Electric Vehicles

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Electric Vehicles are a key part of our tomorrow and how we get there. If we can get all the fossil fuel vehicles off our roads, out of our seas and out of our skies, we'll have a much better environment. This community is where we discuss the various different vehicles and news stories regarding electric transportation.

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Starting today, California is coming for your e-bike throttles (electrek.co)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] j4k3 14 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Around half to a third of the e-bikes I've seen are illegal even under Class 3's limit of 28mph. I can catch and draft 28 on a road bike quite easily. I know exactly what low 30's looks like too. I've failed to catch people even with a tailwind when they had to be doing nearly 40mph. For reference, the fastest I have continuously pedaled on flat ground, came from a red light changing as a city bus was getting up to speed slowly on a long stretch of Pacific Coast Highway I dropped in and held 55mph plus for several miles in that pocket. An e-bike draft is not so efficient, but catching is not a problem even just a little over 28mph.

I bet this regulation is due to the wheelies idiots playing chicken with others.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 days ago (2 children)

yeah this is a place where i think perhaps this regulation is a good thing. us americans treat all bicycles like children's toys when they're accessible road vehicles. further, an electric bike has far more in common with a harley davidson than a kid bike, and the injuries associated with them bear that out

[–] krelvar 8 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The average street legal motorcycle is something like 500lbs. That's a lot more mass than most e-bikes, the heaviest of which are perhaps in the 100lbs range and most are less. It's fair to argue an ebike that can go 40mph is really a motorcycle and I'd agree with that, but most e-bikes aren't that close to a motorcycle in my opinion.

That said, I agree that some enforced regulations are going to happen so hopefully they'll be reasonable about it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

It's not the weight of the bike that's the issue; it's the speed. Motorcycles are unlikely to kill or even injure anyone other than their operator.