Should E-bikes Have License Plates?

I constantly see calls for people on bikes, especially e-bikes, to require registration and license plates. This is my take on the topic, focused on the proposed intro 606 in NYC.

0:00 Intro 606 New York
0:30 E-bikes should be registered, for safety
2:04 Why this won't work
5:24 Infrastructure
6:45 Daylighting
7:47 Commercial Registration
8:05 High Speed E-bike registration
9:03 Conclusion

[POINTS]

People will come up with anything other than building a bike lane

[Skip]

*Car drivers going on a murderous rampage across the city*

City councilors: “Cost of doing business”

*Bikes exist*

City counselors: “RAGE!!!”

[gauisbaltardidnothingwrong]

I get passed by regular cyclists while on my class 1 all the time lol

[greevar]

We don't need cars. Our cities are built to need cars. If you build cities that don't need cars, you won't need to get a car to live in the city.

[chow-chihuang]

Great video, Nic.

Given his contradictory votes for pedestrian safety, Holden is obviously acting on the part of the car and petroleum lobbies.

[NaturallyRC]

Another excellent video. Particularly exemplified when you, as a scooter rider, acknowledge that a problem with fast, sometimes reckless scootering exists. I'm an ebike rider, and sometimes I see stuff that makes me hate ebikes myself. Your data and arguments thereon in are spot on.

[TheBrooklynGersh]

This is a great primer on the issue. Thank you, Nic.

[ashchbkv]

this is yet another thing that the big oil and auto industry came up with to stop the wide adoption of e-bikes

[Sullyville]

Fantastic video!
This pertains so much to the conversation we had on your podcast.
I'm especially interested in the data that more enforcement leads to increased accidents. I wonder how/why this actually happens?

[HansC-ur]

Killing machines (cars) should only share the road with cyclists and other vulnerable road users if these cars are forced to slow down to the speed of the cyclists. If that can’t be done, then there should be separate infrastructure for cyclists and other vulnerable road users. Forcing cyclists to use regular roads is a recipe for disaster and deaths. Where I live most roads in the city centre have been or will be changed to max 30km/h. Main roads will still be 50km/h, but those roads have physically separated bike lanes, and speed reduction measures for cars where slower and faster traffic does interact. City centers are primarily for people, not for cars

[Turbobuttes]

Some E-bikes do have a license plate and are required to use motor vehicle paths instead of bicycle infrastructure in the EU, they're basically treated like 50cc scooters even in terms of components and safety equipment. In order to be treated like a normal bicycle an E-bike needs to only have motor assist, no throttle (6 kph/4 mph walk mode excluded), a sustained power of no more than 250W (though high end systems are legally capable of short term output in the high triple digit range), and a cutoff at 25 kph (15 mph). And honestly it works perfectly fine (besides a few foul apples without statistical significance) and personally I see no reason to ever have to exceed these limitations in an urban setting, and if you're not in an urban setting just get a light motorcycle to begin with.

[iamsemjaza]

E-bicycles (class 1 & 2) fucking absolutely not.
E-mopeds/E-Motorcycles, of course.

[mikko.g]

🙃They're trying to get somewhere without using oil! Get 'em!

[baddriversofcolga]

2:55 Stock footage doesn't get much better than this. 😂 Great video, Nic!

[ElrocStone]

If ebikes need numberplates then cars need speed limiters.

[philrobson]

You didn’t mention the difficulty of registering E bike visitors from another municipality.

[Hdtjdjbszh]

in Europe and the UK, anything about 250 watt needs to be registered and insured. The law will be changing soon to make it 500 watts.
I DO think that high speed ebikes, and scooters, that go over 20 miles an hour, need some sort of training, and registration, not necessary a full drivers liscence, but mandatory mininum training, just like how small motorcycles have.
getting AWAY from cars is the ultimate goal every city should have.

[ephtea]

"Zooming around traffic, running stop lights and serving around pedestrians on a fixie - ok.

E-bikes - OMGerd!". - NY Karens

[PatriotismIsntJustFlyingAFlag]

Let's face it, licensing is all about control and revenue, not safety.

[DLH_]

I have motorcycles, bicycles, and e-bikes and they’re far closer to a bicycle than a motorcycle. The only way I would ever support registering e-bikes or bicycles is if all the money plus government funding went into creating a better bicycle and e-bike infrastructure!