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General1lol t1_ivgd3ik wrote

Reply to comment by surnik22 in Honda Electric Moped Coming - Step-through electric likely to be announced this year. by speckz

The original mopeds had pedals; pedals were how they were used starting or were designed for emergency uses if the engine wouldn’t operate. The pedals weren’t added to circumvent motorized laws per say.

I imagine most laws pertaining to mopeds would still apply to this device; although it’s unclear since there’s no “cc” classification for it. In most city laws I’ve seen, explicit terminology covering e-bikes have been added to cover those devices.

Maybe I’m nitpicking, but the average person can certainly tell this is an “electric moped” and not an “e-bike”, so the laws would fall under the former. It might not be important at all, since in some cities e-bikes are treated identically to 49cc mopeds.

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surnik22 t1_ivggaof wrote

I mean, I can only speak for my city/state confidently.

But if it has pedals and is electric it will be treated as an e-bike. It will have classifications based on top speed unassisted, but it can be an artificial limit.

Which to me is a huge benefit. Ebikes don’t have insurance, registration, or license requirements. And can be on bike lanes. The top speed of 25 mph isn’t ideal always, but in a city you rarely would be going faster and being able to use bike lanes and paths more than makes up for the speed reduction.

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tossme68 t1_ivgthqv wrote

>but in a city you rarely would be going faster

Have you been to NYC or Chicago in the last few years? Every food delivery guy is on an Ebike going as fast as they can in the bike lanes. Regulation is coming I just don't think the government knows how to handle ebike -hopefully they see the good in ebikes and don't do something ham handed but they likely will.

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surnik22 t1_ivgv1kk wrote

I mean, those are literally the laws for Chicago.

That doesn’t mean people obey the laws. It’s like cars with speed limits, or trucks with weight limits, or noise limits on vehicles, or any other number of things that are regulated but not regularly enforced.

It’s hard to enforce a lot of regulations, including a speed limit on an electric bike. Especially when it can be sold as an electric bike where the limit is only digitally set and you can just turn the limiter on/off. But any sort of other regulation on motor size is gonna be equally silly. A motor that can go 30 mph for a 100 pound woman might only be able to go 20 mph with a 300 pound man carrying deliveries.

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