EU to vote on mandatory e-bike insurance
- Thread starter Artstu
- Start date
It has been and been dismissed as unnecessary scaremongering. The EU Commission cannot pass laws, they can only recommend them to the European parliament. There it will be killed by the main cycling nations where e-bikes are big sellers, such as Germany, The Netherlands, France, Denmark and Italy.
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Statement by LEVA-EU on the review of the Motor Insurance Directive
Dear Members of the European Parliament,
Gent, 17 January 2019
LEVA-EU represents the strategic interests of light electric vehicle (LEV) retailers, dealers, distributors, manufacturers and suppliers to promote the development, sale, and use of LEVs in the EU. LEVA-EU is the only trade association in Europe that works exclusively for light electric vehicles.
Light, electric vehicles are all electric vehicles that come under Regulation 168/2013, as well as those electric vehicles excluded from the Regulation such as electric bicycles, electric scooters, electric hoverboards, etc.
We write to you in anticipation of the IMCO Committee vote on the amending of the Motor Insurance Directive, due next Tuesday, 23 January 2019.
The scope of the Directive is extremely important to the businesses we represent. Electric Power
Assisted Cycles (EPACs) as well as other light, electric vehicles excluded from Regulation 168/2013, must be excluded from the Directive. The current Commission text as well as some amendments tabled by IMCO members constitute an existential threat to the continued market uptake of these vehicles, and would cause major damage to the LEV sector in general.
Therefore, we kindly but strongly request you to:
Furthermore, we would like to state the following;
The speed of electric bicycles and other light electric vehicles excluded from Regulation 168/2013 as well as L1e-A vehicles is not significantly different than the speed of a conventional bicycle
These LEVs do not cause major financial or personal damage, they have a completely different third-party liability risk than motor vehicles
Inclusion in the Motor Vehicle Insurance Directive of LEVs excluded from Regulation 168/2013 as well as L1e-A vehicles would result in unnecessary new regulatory burdens and would above all cause confusion among millions of road users throughout the EU.
Keeping light, electric vehicles that are excluded from Regulation 168/2013 as well as L1e-A vehicles out of the Directive will ensure their continued contribution to making mobility in Europe more sustainable.
We are at your disposal for any further details and we thank you in advance for your support.
Annick Roetynck, LEVA-EU Manager
Dear Members of the European Parliament,
Gent, 17 January 2019
LEVA-EU represents the strategic interests of light electric vehicle (LEV) retailers, dealers, distributors, manufacturers and suppliers to promote the development, sale, and use of LEVs in the EU. LEVA-EU is the only trade association in Europe that works exclusively for light electric vehicles.
Light, electric vehicles are all electric vehicles that come under Regulation 168/2013, as well as those electric vehicles excluded from the Regulation such as electric bicycles, electric scooters, electric hoverboards, etc.
We write to you in anticipation of the IMCO Committee vote on the amending of the Motor Insurance Directive, due next Tuesday, 23 January 2019.
The scope of the Directive is extremely important to the businesses we represent. Electric Power
Assisted Cycles (EPACs) as well as other light, electric vehicles excluded from Regulation 168/2013, must be excluded from the Directive. The current Commission text as well as some amendments tabled by IMCO members constitute an existential threat to the continued market uptake of these vehicles, and would cause major damage to the LEV sector in general.
Therefore, we kindly but strongly request you to:
- Vote for amendment 3 and 14 in MEP Charanzova’s report, but to add the following amendment 14:
Amendment
(1 a) In Article 2, the following paragraphs are added:
"This Directive shall only apply to vehicles covered by Regulation (EU) 2018/858*, Regulation (EU) No 167/2013** or Regulation (EU) No 168/2013**
Vote against amendments 56 and 83
We request the explicit exclusion of L1e-A vehicles from the Directive because these are electric bicycles with a motor that can assist up to a maximum speed of 25 km/h and a maximum continuous power of < 1 Kw. These vehicles are electric bicycles, which are very similar to EPACs. Their inclusion in Regulation (EU) No 168/2013 is a legal aberration which already severely hampers their market deployment. If, on top of inadequate technical regulations, these electric bicycles would also become subject to a Motor Vehicle Insurance, this will mean that all future perspectives for this category will be wiped out.
with the exceptioin of L1e-A vehicle (powered cycles); Belgium, for one, has given these vehicles the same status in the Belgian traffic code as conventional bicycles and EPACs. These vehicles do not constitute any more or other risks on the road than conventional bicycles and EPACs and therefore, need to be able to rely on the same status with reference to insurance legislation. That is why they need explicit exclusion from the scope of this Directive.
Furthermore, we would like to state the following;
The speed of electric bicycles and other light electric vehicles excluded from Regulation 168/2013 as well as L1e-A vehicles is not significantly different than the speed of a conventional bicycle
These LEVs do not cause major financial or personal damage, they have a completely different third-party liability risk than motor vehicles
Inclusion in the Motor Vehicle Insurance Directive of LEVs excluded from Regulation 168/2013 as well as L1e-A vehicles would result in unnecessary new regulatory burdens and would above all cause confusion among millions of road users throughout the EU.
Keeping light, electric vehicles that are excluded from Regulation 168/2013 as well as L1e-A vehicles out of the Directive will ensure their continued contribution to making mobility in Europe more sustainable.
We are at your disposal for any further details and we thank you in advance for your support.
Annick Roetynck, LEVA-EU Manager
"The committee decision is not the final decision of Parliament, but usually committee decisions are supported by all the political groups when it comes to a full vote. So this decision now is the most important step in getting this EU Commission recommendation over-ruled in Parliament.”
Squeaky bum time for the poor EU ebikers
Just another example of why we must leave these gangsters!!
Squeaky bum time for the poor EU ebikers
Just another example of why we must leave these gangsters!!
Again silly scaremongering and NOT TRUE. Committee decisions are regularly dismissed by the Parliament. For example, the Commission has tried hard to introduce compulsory cycle helmets EU wide and been overwhelmingly defeated by the European Parliament. And tried again for e-bikes and defeated again. Ditto trying to ban open face m/c helmets.
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It's the implications that are very bad indeed.
Because pedelecs aren't registered with number plates and their riders not licenced, policing of compulsory insurance is made completely impossible.
The inevitable outcome of compulsory insurance is that pedelecs will become compulsorily registered with number plates. Remember that S-pedelecs are already. Since that still doesn't enable rider identification, pedelecs could then be included into the new group Q driving licence that applies for slower mopeds. Again something to remember is that all of this and more applied to e-bikes up until the 1980s, so it could all too easily happen again.
Do we really want that?
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Just thinking out loud here................ with compulsory third-party vehicle insurance would that have a bearing on e-biking on towpaths, parkland, cycle paths etc (off the public highway)?
I mean would that insurance cover you for those journeys?
and would it then be an offence if you weren`t covered?
It would give third party cover if they were legal for use in those circumstances, and it follows that not being covered would be an offence.
Howevef the fear is if the authorities took the lazy route to get pedelecs registered and insured by simply including them in the 15.5 mph L1e-A motor vehicle class, which I think highly likely. That would ban them from any such facilities, leaving them confined to the roads like the S-pedelecs.
This simple way of clumping all three bicycle based pedal assist types together would be administratively attractive.
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Just saying.. as I regularly ride on public roads, having insurance seems like a responsible thing to do. I have my bike insured against theft or accidental damage and also public liability... if its vallue didn't warrant this insurance i would still take out P.L. which doesn't cost much anyway.
Yes I agree, I'm not against third party insurance and there's even something to be said for registration. It's just the restrictive and damaging way these could be applied by the authorities.
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Surely if this happened it would kill the pedelec market overnight. Not being able to use cyclepaths etc. would put a lot of existing owners off using their bikes, esp.in busy cities.
I agree, but the threat is there to a minor degree. However I'm quite confident that the Dutch will kill off the current insurance proposals, as they usually do with any cycling bureacracy attempts.
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It has been overruled by the European Parliament as I predicted in this post."The committee decision is not the final decision of Parliament, but usually committee decisions are supported by all the political groups when it comes to a full vote. So this decision now is the most important step in getting this EU Commission recommendation over-ruled in Parliament.”
Squeaky bum time for the poor EU ebikers
Just another example of why we must leave these gangsters!!
Here is the link giving the details.
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Only a collection of greedy gangsters would have even suggested this in the first place - time to get out!!
Behold the 29th cometh!!
Behold the 29th cometh!!
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