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police e-bike crackdown

I clarify, the hybrid doe's 60 plus miles to the gallon with the help of the battery, what the electric motor is there for is pulling away, very short trips around town, on the motorway comes it in when you go to over take, it's a self charging hybrid, do not plug in the wall.
You can do 60+ mpg with a 500-2,000 Wh battery in a CUV/SUV if it's designed right. With modern technology, that's like a 6-15 kg battery including casing, fireproofing, and BMS. You don't need a massive battery/motor/drive system for that. In fact, with a sufficiently lightweight and aerodynamic non-hybrid car, you don't even need anything other than the starter battery to turn the starter motor and crank it operational, and still get 60+ mpg.
 
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https://www.timestribunenews.com/2026/07/02/illinois-rolls-out-new-electric-bicycle-rules/
Illinois bike laws turned out better than average.
Of note:

The new law also created a new tier of regulations for high-speed e-bikes, which have electric motors between 750 and 8,000 watts and can go faster than 28 mph and usually have foot pegs as well as pedals. These will be regulated much like motorcycles – users will need a valid driver’s license, insurance, ownership title and to register the vehicle with the state. They are only to be used on roads — they are prohibited on sidewalks, bike lanes and bike paths. This type of e-bike was not regulated before.
This seems sensible to me. Though frankly, I've always considered the 28 mph assist limit for e-bikes (that is used here as the limit for change in class) to be silly. Should be 25 mph or 30 mph. Multiples of 5 are the standard for speed limits in the U.S.
 
It makes sense if you want the versatility of recharging your battery with liquid fuels and/or being able to run the vehicle off of liquid fuels directly. Personally, I'd like to add that feature for my own vehicle.

Solar panels + pedaling(and regen downhill) + Lohmann engine + rechargable from grid electricity = unkillable Mad Max machine that you will always be able to keep fueled, one way or another.

I'm all for that.
The issue with these things is that you quickly reach a point where the bicycle is almost entirely impractical for pedal only use due to the very high weight. That may be OK, but you do lose one area that could make an e-bike "unkillable" - for instance if a motor fails.
 
I've always considered the 28 mph assist limit for e-bikes (that is used here as the limit for change in class) to be silly. Should be 25 mph or 30 mph. Multiples of 5 are the standard for speed limits in the U.S.
It's probably a result of an original (multiple of 5) km/h standard speed limit. 45km/h = 28mph.
 
It's probably a result of an original (multiple of 5) km/h standard speed limit. 45km/h = 28mph.
I'm aware of that and I think you are correct about the likely source. I just think it was a bad choice. The control electronics are easily modified for any speed. So there was very little real benefit to using a 45km/h equivalent. The brains of U.S drivers and police are a lot harder to modify. So better to write legislation that better fits our brains. Were it me, I'd have pushed for a 25mph limit with the understanding that it would widely enforce at about 30 mph given the U.S. practice of allowing at least 5 mph of "grace". As it sits, the officers who might actually try to apply the law will likely give grace to about 35 mph - which seems a bit much to me for a bicycle. Fine for an e-motorcycle, but it isn't particularly bicycle-like at that point.

I've ridden easily 20k miles on one of two Class 3 e-bikes and my typical powered speed is between 21-26 mph. 25mph is a perfectly OK limit for something looking to be the legal equivalent of a pedal powered bicycle.
 
The issue with these things is that you quickly reach a point where the bicycle is almost entirely impractical for pedal only use due to the very high weight. That may be OK, but you do lose one area that could make an e-bike "unkillable" - for instance if a motor fails.
A Lohmann engine combined with a 1/2 gallon fuel tank will weigh all of about 15 lbs when loaded with fuel.

I found my coroplast-shelled velomobile trike that weighed 91 lbs plus loaded with 30+ lbs of gear to be very pedalable with the motor turned off. Including the cogging torque losses of the Leafbike 1500 4T motor in a 26" drive wheel that was in it, rolling averages of 15+ mph were not a problem for me on a disabled motor without the computer on to cancel the cogging torque losses. 9-10 mph rolling averages were still the case if there were a lot of stop signs/red lights at the bottom of hills. This also meant cruising 20+ mph on flat ground. At one time I had DOT rims and Mitas MC2 tires rated for 62 mph on the front wheels, and its rolling resistance at a steady speed didn't noticably change from the Schwalbe Marathon Plus 406 that used to be on it; it just took a little longer to accelerate. I eventually had 16" DOT rims and Mitas MC2 on all 3 wheels with a Leafbike 1500W 3T in the rear wheel and it didn't slow me down much, if at all. But I'm also fit and had a low enough granny gear to climb up a 20% gradient without my cadence dropping below 60 rpm. And I am light, around 140 lbs.

That's very usable as a "bicycle" on a disabled motor.

My 90 lb quadricycle, "Satanic Panic" did run dead on the Katy Trail 2 weeks ago, and I was still able to lug that thing home at 10 mph for another 20+ miles, already tired after having ridden for over 90 miles using the motors to assist. This is with the cogging torque losses of two Grin All-Axle motors slowing it down, loaded with 30 lbs of stuff in the crate, and no aerodynamic shell. I did have Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires on it.

Also quite usable.

I think a 150 lb bike would be still very pedalable. This weight might describe a 4-wheel velomobile with electric mid drive motor in the back, hub motors in each front wheel, small ICE or diesel, pedal drive, solar panels, roll cage structure, hydraulic brakes, DOT rims, solar car tires rated for automobile speeds, and an additional 30 lbs of camping gear/supplies on board. The aerodynamics could be refined well enough that someone could maintain a 15+ mph rolling average and cruise 20+ mph on the flat with everything turned off if they are as physically fit as me. I'm not an olympic ahtlete or even a professional cyclist, for whatever it's worth, but I'm definitely more fit than your average Joe. Even then, use 10-30W to cancel out the cogging torque losses of the motors, and when coupled with a slippery body shell, I think even at 300 lbs laden(bike + me + gear) I could probably hold 20+ mph rolling averages in such a vehicle and cruise 25 mph on the flat. On dead battery/electronics, maybe the rolling averages will be 10-15 mph with 20 mph cruising speeds on the flat. Just a guess because I don't have this hypothetical vehicle completed yet. The "bicycle" element of its operation will still be well in tact in that case, whether I'm cancelling out the cogging torque losses with a small amount of power, or operating it dead.

The typical moped is around 200 lbs and has very lossy tires, for reference. I find those borderline pedalable without the ICE in use, and at like 5-7 mph on flat ground, to give some comparison.

Tires, rider position, and aerodynamic drag can make all the difference. And the rider will have to use their gears and learn to be patient going up hills if they're riding unpowered, and SPIN in order to save their knees.

Another bonus of a pedal powered drive system is that you can pedal it up a mountain, and then use regen to refill your battery pack if all else fails. I took advantage of the rolling hills in my city once in my 3-wheeled electric velomobile after my charger broke and I had to wait on a new one. I pedaled over 20 miles to a bike shop to get parts, using regen on the downhills, but operating with no power feeding the motor. During that ride, I recovered about 5 miles of range at 30 mph, which I needed in order to make it work on time at a later day. That's also handy.

The main purpose of such a vehicle is still to be riding high speeds using an electric motor. My quad typically cruises 30-35 mph, and often does 55 mph on the highway when I need it to. But it's nice to never be stranded because the battery ran dead, or if the electronics ever fail. I can still make it home, it will just take a while, and I might have to get on the sidewalk in some places. If we ever suffer a severe Cuba-style fuel crisis where nothing is available, the sorts of vehicles I've desribed would be invaluable.
 
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