The government’s recent e-bike proposals to double the legal wattage of motors to 500W and allow ‘twist and go’ e-bikes with throttle control up to 15.5mph are ‘unnecessary’, ‘risky’, and the ‘wrong approach’, the Bicycle Association (BA) and Association of Cycle Traders (ACT) have said. The Department for Transport (DfT) announced the proposed changes in February, with the rationale that they will make electrically assisted pedal cycles (EAPCs), “a more attractive and viable travel option for more people”.
The bicycle company lobby being luddites is entirely unsurprising.
The current 250w is less than a human cyclist can produce. We allow horses on our roads that can produce over 10,000w, without a MOT or licence, but only rich people ride those so I suppose that’s okay.
I’m sure it’s not entirely the same in the UK, but in the US, it’s often mamils that are most opposed to better bike infrastructure and accessibility. Some of the original major opponents to bike paths here were guys who didn’t think they could bike as fast as they wanted on dedicated bike lanes, and they thought that having bike lanes would disallow them from using roads.
I think it’s the same going on now. Weekend warrior lycra guys trying to prevent the masses from clogging their transportation infrastructure.