https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/09/nyregion/are-electric-bikes-about-to-take-over-new-york.html Electric Bikes Are About to Go Mainstream Oct. 9, 2018 Jim Farber
[images https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/10/14/nyregion/14ebikes1/merlin_144668730_d8bb432e-d86c-4ba0-862a-9c9c7d0ba634-jumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp Mark Abramson for The New York Times https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/10/14/nyregion/14ebikes2/merlin_144668772_0ef75efe-5456-4829-961a-98ac051e2817-jumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/10/14/nyregion/14ebikes3/merlin_141883416_3f956c3d-7122-43ba-8ade-25a3c427ebb1-jumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp Jump e-bikes, a dockless rental program owned by Uber, have started showing up around New York. Credit Gregg Vigliotti for The New York Times ] New York’s restrictions on electric bikes have loosened. E-bike sharing is poised to expand. Here’s what to expect before you head out for a ride. On any given day, as many as 50,000 bicycle delivery workers sweep through the streets of New York, and according to their advocates, more than half of them are on e-bikes. The electric-assist bicycle (or e-bike) has become a vital tool in this arduous job, where a worker’s shift can last up to 10 hours, six days a week. Until very recently, however, e-bikes were actually illegal to operate in the city, often leading to stiff fines and penalties for the delivery people. Lately, however, it seems as if the city is starting to embrace them. Not only did New York recently amend its rules for e-bikes, it has also begun rolling out major new e-bike-sharing programs geared toward commuters and tourists. What is an e-bike? It’s a bicycle with an integrated electric motor, allowing the rider greater speed with less effort. Versions of battery-operated bikes date back to the late 1800s, though they didn’t become popular until the last decade or so. Today, they’re far more common in Europe and China than in the U.S. In this country, delivery workers have so far made up the majority of users. Are e-bikes legal now? Not all of them. The new law applies only to “pedal assist” bikes, which give riders a boost but are meant to run no faster than 20 m.p.h. Still banned are “throttle” bikes, which can whiz along without any assistance from the cyclist, achieving speeds of roughly 28 m.p.h. Most of the cyclists making deliveries favor the throttle bikes. Why were e-bikes illegal in the first place? It’s complicated. The illegality has related to a broader New York State law [ https://dmv.ny.gov/registration/motorized-devices-cannot-be-registered-new-york ] that required riders to register electric bikes in the same way they do cars, motorcycles, or mopeds. But in a true Catch-22 situation, the state (and thus the city) prohibited registering certain vehicles, like golf carts, go-karts — and e-bikes. Strangely, it has always been legal to sell e-bikes in New York but not to ride them. The new law amends that. What is the fine for riding a throttle e-bike? When Yidi Zhu, a Chinatown-based food delivery man, was stopped for riding a throttle bike, he was issued a $500 ticket and had his bike seized. “I had to go to court to get the bike back, so I lost four or five days of work,” Mr. Zhu said through an interpreter. He estimated that he lost $1,500, the same cost as many new bikes, or roughly three-quarters of a month’s salary for many in the trade, according to Helen Ho of Biking Public Project, an advocacy organization for the workers. Is there a chance that throttle bikes will be made legal? Maybe. The mayor has backed only the pedal-assist bikes, but at an August news conference held to introduce a new electric Citi Bike line, Brooklyn’s borough president, Eric Adams, mentioned that he didn’t think the worker’s devices should be illegal. “The motorized bikes the delivery personnel use is something that we should find a way to incorporate into the system,” he said. Who is behind the new e-bike-sharing programs? In August, Motivate, which runs Citi Bike, began testing a pilot program by installing 200 e-bikes into its collection of 12,000 bikes. Next year, in advance of the L train shutdown, the company will install docking stations on each side of the Williamsburg Bridge to accommodate 1,000 e-bikes. Private companies like Jump [ https://jump.com/ ] and Lime [ https://www.li.me/ ], which also offer electric scooters in some cities, have introduced pedal-assist bike-share systems to Staten Island and the Bronx. There seems to be money behind these programs. This year, Lyft bought Motivate, and Uber brought Jump. Jump e-bikes, a dockless rental program owned by Uber, have started showing up around New York.CreditGregg Vigliotti for The New York Times How does e-bike sharing work? With Citi’s new e-system, you follow the same procedure as with their common bikes. The cost is the same. Jump and Lime e-bikes require an app to register. But Jump and Lime e-bikes are dockless; you can lock them to any pole when you’re through. Don’t ‘real’ cyclists hate e-bikes? Yes, but they shouldn’t. Riding an e-bike still takes work. Unlike a moped, pedal-assist doesn’t mean you simply let the thing fling you forward. You’re still pedaling, but as you do, the motor enhances your efforts. When you climb a hill, you pedal with more force, and the bike funnels in just enough power to let you rise with ease. It doesn’t feel like cheating, and the rider gets to think, “Hey, I’m much stronger than I thought.” What’s it like to ride an e-bike in New York? I’ve been a daily cyclist in this city for 15 years. I’ve also used e-bikes on far more challenging terrain, like in the Swiss Alps. I long assumed that an avid cyclist had no use for an e-bike in New York. But even a strong rider can be seduced. I decided the best place for a test ride was in St. George, Staten Island, given its steep hills and wide expanses. It also happens to be one of the test sites for Jump and Lime bikes. I rode up Victory Boulevard, a San Francisco-scale hill, then sailed up to Silver Lake Park, sweat-free. I passed a rolling golf course and reached an adjacent graveyard whose incline rivaled some in the Alps. The machine did wheeze a bit at the top, but it rallied for another jaunt up Eddy Street to summit at Howard Avenue, where there are stately homes and views across the water of the Verrazzano-Narrows bridge. I wouldn’t call the tour arduous exercise, but I did take in many more sights than I otherwise could have within two hours. The trip was cheap, too: just $6. When I got back on my regular bike, which I had left locked at the Jump station by the Staten Island Ferry, I felt slightly spoiled. After two hours of pure gliding, everything after felt like a grind. [© nytimes.com] [dated] http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-NYPD-busting-and-seizing-escooters-and-ebicycles-tp4676711.html EVLN: NYPD busting and seizing escooters and ebicycles Jul 11, 2015 + https://electrek.co/2018/10/15/electric-bicycles-indiegogo/ This is why so many electric bicycles are getting funded on Indiegogo Oct. 15th 2018 In fact, in recent years Indiegogo has been used to pre-sell a number of personal electric vehicles, such as electric skateboards, electric go-karts and electric ... https://i1.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/10/mate-x-header.png?resize=1500%2C0&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1 https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/scoot-networks-launches-in-latin-america-with-the-first-shared-electric-vehicle-service-in-chile-1027631189 Scoot Networks launches in Latin America with the first shared electric vehicle service in Chile SANTIAGO, Chile, Oct. 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- After successfully launching in Barcelona this summer, Scoot is expanding this ... https://www.westword.com/news/why-riding-scooters-on-denver-streets-or-in-bike-lanes-is-illegal-10890997 Why Riding Scooters on Denver Streets or in Bike Lanes Is Illegal Oct 16, 2018 In recent months, stand-up electric scooters have proliferated throughout Denver, much to the chagrin of many drivers, who see the vehicles as crashes waiting ... https://images1.westword.com/imager/u/745xauto/10902925/electric.scooters.istock.jpg For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/archive/ {brucedp.neocities.org} -- Sent from: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/ _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
