-
The impression I was getting from TheVerge and this T3 piece was that the journalists saw these as something that could run in cycle lanes away fron the nasty traffic rather than on the road with cars...I am all for them acting as an alternative to cars and motorbikes (less pollution, less noise, less waste) but dont want to see this come at the expense of human powered vehicles
n't think it's that crazy of van moof. They see the huge gap in the market for replacing two stroke engined mopeds, if you look at Chinese cities no one is riding a two stroke anymore.
Gustav-
In Europe, or at least in the EU, I'd argue it's impossible that any ebike capable of more than 25km/h will ever be allowed on cycle lanes. I can see it happen in places like America though.
I agree they're a good alternative to the classic 2-stroke motorcycle, but I don't think there's any gap in the market at all.
2-strokes were replaced by electric mopeds everywhere - where I live, a tiny city in Portugal, mopeds were always very popular and these days you don't see any ICE ones at all, they're all electric. The same thing happened in Chinese cities much earlier. That gap has been filled already. I don't think there's even public interest for ebikes with higher speeds aside from vanity projects or sports, certainly not for transport.
Zebra
Don't think it's that crazy of van moof. They see the huge gap in the market for replacing two stroke engined mopeds, if you look at Chinese cities no one is riding a two stroke anymore.
"European laws also require owners of s-pedelecs to obtain liability insurance and registration. They must also hold a moped-class driver’s license" - this is 100% right and they should be recognised as motorcycle replacements not e-bicycles and legislated as such.
Also think they are targeting the largely un-regulated US market.