FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany (BRAIN)—At a busy meeting that took place last Saturday at Eurobike, the first steps were made to lobby for better European regulations for two and three-wheeled Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs).
Some 70 delegates from about 50 companies, representing an absolute majority share of the e-Bike business in Europe, attended the meeting.
The objective of the meeting organized by the European Twowheel Retailers’ Association (ETRA), in cooperation with the Light Electric Vehicle Association (LEVA), was to get an answer to the question whether the E-bike industry wants to enter into a dialogue with the European Commission on establishing more appropriate regulations for electric bikes, two and three-wheeled LEVs, than what is currently in place. The participants of the meeting unanimously answered "yes" to this question.
The second question put to the assembled representatives of e-Bike manufacturers as well as e-Bike component makers, was whether the participants wanted a change in the current legislation as a result of which they currently stand at 250 Watt (motor limit) and 25 km/h speed limitations for pedelecs—electric bicycles. The meeting voted almost unanimously for a change of legislation.
The third question was on who should initiate talks with the European Commission on a change of legislation. The meeting unanimously mandated ETRA to start up discussions with the European Commission on creating better regulations for e-Bikes, two and three-wheeled LEVs.
As the European Commission wants to issue a first draft on the review of type-approval for among other things, e-Bikes, two and three-wheeled LEVs in December of this year, ETRA is planning the next meeting already in the second half of September in Brussels. The main topic will be how to change and improve the existing legislation. LEVA will organize a parallel meeting for the American and Canadian industry on Friday, September 25 at the upcoming Interbike Show in Las Vegas, while a meeting for the Chinese industry could take place in Beijing, China mid October.
