Help with my first conversion kit.

Peter.Bridge

Esteemed Pedelecer
Apr 19, 2023
1,328
609
That's not how certification works for most products and not how it works for ebikes outside the EU. The only reason someone has put 350W on a ebike that is restricted to 15.5mph is they haven't understood how ridiculous EU certification is. However we are now seeing Chinese ebike manufacturers selling 750W ebikes restricted to 15.5mph as 250W but the 250W is not their rated power or continuous power of the motor it's just a wattage they will work at even if they can take 4x that power with the supplied controller. It's just an absolute farce with an ebike being so called illegal for having a 350W or 10A controller on a 36V ebike but another ebike with a 23A controller at 36V is perfectly legal.

Many ebikes are using exactly the same motor and some are classed as 250W and others are illegal as still stated to be their real wattage like 750W. Same motor but completely different legal status all because of the use of a sticker basically. It's just utterly ridiculous.

I realise there is many on here that will defend that situation but I personally can't accept it as professional or fair certification. I was a compliance officer for many years and saw hundreds of standards and 1000s of certificates for various products which I had to check for their legal status and there was nothing as ridiculous as ebike certification for any of those products that I can remember it was all logical and fair.

How can you fairly prosecute someone for having a 350W ebike when it is only a fraction of the power of many so called 250W ebikes?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Az.

saneagle

Esteemed Pedelecer
Oct 10, 2010
7,005
3,241
Telford
That's not how certification works for most products and not how it works for ebikes outside the EU. The only reason someone has put 350W on a ebike that is restricted to 15.5mph is they haven't understood how ridiculous EU certification is. However we are now seeing Chinese ebike manufacturers selling 750W ebikes restricted to 15.5mph as 250W but the 250W is not their rated power or continuous power of the motor it's just a wattage they will work at even if they can take 4x that power with the supplied controller. It's just an absolute farce with an ebike being so called illegal for having a 350W or 10A controller on a 36V ebike but another ebike with a 23A controller at 36V is perfectly legal.

Many ebikes are using exactly the same motor and some are classed as 250W and others are illegal as still stated to be their real wattage like 750W. Same motor but completely different legal status all because of the use of a sticker basically. It's just utterly ridiculous.

I realise there is many on here that will defend that situation but I personally can't accept it as professional or fair certification. I was a compliance officer for many years and saw hundreds of standards and 1000s of certificates for various products which I had to check for their legal status and there was nothing as ridiculous as ebike certification for any of those products that I can remember it was all logical and fair.

How can you fairly prosecute someone for having a 350W ebike when it is only a fraction of the power of many so called 250W ebikes?
I know exactly how certification works. I was a first tier quality manager in the automotive industry for more than 20 years, much of which was studying, interpreting and complying with standards. In EN15194, the maximum power is not tied down, and neither is the way an electric motor's power should be rated. That's all that matters, no matter what you think about it.

If you were a compliance officer, start with EN15194, then go through it and all the standards it refers to, then show me where you think it indicates an actual maximum power. Remember, all anyone has to do is comply with it to be legal.

Unfortunately, most people have never read it, so theyget the false impression that there is some sort of power limit, or it was intended that there should be one, however there isn't. It's that simple.

Also, I'll call you a smart guy if you can figure out a way to specify the power of an electric power and how to measure it.
 
Last edited: