With all the innovations that you get to see emerging each day, electric bikes are the promising and new alternative means of urban transportation. Electric bicycles provide all the advantages that you can enjoy compared to a regular bicycle.
Some of the benefits that you can have from it are listed below:
- Fun way to exercise
- Emission free
- Free parking
- Freedom from the gridlock
- Eliminates a bicycle’s serious drawback, lack of power
Electric bicycles provide you the same riding comfort when going up towards the hill, just as if you were riding down the hill. The electric bicycle or e-Bikes are all about cool and convenient riding experience. This means of transportation is cheaper and faster compared to a car or using public transit.
What Makes an Electric Bicycle?
Fundamentally, e-bikes are just like the traditional bicycle you used to pedal. The main difference is the electric motor that’s incorporated into its design. The electric motor provides riders comfort and assistance, while keeping the pedal for you to move the bike on its own. The experience you get from it is entirely different. E-bikes let you pedal normally on the city road and choose to use the motor when you go up the hills or headwinds.
Using the motor all the time is also great so that you can make your riding experience easier. This bike totally complements the human power rather than supplanting it. The electric motor built into the bike gives a perfectly smooth and silent assistance compared to a gas scooter or motorbike that may be too noisy at times.
How Much Electric Power It Possesses
Electric bicycles possess different electric power, varying from its manufacturer. Normally, electric bikes produce speeds of over 30kph when going uphill coming from a 400-500 watt motor. This same motor equating to about 1/2 horsepower, can reach speeds of over 40kph on a flat road.
Will Electric Bicycles Recharge while Riders Pedal?
There have been too many arguments and too many discussions regarding this, but the answer is yes. However, for the motor to recharge while you pedal, you must reach speeds that are faster than the motor itself. Only then, it will recharge the electric motor.
Is It Legal on the Road?
In some countries like Canada, the Motor Vehicle Act was modified in order to include power-assisted bicycles. In British Columbia, you don’t have to earn a license or insurance when riding an electric bicycle that has a motor power of less than 500watts or speeds that don’t exceed 32kph for use on public roads.
Over the past years, many countries have adopted the same legislation or act that legitimizes electric bicycles on public roads, so don’t be surprised to see more of it hitting the road soon.