Time to reclassify the definition of motorcycle. Can’t be based on engine size anymore it needs to be based on speed capability. Same with road cars, if it can go 0-60 in 5 seconds its a sports car and should be taxed and insured based on that.
That’s not a great way to do it either though. A couple of issues off the top of my head -
The 1st issue is peak vs continuous wattage. A lot of people - ie the ones who will be handing out fines/confiscating the ebike ( or even registering it) won’t know the difference and trying to get manufactures to standardize labeling to clearly show continuous vs peak wouldn’t solve that even if if they did standardize.
The 2nd is if you need an ebike in an area with steep hills you need more wattage to get up them.
The biggest issue is a lot of ebike speed limiters are easily bypassed right in the settings so any Joe schmoe can go faster than is safe right out the box. that is what really needs to be fixed.
Fair point, but those caveats do run parallel with existing ones for the ICE definition of a moped. There are 50cc sport bikes that will do 70 mph. Ebikes are just less understood by the law because they’re new and government is slow.
Time to reclassify the definition of motorcycle. Can’t be based on engine size anymore it needs to be based on speed capability. Same with road cars, if it can go 0-60 in 5 seconds its a sports car and should be taxed and insured based on that.
SUV classifications need unfucking too, broken since the start
A lot of states have already done this. In mine it can’t be registered as a moped if its motor is capable of above a certain wattage output.
That’s not a great way to do it either though. A couple of issues off the top of my head -
The 1st issue is peak vs continuous wattage. A lot of people - ie the ones who will be handing out fines/confiscating the ebike ( or even registering it) won’t know the difference and trying to get manufactures to standardize labeling to clearly show continuous vs peak wouldn’t solve that even if if they did standardize.
The 2nd is if you need an ebike in an area with steep hills you need more wattage to get up them.
The biggest issue is a lot of ebike speed limiters are easily bypassed right in the settings so any Joe schmoe can go faster than is safe right out the box. that is what really needs to be fixed.
Fair point, but those caveats do run parallel with existing ones for the ICE definition of a moped. There are 50cc sport bikes that will do 70 mph. Ebikes are just less understood by the law because they’re new and government is slow.