First they came for the e-bikes...

[Asphalt]

German police stopping riders and taking e-bikes off the road for having the ability to exceed 25km/h.

E-bike makers respond by implementing app updates to software-limit their bikes to 25km/h.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/10/21558235/vanmoof-slows-s3-x3-europe-japan-speed-limit

[null]

Yes we should better drive VW cars that cheats diesel pollution regulations 
And lets not forget to shut down that evil nuclear power too 

[LanghamP]

I did read that eBike riders have about double the crash and injury rate, with injuries being much more severe due to the higher speed of crashes and the generally much older eBike clientele. EBikes (I have two) can be surprisingly and sneakily dangerous due to their apparent bicycle appearance yet motorized functionality.

But 16 mph? I average 18 mph on my gravel bike, and over 20 in the city if I don't include stops, with bursts of above 30 on flat bits. Although to be fair, a 20 mph eBike will get you around 25 mph since every hill is a 20 mph ascent.

Still, we're just not reading about thousands of eBike relates deaths per day like the way we do about automobiles, so I wonder if German authorities are not scientifically assessing and addressing threats.

[Asphalt]

Here are my takeaways from the story:

• EU regulations around PEVs are far too restrictive - actually encouraging car usage by limiting speeds that are slower than manual pedal bikes.
• The law should be implemented at the individual human level, not the broad device level. Cars are not hardware-limited to the local speed limits because sometimes you need bursts of speeds to overtake, merge, or escape dangerous situations - the same should apply for all modes of transportation.
• It's understandable why EU riders are more sensitive to seeing NYC-style riding videos, because they live in a relatively more authoritarian society with already unreasonable regulations. The prospect of those regulations becoming more strict, due to the influence of aggressive riding videos, is scary.
• The solution is to change the EU regulations to something more reasonable - not to admonish riders from a different culture.
• The prospect that PEV device manufacturers can limit your device speed via an app update is an infringement on consumer rights.
• Buy your app-independant, faster-than-25km/h PEVs now, before EU regulations are broadly accepted world-wide.
• For better or worse, the Chinese EUC companies are largely immune to legal prosecution from the rest of the world, so it is unlikely they would implement speed software restrictions due to regional regulations, however...
• Kingsong is the first company to pull this kind of post-purchase limitation with their region-locking. Will other EUC companies eventually follow suit?

As a community we should support reasonable PEV regulations around the world, lest they come for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

[Sludog]

There are more pedestrian deaths than bicycle related deaths to about a 6 to 1 ratio.

Maybe they should ban walking too. 

[Sludog]

6 hours ago, Asphalt said:

German police stopping riders and taking e-bikes off the road for having the ability to exceed 25km/h.

E-bike makers respond by implementing app updates to software-limit their bikes to 25km/h.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/10/21558235/vanmoof-slows-s3-x3-europe-japan-speed-limit

LOL you imagine dropping up to $3000 or more on a high end e-bike and its governed to a top speed of 15 mph. 

 

[RoadRunner]

Here in Germany the speed restrictions on  e-scooters are even worse than in the rest of Europe.

We are the only ones where the speed limit is 20kmh. 

[mrelwood]

13 hours ago, Asphalt said:

Kingsong is the first company to pull this kind of post-purchase limitation with their region-locking. Will other EUC companies eventually follow suit?

Airwheel did something similar 3 years ago with the seated two-wheeler A3. While the top speed was 15km/h, it could be increased (after each power on) to 17km/h within the app. Without notice, they removed the option to do so in an app update. The slider just didn’t go past 15km/h. Their response was that the change was due to rider safety.

 I’m lucky enough to have stored the old app install file, so I can still increase the top speed to 17km/h (16km/h cruising speed).

[Issah]

15 hours ago, RoadRunner said:

Here in Germany the speed restrictions on  e-scooters are even worse than in the rest of Europe.

We are the only ones where the speed limit is 20kmh. 

The same in Norway. The margin of error is acceptable within 22 kph over the limit of 20 kph. It's painfully slow, and honestly the limit should if anything be at 30 kph.

[LanghamP]

18 hours ago, RoadRunner said:

Here in Germany the speed restrictions on  e-scooters are even worse than in the rest of Europe.

We are the only ones where the speed limit is 20kmh. 

Try being a Bird recharger. They limit their speeds to about 9 kmh and off sidewalks. 

[Toshio Uemura]

18 hours ago, RoadRunner said:

Here in Germany the speed restrictions on  e-scooters are even worse than in the rest of Europe.

We are the only ones where the speed limit is 20kmh. 

320 km/h for the investment banker in his Bugatti Chiron and 020 km/h for the bourgeois on their e-scooter. No future for Shermany! 🤣 

[BFE Duke]

A lot of car manufacturers in Germany. Maybe if Big Auto moved to making more ebikes / PEVs, then the laws would change? 

[Toshio Uemura]

36 minutes ago, BFE Duke said:

Maybe if Big Auto moved to making more ebikes / PEVs, then the laws would change? 

Isn’t that what they call “Wishful thinking” 🤔