European Commission Says No to 500 Watt Max. Power for Pedal Assisted Bikes

BRUSSELS, Belgium -  In its recently published proposal for a review of the type-approval of two- or three-wheel vehicles, the European Commission did not accept the appeal for increasing the power limit for pedal assisted bicycles. The European Twowheel Retailers’ Association (ETRA) pleaded for an increase from 250 to 500 Watt for electric bicycles that are excluded from the type-approval procedure.

The trade association argued that the power output increase would allow electric bikes to appeal to a much broader and more varied public throughout Europe. The European industry association COLIBI was opposed to the power increase which eventually fell on deaf ears in the Commission.

In the current draft, the Commission does attempt to improve categorization. For that purpose, they have created among other things a new category L1e “light two-wheel powered vehicle” with three subcategories. With the category L1Ae, the Commission did establish the first new category as proposed by ETRA but, strangely enough, decided to limit the maximum speed to 25 km instead of 45 km as requested. The second category requested by ETRA is covered by L1Be but gets 4 kW instead of the requested 1 kW.

The Commission also proposes new technical measures, a number of which would become applicable to the L1e category. For instance, the vehicles will have to be equipped with designated measures to prevent tampering of the vehicle’s power train. Also, manufacturers will have to introduce on-board diagnostic (OBD) in several phases: as of 2017 for category L1Be and as of 2021 also for L1Ae.

The last important new aspect is the fact that manufacturers become legally bound to provide access to vehicle repair and maintenance information to independent operators. They will have to do this by means of websites using a standardised format. Dealers and repairers who are not officially authorised should have the same access to those websites as their authorised colleagues. The Commission will develop a standard for these websites. In the meantime, it is up to the manufacturers to provide easy and simple access to the information. Strangely enough, further on in the text, the Commission seems to open the door again to discrimination by allowing manufacturers to charge a fee for the information.

The Commission’s proposal is now with the Committee Internal Market and Consumer Protection of the European Parliament. The Dutch motorcyclist Wim van de Camp (EPP) is the ‘rapporteur’. His report needs to be adopted by the Committee before it goes to Plenary for first reading. Upon that it goes to the Council and if it is further amended at that stage it has to go back to Parliament for second reading. Then, Parliament and Council have to reach a uniform decision. So, the publication of the Commission’ proposal is only a first step in a legislative process that will take quite some more time.