Talk:E-bike

Electric Mountain Bikes

The article seems very out of date, especially with regard to the examples of e-bike used. It doesn't even mention e-MTBs, the development of which has been rapid and astounding. Word is that for high-end bikes electric MTBs are outselling conventional ones and they are transforming the sport. They need more attention here, and should they have their own article? Stub Mandrel (talk) 21:42, 29 May 2021 (UTC)

Dunno if should have own article but feel free to add more to existing articles Chidgk1 (talk) 07:25, 18 October 2025 (UTC)

I wrote a bit about them and explained the difference between EMTBs and Fat-Tire bikes in my recent edits. GlowingLava (talk) 11:52, 21 August 2026 (UTC)

Too many bikes

There is a moped article, a motorized bicycle article, an electric bicycle article and scooter article. Plus more articles for 'proper' bicycles and 'proper' motorcycle. I would like these articles to be consolidated where needed, improved, and linked. If a more experienced wikipedian can help. A reasonable voice (talk) 12:36, 25 April 2023 (UTC)

What do you think should be consolidated if anything?

Re other improvements such as linking feel free to go ahead Chidgk1 (talk) 07:21, 18 October 2025 (UTC)

@A reasonable voice I am too busy but if you are not you could merge moped and Motorized bicycle Chidgk1 (talk) 07:46, 22 October 2025 (UTC)

Out of date

Some of the statistics are dreadfully out of date such as ebike use in 2008. 220.233.199.209 (talk) 09:17, 8 June 2023 (UTC)

Feel free to update them Chidgk1 (talk) 06:53, 18 October 2025 (UTC)

Section Comparing Bikes to E-bikes

Something about the section at the bottom of the intro feels off… perhaps it could be condensed or supplemented with more than one reference? Serius Ser (talk) 20:06, 5 December 2024 (UTC)

AI-generated tag

Hi -- I've added the AI generated tag to this article based on this addition from 2024, which displays the usual tells of AI content. Needs fact-checking, arguably removal maybe. Gnomingstuff (talk) 15:07, 15 August 2025 (UTC)

I think I've improved it enough to remove the tag. Theosch (talk) 20:41, 9 December 2025 (UTC)

I have cleaned it up further, if that's the only issue with AI content I think we can remove the tag now. Edit: removed it. GlowingLava (talk) 12:00, 21 August 2026 (UTC)

Remove “Experience by country”?

This could get too long - suggest should be covered in “Transport in country x” articles. Do you agree? Chidgk1 (talk) 07:40, 18 October 2025 (UTC)

What to do about overlap with Pedelec?

Do you think this is a problem and if so any ideas? Chidgk1 (talk) 07:48, 18 October 2025 (UTC)

Merge pedelec into this article?

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.

The result of this discussion was no concensus. Chidgk1 (talk) 09:15, 25 November 2025 (UTC)

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@Stub Mandrel @A reasonable voice @Serius Ser @Gnomingstuff @Soulman @S C Cheese @WinTakeAll @Punnipedia @Black Walnut @ClumsyOwlet @William Wayland@ Theosch @Nil0lab @Reinthal @Elisabeth59 and everyone else

I propose to merge pedelec to here because:

1) Perhaps 9 out of 10 ebikes sold nowadays are pedelecs, so the articles overlap too much

1) The articles overlap too much - for example Pedelec#Battery overlaps Electric_bicycle#Batteries, Pedelec#Motor_types overlaps Electric_bicycle#Motors_and_drivetrains, and Pedelec#Safety overlaps Electric_bicycle#Road_traffic_safety

2) It seems unlikely anyone would keep the pedelec article up to date as a stand-alone article

3) “Pedelec” is a little used word compared to “ebike”

What do you think? Chidgk1 (talk) 06:38, 22 October 2025 (UTC)

Not sure why I'm tagged here, I only commented to explain my tagging for ai and have no other opinion Gnomingstuff (talk) 12:25, 22 October 2025 (UTC)

I'm against merging. 1) is very dependent on location. 3) simly means that Pedelec is a subset of Ebike, itself not a very good term because electric motorcycles are also e-bikes. Electric bicycle is a clear term. Electric_bicycle#Pedelecs is so short compared to Pedelec that not much redundancy is saved by merging them. Theosch (talk) 12:55, 22 October 2025 (UTC)

@Theosch OK you know the subject better than me and I accept your criticism of the first part of 1) as I cannot find worldwide statistics but will revise 1) as there is overlap in other parts of the articles. By 3) I meant that many English speaking readers would be confused by the word “pedelec” - I agree that “electric bicycle” is clearer and don’t propose to rename this article. Do you have an opinion on 2) or the revised 1)? Chidgk1 (talk) 15:07, 22 October 2025 (UTC)

Opinion on 2): I don't think so.

On revised 1): Redundant overlaps can be dealt with, e.g.I have just removed some. Perhpas not in the preferred method, perhaps somebody will help out there. Theosch (talk) 09:54, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

@Theosch Sorry I don’t understand your answer about 2) Chidgk1 (talk) 12:05, 11 November 2025 (UTC)

I think it likely that Pedelec will continue to be kept up to date as a stand-alone article. Theosch (talk) 14:02, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

Support. —WinTakeAll💬 14:30, 27 October 2025 (UTC) 14:30, 27 October 2025 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Are there really throttle ebikes which have pedals which cannot activate the motor?

The article seems to imply that there are throttle ebikes which have pedals which cannot activate the motor. Is this true? If so this is presumably just to get round some law rather than having a practical advantage? Chidgk1 (talk) 08:47, 22 October 2025 (UTC)

Yes, there are plenty of ebikes with pedals which cannot activate the motor, where legally permitted. Not a law thing. It's cheaper and some people don't want a pedelec solution. In Switzerland a pedelec controler is mandatory only in the fast class up to 45 km/h, the usual class up to 25 km/h allows the motor to act without pedals I believe up to 20 km/h. Theosch (talk) 12:47, 22 October 2025 (UTC)

Environmental effects – source for e-bike emissions vs buses

Hi -- I’ve been looking at the sentence in the *Environmental effects* section that reads:

“E-bikes emit similar pollutants per kilometer as buses, with emission rates several times lower than motorcycles and cars.”

The “several times lower than motorcycles and cars” part already has sources, but the “similar pollutants per kilometre as buses” clause had a [citation needed] tag.

There are several life-cycle and exposure studies comparing e-bikes to buses and other motorised modes (e.g. Cherry et al. 2009; Ji 2012; Blondel et al. 2011; McQueen et al. 2020; Montoya-Torres et al. 2023). I’ve written a short secondary summary of these findings here, with full references to the original sources:

• https://nextgenelectricbikes.com/environmental-impacts-of-electric-bicycles/

I’ve added this summary as an additional reference for the “similar pollutants per kilometer as buses” clause. If anyone has concerns about using this as a secondary source alongside the journal articles and reports already cited, I’m happy to adjust or remove it based on consensus.

Thanks, UrbanMobilityResearcher (talk) 17:12, 13 January 2026 (UTC)

Thanks However, I have two issues with this reference. The original data used for bicycles (21 g/pass. km), pedelecs (22g) and buses (101 g) comes from https://ecf.com/media/resources/2016/ECF_CO2_WEB.pdf?_t=1741859231 (�2011 - CyCle more often 2 Cool down the planet ! - Quantifying Co2 savings of Cycling). The bus value assumes 10 passengers. Your reference uses this data but then states: "These figures place e-bikes very close to buses in terms of greenhouse gas emissions per kilometre" without mentioning that this would only apply with over 50 passengers in the bus. I hope I've formulated it in a correct way now.

Secondly, the ECF-data is for pedelecs with 6 g/km assumed for pedalling, and not for unpedalled electric bicycles. https://www.bikeradar.com/features/long-reads/cycling-environmental-impact substracts this and therefore comes up with a total of 17 g/km.

I cannot yet find a discussion except my own on whether basal metabolism should be counted or not. Obviously this would give quite different figures. Theosch (talk) 13:57, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

electric hybrid bicycles

They pop up quite often, not sure how relevant it is. Setenzatsu.2 (talk) 15:14, 23 May 2026 (UTC)

They might be prominent but I would like to find a better source than a buying guide, blog or "top ten list" of bikes to explain what they are. It's not clear what the definition is - a bike you can pedal sometimes but also motor sometimes? A bike with a specific type of motor? I couldn't find a great source because of all the spam. -- Reconrabbit (talk) 14:40, 26 May 2026 (UTC)

A hybrid bike is a cross between a mountain bike and a road bike. It doesn't mean the same thing as a hybrid car. In the US people often buy jack of all trades hybrid, gravel or all-road bikes instead of purpose-built city-bikes or off-road bikes. GlowingLava (talk) 07:06, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

E-Bike Classes

There needs to be a section on Class 1/2/3 in "Definition and classes". The article just says it's complicated, which to me comes across as a cop out. Obviously a regional distinction, but an important one for certain riders, as far as whether their bike might be classified as a motor vehicle or not. There's already a reference that discusses these, which is helpful, but only class 3 seems to be mentioned in the article itself. And classes for other regions could be added too, where it's known. ~2026-42668-18 (talk) 01:02, 1 August 2026 (UTC)

Also, discussing the class 1/2/3 topic in the article would also allow for discussion of controversies surrounding the current class system. ~2026-42668-18 (talk) 01:21, 1 August 2026 (UTC)

Third paragraph of lead edit war

I'd like to try and form some consensus after watching this play out on my watchlist.

@~2026-44024-32 is clearly concerned about the disparaging light placed on e-scooters in the intro, which is text verbatim lifted from the cited source per CC. They provided this paper to show that e-scooters have some physical activity associated .

I think given that source, it would be reasonable to re-write that paragraph, to include information about bikes, e-bikes, and e-scooters as micromobility, and include only a comparison to regular bikes and e-bikes. It doesn't seem relevant to the lead to include information about e-scooters when it's conflicted in the literature.

For my two cents, I would put more weight on the 2025 study than the 2024 one, which included this text more as a justification for choosing e-bikes for their study, rather than a detailed analysis of the physical activity levels. Yojo98 (talk) 01:40, 12 August 2026 (UTC)

Xtracycle image seems inappropriate to me

I'm skeptical of the cargo bike photo as an illustration in this article (in the Design variations section), as it's an Xtracycle from 2013, which wasn't normally electric at that time. The model in that photo doesn't appear electric to me.

There are certainly tons of families using this format today on e-bikes (I see them almost every day here in San Francisco), but this wasn't the case in 2013. I think the illustration ought to be replaced with a clearly electric family-style cargo bike. Schoen (talk) 20:09, 27 August 2026 (UTC)

I would support updating that photo as well for the reasons you mentioned Yojo98 (talk) 20:24, 27 August 2026 (UTC)

It seems there's consensus not to use that image. I've replaced it with a similar image. I don't love the new image but the idea that more than one kid fits on these things is important, tonnes of people use them like this. GlowingLava (talk) 09:56, 29 August 2026 (UTC)

Requested move 19 September 2026

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved. Moved to "E-bike" per consensus below. (closed by non-admin page mover) Jeffrey34555 (talk) 17:52, 26 September 2026 (UTC)

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Electric bicycle → ebikeebike – Per E-scooter and ebook Froglord (Finnfrog99) (talk) 17:29, 19 September 2026 (UTC)

• Support per nom, it is much more WP:CONSISTENT. I think e-bike is also an acceptable title.

In solidarity, Grilledcheeseisgreat ^✉ 18:45, 19 September 2026 (UTC)

• Support alternate move to E-bike which is the common name. See proof here. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 18:49, 19 September 2026 (UTC)

  works for me Froglord (Finnfrog99) (talk) 18:52, 19 September 2026 (UTC)

  I think I'm leaning E-bike, but I'm perfectly fine with ebike as well. In solidarity, Grilledcheeseisgreat ^✉ 18:54, 19 September 2026 (UTC)

• Support E-bike per zx and presented ngrams. [EDIT: and per E-scooter] Randy Kryn (talk) 00:29, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

• support for "E-bike" per zxcvbnm and the presented data

Yojo98 (talk) 02:02, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

Support move to Ebike or E-bike. Email stopped being primarily called E-mail a while back and I feel confident that ebike is already the more common term. We can also just re-rename the article in 2 years so I'm not worried about it. GlowingLava (talk) 07:15, 20 September 2026 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.