Mastodawn

A rant about electric bicycles:

* For e-bikes to be viable car replacements they need cargo-carrying and hill-climb capacity. The practicality test for an e-bike is to carry four bags of grocieries, or a child.

* The 250W and 20km/h limit for unlicensed bicycles is *far* too low. Human cyclists comfortably exceed this in both power and speed leading to e-bikes holding up traffic. When. I ride the bikeways, human-powered traffic cruises at around 35 km/h.

* The "you must pedal or the motor stops" requirement is some Calvinist bullshit.

* The perl-clutching "but the children" scare in the news about "unlicensed motorbikes" HAS to be some kind of car-industry astroturfing. From what I can see on the bikeways, commuter e-bikes and scooters are HOT items and anyone with a head can see a dent in vehicle sales coming. Users LOVE this emerging mobility sector.

* I work in an industrial area with zero public transport service. I observe large numbers of workers riding scooters in the direction of the nearest train station.

* If governments *really* want to stick to the 250w 25km/h bullshit for "bicycles" then we need URGENT legislation to create a vehicle class for say 1000W 45km/h vehicles. The Australia post electric delivery tricycles are a worked example of the practicality of this class; I don't hear *anyone* having a meltdown about "dangerous monster tricycles on our footpaths".

#MicroMobility #ebikes #solarpunk

ETA: absurd panic-fueled legislation from the fossil-fuel captured Literal Nazi Party: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-24/queensland-ebike-escooter-ban-children-licence-reforms/106487910

E-bike and e-scooter riders to require a licence in Qld under proposed laws

A raft of new rules around the use of e-mobility devices will be ushered in after the Queensland government accepted the recommendations from a parliamentary inquiry.

Show thread

Jenny List

@Unixbigot Oddly, you are describing pretty much what European ebikes have been forever, except 25kmh speed limit. About 15mph for brits. I have one, and it holds its own fine.

Perhaps lobbying for the European speed limit woyld be in order, there must be lots of data about European cities.

There's a problem with unrestricted bikes here, patticularly the so-called fatbikes, because kids ride them like idiots. And there's a lot of class based social prejudice in there too.

Show thread

Kit Bashir 6d ago

@JennyList the european standard is what’s being adopted here. Brisbane is heckin’ hilly though; I have to take a huge detour out of my way, because even the 250W motor and me working together can’t get up my street.

Show thread

Jenny List 6d ago

@Unixbigot the speed limit is less than europe.

As for hills, it's best described as a helper, it's not the power for the bike, as for example with a motorcycle.

I find 250W sends me breezing over pretty much any hill I can find in Oxfordshire.

Show thread

Jim 2d ago

@JennyList no, the speed limit in Aus is not less than Europe. I think Kit just misspoke in their earlier comment saying 20 km/h. The truth is the limit is 25 km/h currently.

250 W is fine for most places, for most purposes. But if you're carrying two children with sporting gear, or a large load of shopping, and going up some of the steepest hills in Brisbane (I can think of several >10% climbs I've gone up regularly, and one 30% climb), it's likely too limiting.

Show thread

Jim 2d ago

@Unixbigot @JennyList fwiw it's not what's "being adopted" here. EN-15194's 250 W, 25 km/h is *already* the standard here. They're just further-restricting it so only bikes made to the 2023 EN-15194:2017+A1 standard are going to be legal (which one person's investigation found was...precisely *one* model being sold in a major bike store today...and that was a child's bike...).

Show thread

Kit Bashir 2d ago

@jimcullen @JennyList thanks. and faaaark does that mean after the grace period every existing e-bike is scrap?

Show thread

Jim 2d ago

@Unixbigot my understanding is that yes, that's correct. Which is why it's so important as many people write submissions to the committee about how the 10 km/h limit, age minimum, driver's licence, RBT, and other highly overreaching components of the law are not reasonable!