Originally Posted by
Sy Reene
From a bit of reading, this can be an almost meaningless distinction. Some "pedal assist" ebikes evidently operate by means of detecting that there's any cadence value whatsoever of the pedals. So as long as you move the pedals in a circular fashion -- perhaps not really putting any more than a few watts into the effort, combined with setting the electric assist to max, the bike's motor will propel you to the max speed that its class allows.
This is what happens when you try to come up with the cheapest possible technology that barely meets the regulations. Sensors and wires cost money, so the cheapest possible e-bike will have the fewest sensors, notably a cadence sensor on the crank. A friend of mine has one of those bikes, and he says it pretty much has a mind of its own for how fast it goes. He got a new e-bike with better controls.
Classic tragedy of the commons. E-bike regulations will have to be based on whatever is the worst possible technology that someone can dream up. This is one of the things that makes conventional bikes so wonderful -- there's a natural speed limit based on physical ability, that varies from person to person, but covers the vast majority of riders well enough.
Perhaps a compromise for the speed limit is to stipulate "when pedestrians are present."