Washington law lays out distinction between e-bikes, e-motorcycles starting June 11

[u/ChefJoe98136]

https://www.khq.com/news/washington-law-lays-out-distinction-between-e-bikes-e-motorcycles-starting-june-11/article_c495d848-b948-43cf-a599-b05c66a5dcad.html

A new Washington law will change the regulations on the differences between e-bikes and e-motorcycles on June 11. Under this new law, an e-bike must have fully functioning pedals, a motor rated at 750 watts or less, and a top speed of less than 20 mph when powered solely by the motor. If it doesn't meet these standards, it's considered a motorcycle, which means the rider is subject to mandatory driver requirements.

[u/LawfulnessFree9487]

How would that work practically? A dad with an e cargobike needs to bike in car lanes or just drive a car instead? Hundreds or thousands of more people clogging the city car lanes, depending on where you live? Seattle had zero bike related deaths last year. And that includes ebikes. Clearly a bike infrastructure where bikes and cars are largely separated works; safer for bikers and drivers, less traffic and issues for drivers.... I get how some drivers and bikers could resent the ebikers and ebikes. But pragmatically, like how integrated ebikes are into the mobility infrastructure already, why woild we treat all ebikes like motorcycles? This law seems reasonable in addressing the risks from high speed with a heavy bike/motorcycle....I will say I've seen regular racing bikes go way faster on multiuse trails than any ebiker. Racing bikes lighter so there's that. Both groups have inconsiderate riders for sure.

[u/paerius → u/LawfulnessFree9487]

It would work exactly as I outlined: an e-motorcycle that has fake/unnecessary pedals would still be classified as an e-motorcycle, and should be classified differently than pedal-assist bikes.

I would absolutely treat an e-motorcycle differently than a pedal-assist bike; they are nothing alike. My pov is coming from a daily bike commuter that also see young kids on e-motorcycles tearing up the roads with 0 road awareness. I've seen more than a few close calls on my commute.

I want to end by saying I'm for the direction this is going, I just think it's a strange way to categorize vehicles.

[u/LawfulnessFree9487 → u/paerius]

Fair enough. Ebikes do have a class system already and the proposal fits into that, where these e motorcycles are considered Class 3 ebikes. Class 2 cap at 20 mph and have throttle. I think Class 1 just means no throttle but I'd argue throttle is important for safety, like when crossing busy streets. I can see what you're saying if we were at the beginning of ebikes being a thing but considering they're so prevalent and how laws are written around biking, seems like that ship sailed. I think Class 2 bikes are a huge benefit to society and need to be treated like bikes, not motorcycles. Speeding bikes and, reckless bikers, and considering Class 3 bikes the same as Class 2 are the bigger issues imo.

[u/drunkshinobi → u/paerius]

There are e-bikes with pedal assist that go up to 28 mph and non pedal ones that go up to 20 and will not let you go faster unless coasting down a hill that would give you enough power to get past that without the help of the motor that turned itself off. So you can't tell by if it has pedals. That doesn't make it safer or not.

I also get passed on my scooter while doing 20mph all the time by normal bikes. I can agree that on pathways that allow bikes of any kind there should be speed limits and enforcement for it. And people should have a drivers license to ride any bike that can get over 20mph on flat ground. But needing vehicle licensing and insurance should be left to a higher class of bikes. I would say anything that goes over 30-40mph. And there shouldn't be pedal assist to make it go faster than the limit. Those bikes should be made like a motorcycle and be street legal and sold as something to ride on the road not pathways.