WTF? Ubereats and Deliveroo riders are already a menace are we supposed to allow them to kill us all?
https://www.theguardian.com/news/202...ic-bike-motors
Ministers are to consult on doubling the legal wattage of electric bike motors, despite concerns over road safety and the risk of deadly fires caused by batteries.
The Department for Transport will launch the consultation on Thursday, the Guardian understands, which will propose changing the maximum allowable power of an e-bike motor from 250w to 500w.
Another possible move would allow e-bikes to be powered by a throttle, like a motorbike. Currently, they must be pedalled for the electric motor to start working.
While the plans are believed to not include increasing the maximum powered speed of e-bikes from the current 15mph, the Bicycle Association, which represents the cycling industry, said it has serious concerns about the consultation.
In a briefing document to members seen by the Guardian, the organisation noted that 500w non-pedal bikes would be notably quicker to accelerate and would need significantly bigger batteries, making them heavier and thus more dangerous in crashes.
Some e-bike owners already tamper with their software to remove the 15mph limit, and with 500w bikes this could lead to very high unrestricted maximum speeds.
While the Bicycle Association does not mention this risk, fire services are likely to be wary of a change involving larger batteries, given a recent surge in fires involving e-bike and e-scooter batteries, some of which have killed people.
Because the EU has the same 250w limit the UK currently does, if the UK moves to 500w, many buyers might have to buy the more powerful e-bikes from places like China, where battery safety rules are less strict.
