My concern isn't the use of 250W motors in EPACs, as I am near-certain that the courts would rule that any ebike approved to EN15194 is legal to use here under our treaty's and obligations with the EU. Ideally the government should have enshrined the EU EPAC regulations in statute to make this watertight, but nevertheless I think that the courts would have a hard time showing that a EPAC that was properly approved and unmodified was actually illegal to use in the UK.
My major concern is that there are thousands of ebikes being sold via outlets like ebay, and being bought and used by large numbers of innocent people, that are not approved to EN15194 and don't comply with UK law. There are also many formerly Type Approved EPACs that are no longer Type Approved by virtue of having been modified, either pre or post sale (fitment of throttles, removal of speed restricters etc), and there are also quite a lot of kit or DIY ebike conversions (including some being sold by BEBA members), which currently have no easy route for UK regulation compliance demonstration once built.
All told there are, without a doubt, very large numbers of ebikes being used in the UK that don't comply with either the EU EPAC regulations or the UK EAPC regulations.
The DfT needs to firstly be made aware of this, and secondly needs to be encouraged to do something positive to address it, without detriment to the present situation. It would be better if we, ordinary ebike riders presented a proposal to the DfT to address this, as despite everything any trade association will be seen, both by the DfT and consumers, as wanting to direct things in a way that suits them. This isn't a criticism or a statement that I think BEBA, or any other trade body, would act against the wishes of consumers, just that there will be suspicion that it might.
Finally, you refer to "grandfather rights". Given that there are only a tiny number of UK EAPC regulation compliant ebikes, maybe a hundred or so at most I would think, and that these are the only ones who could possibly have any legal rights, you need to think long and hard about what the DfT are actually offering here. AFAICS they could well be making an offer that sounds attractive but effectively retains the present status quo, with thousands of ebikes remaining illegal.
As mentioned before, I've been through a very similar process with the DfT and CAA over deregulation of very light aircraft and have a pretty good feel from that experience as to how they really work. I would be inherently mistrustful of any offer made by them until every minutest detail has been analysed very carefully and a full impact assessment made.
