Interesting topic. However, the contents of the article have nearly nothing to do with the title unfortunately. The article is about one dude who uses an e-bike on a bike path - which I agree should not be allowed if it exceeds some speed limit. The article should have been about replacing mopeds with e-bikes, or the title should have been "What is the correct speed limit for e-bikes on bike paths?"
Ideally, the law would set that speed limit to ~20mph since that is what a person pedaling can readily achieve.
Not exactly - your summary misses a few of the points they brought up on how e-bikes make fair replacements for cars in a lot of commuting situations. The article leads off with how the excessive commute made an employee more irritable until he switched to using an e-bike, then how a growing number of Dutchmen are switching to e-bikes and how a growing number of companies are helping with the purchase of e-bikes.
The entire thing is pretty much exactly as the title is asking, though perhaps a little less glorious than "revolutionizing", and more just talking about the practical concerns of more people using e-bikes and how governments are responding.
To weigh in, I think it's a cool initiative with a lot of questions to consider, since I'd largely agree that an electric vehicle is probably a hazard to those with non-electric transportation. Though, at least in the US, I can't imagine normal traffic responding well to the inclusion of e-bikes, even if it would solve transportation needs for a lot of people. I am curious how the insurance looks for it as many years back (8ish maybe?) I looked into getting an e-bike but the insurance increase was prohibitively much.
> Ideally, the law would set that speed limit to ~20mph since that is what a person pedaling can readily achieve.
Federal law already does that (in the USA, at least). E-Bikes sold in the US can't go faster than 20mph.
You're also right in that e-bikes aren't going to revolutionize commuting anywhere but in crowded cities. It does solve the last mile problem, though. Trains can get you from the country to the city and the ebike can get you through the city faster than anything other than a motorcycle.
20mph is slow - Fit cyclists would be able to keep up with him.
My cycle to work this morning had a top speed of 40kmph (24mph). I was feeling particularly slow this morning and am only just getting back into cycling. I expect that soon I'll be quite a bit faster.
40kmph is actually very fast compared to the average cyclist. Fast enough that I would consider it reckless if done in heavy (cycling) traffic.
But you highlight the issue nicely; bikes are not self-powered, it depends on the human. Even with e-bikes this is true, most of them will only support the rider and have been made not to power the bike all by itself. So how to regulate that? Perhaps a good old speed limit is all that is really needed.
Ideally, the law would set that speed limit to ~20mph since that is what a person pedaling can readily achieve.