Why don't Americans use electric bicycles?
After all, they run on a battery inside the frame, which has a range of roughly 30 miles on a full charge. They’re very clean–no gas combusted–amazingly efficient, and can go almost as fast as a moped, up to 20 miles per hour. And they can flatten hills that make grown men weep.
Their scarcity is partly due to confusing state laws:
[E]-bikes do not fit neatly into existing legal categories, in some places they’re banned altogether. The problem is that, legally, the bikes aren’t motorized vehicles, so they’re not allowed to operate as a car or motorcycle would. But they can’t be registered as bikes, either. The solution to that conundrum so far has been to ban e-bikes. New York state, for instance, has decided that electric bikes cannot be ridden on public streets, sidewalks, or parking lots.
In New York City, fines for riding e-bikes are in the process of doubling to $1,000:
Admittedly, electric bikes don’t travel safely in bike lanes (they’re faster than most bicycles) or in the street (they still only do about 20MPH and don’t have good acceleration). But just like we allow people to drive cars that are capable of driving three-to-four-times faster than we typically allow in the city, why not simply ticket electric bike riders who break the speed limit? Or create a speed limit for bike lanes?
(Photo: a British model from 1947 in Mechanix Magazine by Carlton Reid)
The Dish 