E-bikes were on stage today, with a forward-looking session that created a good discussion with the audience. Since it was one of the few opportunities to talk about EPACs, the room was full and the discussion heated.

It all started with a reflection on the current status of the e-bike sector and a look at the legislation in place: “The boom of the e-bike sector in Europe is attracting investments, driving behavior change and has been pulling the whole bicycle industry in the last 5-10 years” started Kevin Mayne, Development Director at the European Cyclists’ Federation. “E-bikes greatly expand the reach of a bicycle, in all terms: the distance people are willing to cycle almost doubles, they can be used in hilly areas or very warm cities, and they allow more and more diverse people to cycle, including senior citizens, more vulnerable users, and people that would have never cycled otherwise.”

Henrique Ribeiro from Grupo Lagoa then took the floor, presenting the Brazilian context and giving some insights into the future development of the sector: “While not yet at the European levels of sales, the Brazilian market for e-bikes is expanding extremely rapidly, both for urban mobility and leisure activities. Legislation has to find a way to keep up with this evolution, also considered that e-bikes look more and more like normal bikes, and in three years it will probably be impossible to distinguish them, making it also difficult to enforce limits when it comes to cycle lanes”.

Finally, Bram Rotthier closed the panel with a presentation on the research he has been carrying out at the Belgian university KU Leuven, specifically about speed pedelecs: “The European Union and individual countries have to start looking seriously into legislation, as it’s not only becoming more and more difficult to recognize e-bikes, but the entire LEV sector is expanding in numbers and types. We see a lot of new personal micro-mobility options, and imagining a specific legislation for all of them is just impossible. Also, I think the regulation about speed pedelecs should be reviewed: I don’t believe that limiting the maximum speed of the vehicle or prohibiting them to use cycle lane is the right solution. Research shows that people don’t cycle at 45km/h, even thought theoretically they could: legislation should regulate behaviour, not vehicles”.

A heated debate started right after these consideration, and the diversity of the audience, both in terms of nationality and perspective on the issue, allowed for a rich and intense discussion.