By Kate Ruder for KFF
E-bike of Colorado gross sales supervisor Perry Fletcher mentioned his gross sales and restore store noticed a rise in back-to-school gross sales to younger riders and households this fall as the recognition of the battery-powered bicycles revs up.
However the children’ pleasure for his or her new rides is tempered by a recurring query from anxious dad and mom: Are they secure?
That may be a tough query to reply. The federal authorities’s e-bike rules are sparse, and efforts to develop them have stalled, leaving states and even counties to fill the void with patchwork guidelines of their very own. In the meantime, the seemingly countless number of e-bikes on the market differ in design, velocity, and high quality.
In that atmosphere, retailers like Fletcher intention to coach customers to allow them to make knowledgeable choices.
“We’re super careful about what comes in the shop because there are hazards,” he mentioned.
Federal guidelines requiring security requirements for batteries in e-bikes and different gadgets akin to e-scooters are in limbo after the Client Product Security Fee, the unbiased federal regulatory company meant to guard folks towards dying and damage from bicycles and different shopper merchandise, withdrew proposed rules in August.
The fee then despatched the foundations for evaluate by the Workplace of Info and Regulatory Affairs contained in the Workplace of Administration and Funds, responding to President Donald Trump’s February govt order demanding that unbiased businesses just like the CPSC be extra aligned with White Home priorities. In Might, Trump fired three members of the fee who had been appointed by his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.
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In the meantime, separate proposed guidelines by the fee to handle accidents from mechanical failings have languished. Shira Rawlinson, the CPSC’s communications director, mentioned it plans to replace the standing of each proposed guidelines.
That leaves e-bikes topic to present requirements written for conventional bicycles and which the fee has mentioned, based mostly on a preliminary evaluation, aren’t satisfactory to scale back the chance of e-bike accidents. Colorado, Minnesota, and Utah not too long ago handed legal guidelines regulating e-bikes to fill the hole.
The legal guidelines tackle points akin to battery hearth dangers and rider security and search to tell apart lower-speed e-bikes from quicker e-motos, or electrical bikes, which may attain high speeds of 35 miles an hour or quicker. No federal legislation dictates the age at which somebody could function an e-bike, however greater than half of states have age restrictions for who can function Class 3 bikes, which attain a high velocity of 28 miles an hour, whereas two California counties not too long ago set a minimal age to function Class 2 bikes, with their 20 mph high velocity.
Firefighters take a look at the aftermath of a June 2023 hearth that began at an e-bike store and unfold to upper-floor residences in New York.
“The biggest issue is e-bikes that switch from a power-assisted bike to essentially a motorized scooter,” mentioned Democratic state Rep. Lesley Smith, who co-sponsored Colorado’s invoice.
Colorado’s e-bike legislation requires security certification of lithium-ion batteries, which may explode when manufactured or used improperly. They prompted 39 deaths and 181 accidents in folks utilizing micromobility gadgets akin to e-bikes from 2019 to 2023, based on the CPSC.
Most sellers, importers, and distributors have agreed to make use of batteries that meet security requirements, however there’ll at all times be producers who lower corners on security to economize, mentioned Ed Benjamin, chairman of the Gentle Electrical Car Affiliation, whose a whole bunch of members provide mild electrical autos akin to e-bikes, or their elements.
“There are some out there who don’t care what is the right thing to do. They just want to make the cheapest bike possible,” Benjamin mentioned.
Amy Thompson, the Secure Routes to College program coordinator for the Boulder Valley College District, mentioned schooling officers are scrambling to put in extra bike racks at a number of faculties to fulfill the rise in e-bike utilization.
College students use them to shortly get to high school or actions and carry their sports activities tools or devices with ease, Thompson mentioned. She mentioned she’s seen some alarming habits, akin to college students’ driving three to a motorcycle, driving with out helmets, or making an attempt energy wheelies popularized by social media.
Thompson mentioned children are disabling the velocity limiter on e-bikes to function at larger speeds. “It’s super easy for kids to go on YouTube and find a video that will coach you how to override or disable the governor on a bicycle,” she mentioned.
Thompson alerted dad and mom to watch their youngsters’s e-bikes in September and described the blurred traces between e-bikes and e-motos final fall.
These blurred traces bedevil an e-bike classification system adopted, partially or full, by practically all states, through which e-bike motors usually should function at 750 watts or decrease. Class 1 e-bikes use pedal help and should not exceed 20 mph; Class 2 e-bikes embrace a throttle and in addition should not exceed 20 mph; and Class 3 e-bikes use pedal help that should not exceed 28 mph.
Some e-bikes simply swap between Class 2 and three, typically unbeknownst to folks, mentioned Smith, the Colorado lawmaker. A California mother or father sued an e-bike producer final yr, saying it falsely marketed as Class 2 an e-bike that would swap to Class 3.
A rider takes a pedal-assist bicycle for a spin in July 2017 in Aspen, Colo.
The hazards of Class 2 e-bikes prompted California’s Marin County to ban youngsters below 16 from working them and require that anybody driving one put on a helmet. Youths ages 10 to fifteen who crash their e-bikes require an ambulance at 5 occasions the speed of different age teams concerned in e-bike crashes, based on county well being officers. A rising variety of critical accidents on e-bikes, notably amongst adolescents, is an rising public security drawback, the American School of Surgeons mentioned in June.
Talia Smith, Marin County’s legislative director, championed the California legislation that allows Marin County to impose age restrictions. After listening to from a dozen different counties experiencing comparable issues, although, she mentioned state legislators ought to transfer to a statewide legislation from piecemeal, county-by-county ordinances. San Diego County bans riders below 12 from working Class 1 or 2 bikes.
Automobiles claiming to be each e-bikes and e-motos fall into the cracks between two regulatory businesses, the CPSC and the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration, mentioned Matt Moore, normal and coverage counsel for PeopleForBikes, a commerce affiliation for bicycles, together with e-bikes.
PeopleForBikes needs the visitors security administration to cease shipments of or take different authorized motion towards e-motos which might be labeled as e-bikes and don’t adjust to federal requirements, Moore mentioned.
If the federal authorities gained’t act, states ought to make clear their legal guidelines to outline e-motos as off-road grime bikes or motor autos that require licenses, he mentioned. In October, California outlined e-motos, which it requires to show an identification plate issued by the Division of Motor Automobiles to be used off-highway.
In Boulder, Thompson mentioned, the varsity district considers communication and schooling cornerstones of security. Kids and youths ought to be taught and observe visitors guidelines, whether or not they’re powering two wheels with their very own legs or a throttle, she mentioned.
“E-bikes are fun, environmentally friendly, and relatively cheap transportation. So how can we make them safer and more viable for families?” Thompson mentioned.
