A dump from the article:
When New Jersey passed one of the country’s most restrictive e-bike laws earlier this year, plenty of riders, advocates, and bike shops warned that it would have consequences. Now, just a few weeks after the law officially took effect, those predictions appear to have come true.
Bike shops across the state are reporting declines in e-bike sales ranging from 20% to an astonishing 90%, with many saying customers are simply deciding that owning an e-bike in New Jersey is no longer worth the hassle.
The law, which took effect on July 19, requires every e-bike in the state to be registered, from the slowest Class 1 pedal-assist models all the way through faster Class 3 bikes. Riders under 17 without a driver’s license must pass an MVC licensing test to obtain a special e-bike license, while Class 2 throttle-equipped e-bikes and Class 3 models also require insurance, similar to owning a car.
The result has been widespread confusion. Some customers reportedly believe e-bikes have simply been banned outright. Others tell dealers they’ll just buy online and ignore the requirements. And many are choosing not to buy an e-bike at all.
The impact on local businesses has been severe. One New Jersey dealer said sales plunged 90%, another reported a 63% decline, while others described losing between 20% and 60% of their e-bike business. Several shops have already laid off employees, closed rental operations, downsized, or warned they may not survive through the end of the year.
Perhaps most troubling are the unintended consequences for the very people e-bikes help the most. Dealers who specialize in mobility-focused transportation say disabled customers are returning newly purchased e-bikes or abandoning plans to buy them altogether because they fear they won’t qualify for licensing or insurance requirements. One retailer described customers losing transportation to work or school because of the new rules.
What’s particularly frustrating is that many of these problems were predictable. The law treats a low-speed 15-20 mph (25-32 km/h) throttle-equipped Class 2 e-bike much more like a motorcycle than like a bicycle, despite its similar performance to a standard Class 1 pedal-assist bike. Bike shops and advocacy groups have instead urged lawmakers to exempt low-speed e-bikes under 20 mph (32 km/h) from licensing, registration, and insurance requirements while focusing regulation on higher-speed, higher-powered machines that more closely resemble electric mopeds.
It’s hard to argue with that logic. If the goal was to improve safety, discouraging people from riding bicycles and pushing them back into cars seems like an odd way to do so, especially when cars are the very things supposedly making e-bikes “unsafe”.
Here in QLD, Australia we beat you to this stupidity by a little. We, like Europe (and pretty much everywhere that’s not US) has 25kph pedaling requirements. ‘The Youf’ were getting around on OP unregistered e-motorcycles (by existing laws, with no import protections) so our tough on crime right wing gov decided to step in, instead of, you know, enforcing the existing law and stop importing inappropriate devices.
You now need a license (learners or better), to travel at 12kph on shared paths (most of the bikeways) instead of just slowing down to pass pedestrians like a civilized person. The bike also needs to be European standard (protect the hard to repair incumbents) or face an unspecified certification procedure starting in Feb?.
I’m currently analogue (built a midmount 250W like a decade ago before all this but ditched it because I wasn’t getting enough exercise) but looking to make a Bafang or similar so I can actually repair it and ditch a car. The whole shitshow is a mess.
I wasn’t expecting to say this, but New Jersey, I feel your pain.
A bit heavyhanded to need registration even for low-speed (<25kph) pedal assist models. For faster ones however, their driving characteristics are more like mopeds & motorbikes anyway and it makes sense to have such requirements.
The whole problem is how e-bikes are defined. Because 25kph restricted, pedal assist models are the only ones that are e-bicycles in my mind. Anything that can go faster or does not need pedalling is an e-motorbike/moped/scooter and those should be regulated.
Yep, exactly. Iirc the criteria used where I live are engine wattage (max 250W), top assist speed (25kph) and whether pedaling is required (though no-pedal was allowed up to 20kph).
Anything beyond that becomes classified as a motor vehicle, and the only motor vehicles allowed on bike/ped paths are mopeds with a top speed of 25kph.
20mph pedal assist is pretty nice, but I would change my view if I needed insurance
So as usual, a few idiots ruining everything for the rest of us? Combined with knee jerk legislators, i mean.
Funny how those idiots don’t seem to have ruined automobiles.
Well, the same can be said for cars, so let’s not go there.
In countries where e-bikes are widely adopted like The Netherlands, e-bikes are responsible for a significant increase in cycling related injuries and fatalities.
So legislation is definitely needed to protect e-cyclists, regular cyclists and pedestrians.
It was intended to cause.harm, that’s the point
