Kate Ruder
LOUISVILLE, Colo. — 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.
But the youngsters’ pleasure for his or her new rides is tempered by a recurring query from nervous dad and mom: Are they protected?
That is usually a tough query to reply. The federal authorities’s e-bike rules are sparse, and efforts to broaden them have stalled, leaving states and even counties to fill the void with patchwork guidelines of their very own. Meanwhile, the seemingly infinite number of e-bikes on the market fluctuate in design, velocity, and high quality.
In that atmosphere, retailers like Fletcher goal to teach shoppers 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 safety standards for batteries in e-bikes and different gadgets similar to e-scooters are in limbo after the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the unbiased federal regulatory company meant to guard folks in opposition to demise and harm from bicycles and different shopper merchandise, withdrew proposed regulations in August.
The fee then despatched the principles for evaluate by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs contained in the Office of Management and Budget, responding to President Donald Trump’s February executive order demanding that unbiased companies just like the CPSC be extra aligned with White House priorities. In May, Trump fired three members of the fee who had been appointed by his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, separate proposed rules by the fee to deal with 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 current requirements written for conventional bicycles and which the fee has mentioned, based mostly on a preliminary evaluation, aren’t satisfactory to cut back the danger of e-bike accidents. Colorado, Minnesota, and Utah lately handed legal guidelines regulating e-bikes to fill the hole.
The legal guidelines deal with points similar to battery hearth dangers and rider security and search to tell apart lower-speed e-bikes from quicker e-motos, or electrical bikes, which might attain high speeds of 35 miles an hour or quicker. No federal legislation dictates the age at which somebody might 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 lately set a minimal age to function Class 2 bikes, with their 20 mph high velocity.
“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 might explode when manufactured or used improperly. They brought on 39 deaths and 181 accidents in folks utilizing micromobility gadgets similar to e-bikes from 2019 to 2023, in line with the CPSC.
Most sellers, importers, and distributors have agreed to make use of batteries that meet security requirements, however there’ll all the time be producers who reduce corners on security to economize, mentioned Ed Benjamin, chairman of the Light Electric Vehicle Association, whose a whole bunch of members provide mild electrical automobiles similar 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 Safe Routes to School program coordinator for the Boulder Valley School District, mentioned training officers are scrambling to put in extra bike racks at a number of faculties to fulfill the rise in e-bike utilization.
Students use them to rapidly get to highschool or actions and carry their sports activities tools or devices with ease, Thompson mentioned. She mentioned she’s seen some alarming habits, similar to college students’ using three to a motorcycle, using with out helmets, or trying 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 parents to observe their kids’s e-bikes in September and described the blurred lines between e-bikes and e-motos final fall.
Those blurred strains bedevil an e-bike classification system adopted, partially or full, by practically all states, through which e-bike motors typically 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 change between Class 2 and three, typically unbeknownst to folks, mentioned Smith, the Colorado lawmaker. A California guardian sued an e-bike producer final yr, saying it falsely marketed as Class 2 an e-bike that might change to Class 3.
The risks of Class 2 e-bikes prompted California’s Marin County to ban children underneath 16 from working them and require that anybody using one put on a helmet. Youths ages 10 to fifteen who crash their e-bikes require an ambulance at five times the rate of different age teams concerned in e-bike crashes, in line with county well being officers. A rising variety of severe accidents on e-bikes, significantly amongst adolescents, is an rising public security drawback, the American College of Surgeons said in June.
Talia Smith, Marin County’s legislative director, championed the California law that allows Marin County to impose age restrictions. After listening to from a dozen different counties experiencing related issues, although, she mentioned state legislators ought to transfer to a statewide legislation from piecemeal, county-by-county ordinances. San Diego County bans riders under 12 from working Class 1 or 2 bikes.
Vehicles claiming to be each e-bikes and e-motos fall into the cracks between two regulatory companies, the CPSC and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, mentioned Matt Moore, basic and coverage counsel for PeopleForBikes, a commerce affiliation for bicycles, together with e-bikes.
PeopleForBikes needs the site visitors security administration to cease shipments of or take different authorized motion in opposition to e-motos which can 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 filth bikes or motor automobiles that require licenses, he mentioned. In October, California defined e-motos, which it requires to show an identification plate issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles to be used off-highway.
In Boulder, Thompson mentioned, the college district considers communication and training cornerstones of security. Children and teenagers ought to be taught and observe site 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.