more appropriate, ie. 500w to 1000w for roads and 200w to 250w for shared cycle ways where the expectations is that you should be going slower.

500W to 1000W!!! You are talking 45-55kph. That isn't a electric bicycle, that is a motorbike. Get a proper motorbike if you want to have a motor for those speeds.

[cj7hawk]

I think a dual standard for road and shared cycle ways is more appropriate, ie. 500w to 1000w for roads and 200w to 250w for shared cycle ways where the expectations is that you should be going slower.

500W to 1000W!!! You are talking 45-55kph. That isn't a electric bicycle, that is a motorbike. Get a proper motorbike if you want to have a motor for those speeds.

That's the kind of power you actually do get under EN15194 - but it has to drop off as you approach 25kph. There's talk too about a 25kph cut-off requirement for electric PAPC bikes in WA, like it is with pedelecs. Or at least, some of those involved mentioned it to me. The other side of what was mentioned was that the power limit might be increased without speed restrictions, and could end up around 30kph for PAPCs, so I couldn't really say which way it's going to go.

Though I think this hate of motorcycles within cycling needs to end - There's value in something that handles road-safe speeds for commuting that doesn't require registration or pedaling, be it a motorcycle or motorized bicycle. The first motorcycles looked very much like today's electric and petrol bicycles and were developed from the same technology. Who knows what might be developed here if the laws allowed?



The first "Indian" motorcycle... Over 100 years ago.

50 is a bit fast on a pushbike though IMO - I've done it a few times down a very steep hill ( pedaling ), and I never feel comfortable at those kinds of speeds. 40 isn't that bad though, and I think around 35 would be quite suited to long straight stretches of well-made cycle paths when not overtaking people or bikes, especially on a well made bicycle, and would be safer on the roads. I think bicycles could go a lot faster than they do now though, and still quite safely.

Though it does get me thinking about this video... Something I saw on another forum.

This bike...



and this commute...



And you know, I'm kind of envious, though that does seriously tread motorcycle territory and I'm not sure I'd be game to ride like that.

Regards
David

[jdh500]

The video makes it look like they are moving faster than they are. I think it is recorded at 2 x speed. Either way clearly moving along with the traffic which suggests a speed of 50km/h plus etc.

JDH

[cj7hawk]

The video makes it look like they are moving faster than they are. I think it is recorded at 2 x speed. Either way clearly moving along with the traffic which suggests a speed of 50km/h plus etc.

JDH

I think it's 3x speed from the look of it - It's not the open areas that bother me so much, it's how he fits between cars and the likes... For me, having gone over the handlebars a few times as a kid, including some nasty accidents, I never feel too good at speed. Went down a steep hill that's on my usual circuit today without any extra power or pedaling and hit 36... Felt OK. But if I push at all, I can get to 50 easy enough. Even at 36, I was able to pull up behind a car that emergency braked in front of me without feeling like I needed to brake hard or evade it. At 50, I do have trouble slowing with the brakes I have.

I know that other bike had good brakes, but at some point, I'm still nervous piling it on to the front brake - bikes are just too light and we're sitting pretty close to the front wheel.

LoL! Maybe I'm just a chicken

David.

[Lurkin]

Even NZ has provision for mopeds... http://www.nzta.govt.nz/vehicle/your/motorcycles.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A split law would be really ideal, as detailed above, 500w - 1000wish moped, cut off of 50km/h with simple certification would be ideal. I would certainly consider this. It's kinda a self fulling prophecy to say there will be people breaching the rules when they are inadequate in the first place... I believe Germany has a similar provision...

[cj7hawk]

Even NZ has provision for mopeds... http://www.nzta.govt.nz/vehicle/your/motorcycles.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A split law would be really ideal, as detailed above, 500w - 1000wish moped, cut off of 50km/h with simple certification would be ideal. I would certainly consider this. It's kinda a self fulling prophecy to say there will be people breaching the rules when they are inadequate in the first place... I believe Germany has a similar provision...

We have those kinds of laws in WA - Anything under 50cc can be ridden on a normal car license. I used to have one but it got stolen

In reality though they are just small motorcycles.

Regards
David

[myforwik]

The laws always play catch-up because they are over prescriptive.

So QLD just changed the laws to allow things like seaways to legally be treated like bicycles (so they can go on bicycle paths), but they are no allowed on the road.

Yet this just opens up even more cans of worms. What about electric unicycles? The one where you stand up with an electric wheel between your feet? What about electric skate boards etc? Most of these have to be 800W to 1000W because of the starting power to get moving.

They need to just blanket do it by speed. Easy to enforce as well. They will be continually having to change regulations every time someone invents a new form of transport.

[cj7hawk]

The laws always play catch-up because they are over prescriptive.

So QLD just changed the laws to allow things like seaways to legally be treated like bicycles (so they can go on bicycle paths), but they are no allowed on the road.

Yet this just opens up even more cans of worms. What about electric unicycles? The one where you stand up with an electric wheel between your feet? What about electric skate boards etc? Most of these have to be 800W to 1000W because of the starting power to get moving.

They need to just blanket do it by speed. Easy to enforce as well. They will be continually having to change regulations every time someone invents a new form of transport.

Hmmm, IMO, the new 250w laws are downright stupid... They are poorly written, implemented so badly they are probably illegal to ride anyway and having spend time with the 200w rules, It would have made more sense to just update that one. A blanket increase to 250w would have solved a lot of problems.

BTW, the 250w rules do allow more power, and those bikes put out up to a kilowatt as well...

Unicyles and HT? A 10kph limit on them would be fine. Just allow mobility devices a 10kph limit and don't discriminate on the type... Skateboards and scooters should be allowed too. This is gopher speed isn't it?

As for the 200w rule? Well, I like it the way it is - I've tweaked my output to optimize for 30kph at full assist - Way far from legal under 250w laws, but completely legal under 200w rules. This means it adds to my own input at all speeds, so I do actually gain practical benefit form pedal input in the form of increased top speed. As such, a little effort will easily see me moving at 30kph under assist and I can commute a lot more effectively. If I don't pedal, well, I usually top out around 25 kph, or just under, because of wind resistance, but you know, it only takes a 6kph wind ( too light even to feel ) to allow me to ride at 30 under assist only - It's a nice feeling - and all within the law. And I'd love to be able to increase to 250w full assist too -

Bikes are pretty safe up to about 40 kph in transit. It just needs to be ridden sanely and safely for the conditions of the path.

David.

[softy]

In europe they have an intermediate class;

S pedelec, that allows the bikes which are limited to 25km to be unlimited to speed. These can assist up to 40km. They need to be registered as well.
This I believe would be good in Australian where commutes and distances are generally longer.

Or allow the US standard which allows assist up to 32km. I believe this is more practical for Australia as car culture and distances are more similar.

High powered bikes that can bang along at 60km on the flat are really starting to be mopeds or motorbikes. So this I do not agree with. There needs to be some line drawn in the sand as to when a bicycle is a motorbike. BUT!

Australia is not like europe, distances are bigger, and take up of cycle use for commuting is low. We need to encourage people to get out of cars and use alternative transport, encourage change. Allowing more realistic ebikes for our distances may be the answer.

[cj7hawk]

In europe they have an intermediate class;

S pedelec, that allows the bikes which are limited to 25km to be unlimited to speed. These can assist up to 40km. They need to be registered as well.
This I believe would be good in Australian where commutes and distances are generally longer.

Or allow the US standard which allows assist up to 32km. I believe this is more practical for Australia as car culture and distances are more similar.

High powered bikes that can bang along at 60km on the flat are really starting to be mopeds or motorbikes. So this I do not agree with. There needs to be some line drawn in the sand as to when a bicycle is a motorbike. BUT!

Australia is not like europe, distances are bigger, and take up of cycle use for commuting is low. We need to encourage people to get out of cars and use alternative transport, encourage change. Allowing more realistic ebikes for our distances may be the answer.

Completely agree. It will be a challenge to get the laws changed though -

David.

[AUbicycles]

I wouldn't raise to 32kmh as this is again out of line with Europe, currently the primary market and the challenges Australia has already had in getting all of the states to agree to the EN regulations shows how hard it can be. Local distributers had a hard enough time as it was convincing suppliers to modify down to 200 watt before the 250 watt became accepted.

S Pedelecs also require a different helmet - a specially approved helmet.

On the distances, it really depends where people are travelling, there are a lot of cities with high density living, but also regional areas where people travel loner distances by car, bike or public transport.

Given the state of cycling in Australia where a lot of improvement is required in infrastructure and road-user education (awareness and attitudes), transferring motorists to regular pedelecs should be the focus without yet adding the confusion of Speed Pedelecs. I am considering bike control for new riders when they are travelling at higher speeds - so for this category see a slower gradual introduction after regular pedelecs take off.

[cj7hawk]

I wouldn't raise to 32kmh as this is again out of line with Europe, currently the primary market and the challenges Australia has already had in getting all of the states to agree to the EN regulations shows how hard it can be. Local distributers had a hard enough time as it was convincing suppliers to modify down to 200 watt before the 250 watt became accepted.

S Pedelecs also require a different helmet - a specially approved helmet.

On the distances, it really depends where people are travelling, there are a lot of cities with high density living, but also regional areas where people travel loner distances by car, bike or public transport.

Given the state of cycling in Australia where a lot of improvement is required in infrastructure and road-user education (awareness and attitudes), transferring motorists to regular pedelecs should be the focus without yet adding the confusion of Speed Pedelecs. I am considering bike control for new riders when they are travelling at higher speeds - so for this category see a slower gradual introduction after regular pedelecs take off.

A few problems with this. Firstly, the laws are so badly written, that some states do not have laws that support genuine Pedelecs - Mainly because the way they are written do not allow any power over 250w

Secondly, all the new "laws" have done is to embolden people ordering anything marked "250w" on the box - I have yet to see a genuine pedalec.... Just this afternoon, I was riding along behind a nice new pedalec, with the same size crank gear as the rear gear ( well, both were small ) and with barely any cadence, the rider was sitting on 30..., So I know it was very likely not legal, but it sure looked like it had come from a local dealer. It wasn't a bad experience though - Once behind him I was able to keep up nicely ( 200w will easily do 30k's when drafting at 2m ) - But, well, I'm right on the 200w limit and there was a headwind and I had to pedal like crazy to pull in close behind him in the first place... I'd guess he was putting out close to 500w, and no 25kph cutoff.

Though perhaps you are correct about the speed thing, but OTOH, I see a lot of riders doing well over 30 ( maybe 40 ) who don't use a bell or alert anyone to their passing. I also saw a car cut off two cyclists, who openly abused him as he passed... Yeah, we got other problems far worse than a bit more power on our electrics.

So at some point, I hope they just declare 250w for throttle or pedal at least.

David

[softy]

I wouldn't raise to 32kmh as this is again out of line with Europe, currently the primary market and the challenges Australia has already had in getting all of the states to agree to the EN regulations shows how hard it can be. Local distributers had a hard enough time as it was convincing suppliers to modify down to 200 watt before the 250 watt became accepted.

S Pedelecs also require a different helmet - a specially approved helmet.

On the distances, it really depends where people are travelling, there are a lot of cities with high density living, but also regional areas where people travel loner distances by car, bike or public transport.

Given the state of cycling in Australia where a lot of improvement is required in infrastructure and road-user education (awareness and attitudes), transferring motorists to regular pedelecs should be the focus without yet adding the confusion of Speed Pedelecs. I am considering bike control for new riders when they are travelling at higher speeds - so for this category see a slower gradual introduction after regular pedelecs take off.

So are you suggesting, it is okay for a self powered bike to do 32km (easily achievable) but a pedelec should be restricted to 25km?

So what is the incentive for someone wanting to commute where distances are further than Europe due to density and time of travel is important to many.

32km (20mph) limit is the USA standard and is not just a figure I plucked out of thin air. This makes far more sense to me. Not stupid fast or wanting more, a nice crusing speed.

I realise it may not be easy to gain acceptance as you have mentioned, but to get people out of cars something has to be the big carrot.

[cj7hawk]

I wouldn't raise to 32kmh as this is again out of line with Europe, currently the primary market and the challenges Australia has already had in getting all of the states to agree to the EN regulations shows how hard it can be. Local distributers had a hard enough time as it was convincing suppliers to modify down to 200 watt before the 250 watt became accepted.

S Pedelecs also require a different helmet - a specially approved helmet.

On the distances, it really depends where people are travelling, there are a lot of cities with high density living, but also regional areas where people travel loner distances by car, bike or public transport.

Given the state of cycling in Australia where a lot of improvement is required in infrastructure and road-user education (awareness and attitudes), transferring motorists to regular pedelecs should be the focus without yet adding the confusion of Speed Pedelecs. I am considering bike control for new riders when they are travelling at higher speeds - so for this category see a slower gradual introduction after regular pedelecs take off.

So are you suggesting, it is okay for a self powered bike to do 32km (easily achievable) but a pedelec should be restricted to 25km?

So what is the incentive for someone wanting to commute where distances are further than Europe due to density and time of travel is important to many.

32km (20mph) limit is the USA standard and is not just a figure I plucked out of thin air. This makes far more sense to me. Not stupid fast or wanting more, a nice crusing speed.

I realise it may not be easy to gain acceptance as you have mentioned, but to get people out of cars something has to be the big carrot.

This.... Is very true... 32kph is a perfectly acceptable low speed at which bicycles can travel safely. This is around the same speed I've optimized my 200w bike for, and can be easily achieved with a little pedal input or with a tailwind. And it's the same speed I sat behind the overpowered pedelec yesterday. It's not a fast speed once you get a few KM outside of the city, and it's not a fast speed on the road.

David.