What is the HIGHEST legal power rating?

[numberonekiwi]

This is how the law in New Zealand is written

Some vehicles less than 600 watts may not be considered a 'motor vehicle'

59. What does this involve?

The amendment Act sets out special requirements for vehicles with a power output of less than 600 watts. In particular, the amendment allows the Director of Land Transport to declare that certain vehicles or types of vehicle under 600 watts are not motor vehicles.

* If the power output of a vehicle or type of vehicle is 300 watts or less, the Director may declare it is not a ‘motor vehicle’. This means that motorised vehicles with a maximum power output of 300 watts or less (such as an electric scooter) can be exempted from registration, and their drivers would not have to be licensed.
* If the power output of a vehicle or type of vehicle is between 300 and 600 watts, the Director may declare it is not a ‘motor vehicle’, but may also set conditions on how to use the vehicle, such as the need to wear a helmet.

While the effect of these declarations will be to remove the vehicles (and their riders or owners) from certain legal obligations – including registration and licensing – it will not remove the general obligation to operate any vehicle in a safe and reasonable manner.

The Director must notify the public of his decisions in the New Zealand Gazette.

Once a class of vehicles has been 'notified' in the New Zealand Gazette, they will be no longer considered 'motor vehicles' in law and people will be able to use them legally without some of the licensing requirements
associated with driving a 'motor vehicle'.

So to my understanding up to 300 watts is certain 300-600 watts maybe maybe not but I would assume that being in a bicycle frame that it would be ok to operate as an ebike as bicycles are already exempt

 

[numberonekiwi]

further to investigation upon current N.Z law one could also argue that a bicycle is a mobility device even though it is stated that 300w for a bicycle contrary to my last post however click here
http://www.transport.govt.nz/qa2/ scroll down to (3)

Name Update: Replace 'Invalid Carriage' and 'Disabled Persons Vehicle' with 'Mobility Device'
What is being changed?

It is proposed to replace the terms 'invalid carriage' and 'disabled persons vehicle' with 'mobility device'. A mobility device will not be a 'motor vehicle', provided that it has a power output of less than 1500 watts.

Is a Bicycle a mobility device - ie a mode of transport that allows a person to travel from point a to point b

Is there any lawyers or people here that can interpret these words

but it may be a good idea to read the whole statement / wording

EDIT: is law easy to read or a F%^&£$ up interpretation of what we want to read and what we want to pursue?

 

[xyster]

...any lawyers or people here...

Excellent descriptive precision -- those two are mutually exclusive, for sure. :lol:

 

[Toorbough ULL-Zeveigh]

As I've posted previously, I'm no big city lawyer but interpreting from context whenever I've seen the term 'mobility device' used it is a politically correct replacement for the term 'handicap vehicle'.

This means only people that would qualify for a handicap zone parking sticker for their car would qualify for the exemption & be allowed to drive an ebike that meets the power requirents, etc. on the street. Basically the NZ law is lumping ebikes together with electric wheelchairs & scoots for old people.

But not to worry, this is how it all began in Canada (perhaps the same in Europe too) b4 it was thrown open to everyone.

I know that the general automobile driving public around here looks down on me as though I'm handicapped if I ride an ebike or that I'm homeless whenever I ride a regular bike. :lol:

You see, in oil country if you don't drive a car & consume guzzle-lean, you just have to be deficient in some manner. Otherwise it just blows the general public's world view, it makes no sense otherwise. :?

In fact, there is only one place in town that sells ebikes, (prior to chain store Canadian Tire getting into it last summer) & that is an assisted mobility store, with ebikes being a small sideline tucked away in a corner of the building. The salesperson to me they had to scale back by half the floor space allocated for ebikes recently saying that there's more profit in selling the assisted mobility products.

 

[xyster]

As I've posted previously, I'm no big city lawyer ...

Small city lawyer?

My quippy, lawyer-dogging generalizations might not apply. There's always exceptions...