Electric bikes in education
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Legal restrictions
Most countries put restrictions on specifications of e-bikes:
- Switzerland defines two categories: 25km/h and 45km/h. Both require that the user pedals, although limited non-pedaling assistance is allow for the second category that is assimilated with mopeds and require a vehicle permit
- Germany has a similar solution
- France, Australia and the UK only allow 25km/h bikes.
- The USA doesn't seem to have any sort of restriction, although I guess that insurance companies made have some influence on what people can drive or not ...
Hacking
- Most 25km/h bikes can be easily hacked to go a bit faster. This can be very easy, e.g. a few seconds for the Panasonic middle drive and some hours for others. This is particularly interesting if you got a 350W motor.
Some interesting designs
Commuter bikes
Below a list of good designs for bikes that are suitable for both city traffic and communing and that are legal in some countries in specific versions.
- BH Neo Nitro, made in Spain.
- Stöckli E.T. Urban Confort, made in Switzerland. In the USA, a similar project is available as Currie eFlow e3 Nitro (different motor and electronics)
- Stromer ST1, made in Switzerland.
Both Swiss bikes (the Stromer and the Stoeckli) are very nice designs and - it seems - easy to handle. Reliability for both does not seem to be up to Swiss standards. I don't know about the BH Neo Nitro. It may be the best buy in this category, and Spain's industry does need some help ;)