Knowing how fast you’re allowed to go on an e-bike in the UK can be confusing, to say the least. This guide will cover the legal aspect of riding what’s classed as an ‘electrically assisted pedal cycle’ (EAPC) in the United Kingdom and cover the laws involved.
How fast are e-bikes allowed to go?
Officially, according to the current guidance on the Gov.uk site, e-bikes are not allowed to exceed speeds of 15.5 mph on public roads. The other legal requirement is that e-bikes are not allowed to go over 250 Watts. If the bike can go faster than that limit, it’s classed as a motor vehicle and needs all the things you’d need for a moped:
- Tax
- License
- Insurance
- MOT
- Brake lights
- Headlights
- Apply for a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)
If you’re wondering, this speed is around the average speed a regular cyclist will travel at.
Hang on a minute, bikes can go faster than that just by pedalling!
While it might sound contradictory, you are allowed to go faster than 15.5 mph on an e-bike. E-Bikes are just power-assisted bikes, after all. You could technically pedal the bike beyond that speed if you were a strong enough pedaler. But there is a technicality here: the e-bike can’t assist you once the bike gets to 15.5 mph.
Why was this speed limit set?
- Safety of the rider – at higher speeds helmets are not as effective and you’d need a motorbike or moped helmet.
- Pedestrian safety – shared paths
- Ebikes are extremely quiet – and hard to hear coming in time to get out of the way.
- There have been recorded fatalities involving e-bike riders – hitting pedestrians at speed.
E-bikes are fitted with a speed limiter or governor that prevents the bike from exceeding the set speed limit. Although this can be pretty easily tinkered with and removed (see below).
Age limitations
The only other requirement is that you have to be over the age of 14.
What does the 250 Watt part mean?
As well as a max speed limit you’re allowed to go on your e-bike, the other UK legal limit is to do with how much power the motor is giving out. The Wattage relates to a 2015 law that states pedal electrics aren’t allowed to give more than 250 watts spread out over 30 minute period.
What’s the problem with this speed limit?
A lot of people looking to get an e-bike may already be keen cyclists and even if they’re not, the top speed of 15.5mph isn’t much better than what you could get by pedalling.
Hills are also a huge problem. A reduced wattage doesn’t just affect the speed of the bike, it also impacts how the bike will perform when you’re climbing up a slope. A 250-watt motor will struggle if your journey involves less than flat terrain.
What exactly determines if a bike is an EAPC?
At what point does an e-bike become an electric motorbike? It’s a crazy question but there are clear guidelines on the Gov site about what they currently classified as a self-propelled electric bike. You don’t need a license for an e-bike as long as it fits within a certain set of criteria.
It’s got to have pedals – and they have to be able to propel the bike. You can’t just whack some fake ones on there. To be classed as an e-bike it has to be able to be ridden like a regular cycle.
You have to be able to also show the following things:
- Power output
- The manufacturer and motor
- Either the voltage or the max speed of the bike
Fun fact: EAPCs can have more than two wheels. Example: a tricycle.
Will the UK’s e-bike speed change any time soon?
There’s always a lot of discussion about how fast an e-bike in the UK should be allowed to travel. Some cyclists believe the limit should be raised.
Many e-riders would like to see this speed limit increased slightly in line with the US’s speed which is currently 20mph. A petition to the government to up this speed is, at the time of writing, currently gaining momentum.
How fast can I ride in Cities on an e-bike?
There’s actually no difference as to how fast you can ride on an e-bike in a city to any of the UK roads. You’re still limited to the 25km/h or 15.5 mph limit in any part of the UK, on any roads.
How do you pick a legal e-bike that won’t break the rules?
There are two things that a legal e-bike requires to fall within the law:
- It has to have a power output of 250 Watts (although, confusingly, the motor can be larger than 250 watts)
- It must not have a throttle (it’s worth noting that this only applies on bikes made after the law on e-bike throttles was changed.)
What happens if you get caught speeding on an eBike?
The part of UK law that deals with e-bike offences are section 185 of the Road Traffic Act, which has to do with e-bikes that have speeds over 15.5mph or a power output greater than 250W. Once it breaks those limits, it’s not classed as an e-bike anymore and you can technically be charged with an offence.
You can be hit with all kinds of very serious sounding offences such as:
- Driving without a licence
- Driving without insurance
If you’re charged with one of these, punishments can vary and could consist of:
- 8 penalty points on your driving license (if you have one)
- Discretionary driving disqualification
- Being fined
- Having to pay costs.
- Having your e-bike impounded
Sounds pretty serious, right? The thing is that it’s all very discretionary and, at least at the moment, cases of people being charged with this are rare.
How are people getting around this limit?
In the real world, there are a lot of ways around the speed limit and some tricks that people are using that don’t stick within the laws. So what are some ways people are getting around the UK e-bike speed laws?
- Hacking the speed controller – One thing that a lot of e-bike owners do is to use some kind of hack to get their bike to exceed the speed limit.
- Going faster outside of busy city roads – Another common thing you’ll read on the e-bike forums and places like Reddit is that riders stick to the speed in cities but exceed it once they’re out on roads.
- Ride normally and avoiding attention – One common opinion is that if you ride sensibly, as you would on any bike, it’s highly unlikely you will be pulled over.
- Using a Cycle Analyst – With this device you can have a really powerful e-bike of say 1000 Watts but set a limit to it of 250 Watts. At the press of a button, you can quickly reduce your output from the illegal (but speedy) 1000 down to the legally allowed 250.
- Overclocking the motor to get more out of it – A little-known secret about e-bike motors is that they can actually push out a lot more power than what they’re intended for. Most of the 250 Watt motors built in China can actually give out 500 Watts if you know how to do it. What the motor is officially ‘rated’ as is often far less than what it’s capable of.
Do the police know what to look for?
Another hot and controversial topic is the question as to whether or not a regular police officer would be able to tell the difference between a legal e-bike and one that was 500 Watts instead of 250 Watts. Or even be able to spot a power-assisted bike at all (some are not as obvious as others).
Many believe that they would need special training and knowledge to be able to tell if an e-biker was breaking the law or not. During our research for this article, it was hard to find many examples of people being pulled over and asked anything by the police about their e-bike.
Realistically, the police have a lot on their plates and e-bikes are probably not a priority. And it’s not likely they would know what to look for without training.
That being said, you might get unlucky and be pulled over by someone whose hobby is e-bikes and they’d know straight away if you were using one of the above tricks to get over the legal limits.