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Comment by yolesaber | Hacker News Reader

Delivery guys use these all the time in NYC and I'm seeing more and more folks riding on them, even fellas in bizness suits. I'd say they've arrived.

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When you consider e-bikes are illegal in NYC thats even more impressive

Yeah, laws about the lightweight end of the spectrum in powered transportation came into being when we were talking about noisy, polluting two-strokes. They make little sense in the context of lithium ion batteries and silent brushless DC motors.

Having these things silently blasting down the sidewalk at 20+ mph is incredibly dangerous.

People can bicycle at 20mph too using their legs. On paths and lanes where these things are banned.

Common sense wattage restrictions (I have seen 1hp or 750W as a threshold, for example, and apparently parts of Europe do 250W limits) are perfectly feasible.

Apparently federal law on imports dictates that the class of 'low-speed electric bicycles' is defined by a maximum of 750W and 20mph, which is a surprisingly appropriate envelope - about as much as you'd want out of a single-rider passenger bicycle with a heavy rider or cargo in a hilly city.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_bicycle_laws#Defined

* http://www.alysion.org/ebiketours/power.html

> apparently parts of Europe do 250W limits

That's part of the EU recommendation for classification as an assisted bicycle (pedelec) rather than an electric moped (e-bike): 250W maximum continuous rated power, assistance-only (user must be pedalling for engine to engage) and progressive cutoff to 25km/h[0] (so the cutoff starts earlier, at 25km/h or above there's no assistance)

[0] ~16mph

Actually, from what I've been following, pedal assist is ok, it is only a throttle that is not legal. I.e., you have to be peddling for the bike to move, and the motor adds in a bit more power.

Not as much as you'd think. NYC is (by USA standards) notoriously law-ignoring, both in the sense of people ignoring rules and of law enforcers not bothering to enforce them -- ESPECIALLY any rules or laws related to traffic.

(This isn't a good thing. A poorly enforced law is a great vector for discrimination.)

The delivery guys definitely- for a while now. Haven't seen that many suits on them. I'm interested what do people in the Netherlands think of them?

They're getting popular.

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2015/03/electric-bikes...

They're bikes. Good to get from a to b like any other bike.

During my daily commute from and to work I think about one in ten I pass / pass me is an electric motor supported bike. It seems that mostly elderly people are riding them, but more and more people under 50 are using them as well.

Note that e-bikes here are normal bikes with an electric motor to assist the cyclist to keep a (slightly faster than) normal pace. Personally, I dislike the e-bikes who behave like mopeds/scooters and go 30km/h or more because they're dangerous. Especially on bike path given the difference in speed between regular cyclists and these electric monsters.

Of ebikes? To us they're equivalent of someone riding their bike very fast, which one encounters every now and then. No big deal.

Then again everyone rides bicycles here.

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