New standard for electric bikes

According to Electrek.co: "The German vehicle association ZIV (Zweirad-Industrie-Verband) has just announced that they have developed a standard meant to measure the range of electric bicycles in such a way that all e-bikes can be compared on a level playing field."

The standardized range test R200, should help manufacturers give more realistic range estimates which allows buyers to make better comparisons across models.

In the article you'll also find the report, however, it's in German, so Electrek has summarized some of the important takeaways.

Here's the full article from Electrek: http://bit.ly/EbikesRangeStandard

The bikes need to have three random candidates taken from three random dealers with no previous notice. If the manufacturer provides the test subjects, there will be shenanigans...always.

Interesting, and a good idea. But I don't think it will be particularly relevant in the U.S. given the 1:2 rider to motor power ratio that they are using and the typical 25 kph speed cap employed.

I suspect that in the U.S. the typical ratios are greater and the typical speeds travelled are higher. We may need to derive perhaps an R400 standard where the ratio is 1:4 and the typical speed is around 20 mph. When they do that, they'll probably find that they end up very close to 20 wh/mi which is a pretty decent place to start when estimating range on an ebike in the U.S.

wturber said:

I suspect that in the U.S. the typical ratios are greater and the typical speeds travelled are higher. We may need to derive perhaps an R400 standard where the ratio is 1:4 and the typical speed is around 20 mph. When they do that, they'll probably find that they end up very close to 20 wh/mi which is a pretty decent place to start when estimating range on an ebike in the U.S.

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By typical speed, do you mean the average trip speed? Or more like cruising speed?

donn said:

wturber said:

I suspect that in the U.S. the typical ratios are greater and the typical speeds travelled are higher. We may need to derive perhaps an R400 standard where the ratio is 1:4 and the typical speed is around 20 mph. When they do that, they'll probably find that they end up very close to 20 wh/mi which is a pretty decent place to start when estimating range on an ebike in the U.S.

Click to expand...

By typical speed, do you mean the average trip speed? Or more like cruising speed?

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I mean typical cruising speed. For instance on my commute, my typical cruising speed is probably 23-24 mph. But my average trip speed is closer to 19 mph given stop signs and stop lights. And, of course, my 20 mph estimate is just a guess based on the kinds of bikes I see being sold. But regardless of what the actual typical is, I'm pretty sure it is a higher number than in most of Europe.

Hehe...

Switzerland has had speed pedelecs since the 90s with as speed limit of 45 KPH. The Swiss model has greatly influenced speed pedelec ideas in the rest of Europe and in North America.

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Seen here:
https://cyclingindustry.news/comment-speed-pedelecs-in-usa-and-eu-where-will-the-market-go/

:wink: