ebikes banned in cities in china?

[Lock]

This is a quote from someone from Zhuhai in Guangdong province, China (Zhuhai population 1.5million):

...Most cities in China already ban e-bikes and motorcycles in the city. Here is Zhuhai, China (a small city by Chinese standards) they are banned. Of course that does not stop them even in the city center but it does reduce them greatly. Out side the city they are still allowed.

Keep in mind China has a 150 cc maximum limit on motorcycles. These are also banned with the e-bikes in the cities so the speed is not the reason. At first the reason given was the pollution from the motorcycles but then they included e-bikes.

There are huge e-bike and motorcycle impounds with hundreds of thousands of e-bikes and motorcycles that have been seized. Most get destroyed unless they were registered and a fine is paid. Of course most were never registered since they are banned.

Just curious if anyone can confirm this? I'm seeing lots of fairly recent videos w/scooter-style vehicles on China streets:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2toP9lhBuKc
http://en.sevenload.com/videos/zlMGZ4J-Rittal-in-Shanghai-German-switching-cabinets-for-Chinas-booming-economy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01FC_Va0Qxo
http://mytv.tvb.com/news/newsat730/106982/500#page-1
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3924135/how_to_drive_in_china/
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-photo/beijing-jaime/1/1253631709/beijing-driving.wmv/tpod.html
http://uk.video.yahoo.com/watch/5009528
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcsZxUDWCXg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6zqxAG5sgU

...and I see no mention about this on sites like bike-eu.com.

Tks
l0ck

 

[AussieJester]

pm cell_man hes and English man living in China he will be able to tell you i thinkz

KiM

 

[cell_man]

They were talking about introducing some stupid restrictions on ebike/scooters some months back but it was put on hold when there was a bit of a backlash. I think it probably had more to do with the ICE bikes being pushed as they have probably taken a bit of a hit since ebikes have become so popular.

It may well be true that some cities ban ebikes as well as motorbikes in certain areas, but I've not been to anywhere that doesn't have ebikes, apart from mountainous areas where they just can't get up the hills. China has lots of rules but they are not necessarily enforced most of the time.

Ebikes, well they are generally more like scooters with 36V or 48V SLA batteries are everywhere in China. The scooters tend to be 48V and the things that look a bit more bike like might tend to be 36V and a bit lower powered. Ebikes are cheap here in China. They start about 1500RMB which is about 220USD but are generally more like 250USD to 370USD for an SLA scooter. There's some Li-Ion equipped bikes around but they are few and far between. Prices maybe start about 440USD plus.

 

[Lock]

Thanks cell_man!
l0k