California has led the nation in electric bicycle adoption, helping more people than ever before switch away from cars and toward smaller and more efficient transportation alternatives. However, the proliferation of electric bicycles has also led to a major uptick in higher-power models that have flaunted established e-bike laws, often being used on public roads and bike paths to the chagrin of many local residents.

A new law that came into effect this week has now further clarified which electric bicycles are street-legal and which fall afoul of regulations.

The legislation is meant to address the growing number of high-powered electric bikes, many of which use traditional electric bicycle components but are capable of achieving speeds and power levels that give them performance closer to mopeds and light motorcycles.

This phenomenon has led to a heavily charged debate around the colloquial term “e-bike” and the regulatory term “electric bicycle”. The main question has become whether increasing the power and speed of such bikes pushes them outside the realm of bicycles and into the class of mopeds and motorcycles. That distinction is important since the legal classification of “electric bicycle” provides for such bikes to be used in the widest possible areas, including on public roads and in bike paths, as well as negates the need to tag, title, or insure electric bicycles.

SB No. 1271 was signed into law last year and came into effect on January 1, 2015. The bill covered several new e-bike regulations, including fire safety regulations and requirements for third-party safety certifications that will come into effect over the next few years, as well as a further tightening of the three-class e-bike system to limit which electric bicycles can include hand throttles.

However, near the end of the new legislation is a three-line section that clearly outlines which vehicles are not considered to be “electric bicycles” under California law.

The following vehicles are not electric bicycles under this code and shall not be advertised, sold, offered for sale, or labeled as electric bicycles:

(1) A vehicle with two or three wheels powered by an electric motor that is intended by the manufacturer to be modifiable to attain a speed greater than 20 miles per hour on motor power alone or to attain more than 750 watts of power.

(2) A vehicle that is modified to attain a speed greater than 20 miles per hour on motor power alone or to have motor power of more than 750 watts.

(3) A vehicle that is modified to have its operable pedals removed.

The three points are used to exclude vehicles from the legal definition of an electric bicycle in California. This wouldn’t necessarily make these vehicles “illegal” per se, as they could still be sold, purchased, and ridden in California, simply not as “electric bicycles”. However, they could be illegal to use on public roads or in bike paths, where prohibited or not properly registered.

This not only impacts how such vehicles could be marketed, but also where and how they could be ridden. Powerful e-bikes that now fall outside the regulatory term “electric bicycles” could still be used off-road on private property or where allowed, and could potentially be ridden on public roads if properly registered as mopeds or motorcycles, though that would also require the e-bikes to meet the regulations for such vehicle classes.

Provision 1: E-bikes designed to be unlocked for higher power or throttle speeds

The first provision covered in the new law copied above applies to e-bikes designed by the manufacturer to be user-modifiable to go faster than 20 mph (32 km/h) on motor power alone (i.e. by use of a hand throttle that requires no pedaling input), or to provide more than 750 watts of power. To be clear: This does not make e-bikes that travel over 20 mph illegal (they can still travel up to 28 mph on pedal assist) but rather targets those that can achieve such speeds on throttle alone.

Most electric bicycles in the US, even those capable of traveling at speeds over 20 mph, ship in what is known as Class 2 mode, which includes having a software-limited top speed of 20 mph on throttle and/or pedal assist. However, it is common for many electric bicycles to be easily “unlocked” by the user, which often requires just a few seconds of changing settings in the bike’s digital display. This unlocking often allows riders to travel faster on pedal assist, usually up to 28 mph (45 km/h), and on some occasions unlocks that faster speed on throttle-only riding too.

Most of the mainstream electric bicycle brands in the US still limit throttle-only speeds to 20 mph, even when the e-bike is “unlocked” by the user, meaning they would not fall afoul of the new law based on higher speed pedal assist functionality. However, several brands do allow higher speed throttle riding above 20 mph, and these e-bikes would no longer be classified as electric bicycles in California, even when in their locked state with a 20 mph speed limiter. As the law is written, those e-bikes can not be considered electric bicycles in California because they are designed to be unlockable to higher speeds than 20 mph on throttle-only.

Additionally, any e-bike that can be unlocked to offer higher than 750W (one horsepower) will now also fall outside the confines of electric bicycles in California. This regulation, based on power instead of speed, is in effect a much wider net that will likely catch many – if not most- of the electric bicycles currently on the road. There has long been a 750W limit for e-bikes in the US, but this has traditionally been treated as a continuous power limit. The peak power of such e-bikes is usually higher, often landing in the 900-1,300W range. The new California law removes the word “continuous” from the regulation, meaning motors that are capable of briefly exceeding the 750W motor (i.e. most 750W motors), will now fall outside of electric bicycle regulations.

Provision 2: E-bikes modified for higher power or throttle speeds

While the first provision above ruled that any e-bikes intended to be unlocked for throttle-enabled speeds of over 20 mph or to provide more than 750W of power are no longer classified as electric bicycles, the second provision covers e-bikes that are modified to those parameters even without being intended for such modification.

This is a much smaller category of e-bikes and is usually indicative of custom or DIY builds. Most e-bikes capable of operating at performance levels now ruled outside of electric bicycle classification have simply been reprogrammed using the manufacturer’s own modifiable settings menu on the e-bike. But some riders use other methods to increase their e-bike’s power, such as by swapping out motors or controllers with faster and more powerful alternatives.

The second provision in the law targets these types of e-bikes, which weren’t intended to have been modified for higher speeds and power levels, but have been customized to do so anyway.

Provision 3: No pedals, no bicycle

The third provision simply clarifies the pedal rule: In order to be considered an electric bicycle, an e-bike must have functional pedals.

That doesn’t mean that if an e-bike has pedals that it is automatically considered to be an electric bicycle, but only that a lack of such pedals nullifies its status as an electric bicycle under the new regulations.

This has long been the case, but is simply further clarified in the new legislation to cover e-bikes that once had functional pedals that have since been removed.

The new legislation’s definitions of electric bicycles don’t mark a major shift for California, which has long used the three-class e-bike system. However, it does signify a clamping down on e-bikes that flaunt those regulations by more clearly codifying their out-of-class status and removing their ability to pass as electric bicycles, legally speaking.

Riders of Sur Ron-style e-bikes, including Talarias and other models that function more like light dirt bikes, have long known that their bikes were not legally classified as electric bicycles. But now, many of the more traditional-looking electric bikes, including from some fairly well-known manufacturers, are likely to find themselves on the wrong side of the law. This will be especially true in cases where the e-bikes are otherwise designed to appear and function like typical electric bicycles, yet are capable of reaching 28 mph speeds on throttle only.

What do you think of the new regulations for e-bikes in California? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comment section below.

tlv

BYD’s aggressive year-end sales push worked. China’s leading EV maker sold a record number of electric cars in 2024, but will it be enough to take the sales crown from Tesla?

Will BYD’s EV sales surge take the EV crown in 2024?

Since it stopped making vehicles fully gas-powered vehicles in 2022, BYD has taken the global auto market by storm.

With another 509,440 passenger vehicles sold in December, BYD set a new sales record in 2024, easily topping the roughly 340,000 cars sold in 2023. Like many Chinese automakers, BYD reports new energy vehicle (NEV) sales, including plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and fully electric vehicles (EVs).

BYD’s sales crossed the 500,000 mark for the third straight month after launching an aggressive year-end sales campaign, including free insurance on select models.

With 207,734 fully electric vehicles sold in December, BYD’s EV sales reached 1,764,992 in 2024, up 41% from the previous year.

Earlier today, Electrek reported that Tesla missed Q4 2024 expectations, delivering 495,570 vehicles in the fourth quarter. In comparison, BYD sold 595,413 EVs in the fourth quarter, up 13% from Q4 2023.

Despite this, with 1,789,226 vehicles delivered in total last year, Tesla still topped BYD’s 1.76 million to maintain the global EV sales crown in 2024.

Although the race with Tesla is catching the headlines, BYD’s global sales growth is causing legacy automakers to make drastic moves. After selling more vehicles than Nissan and Honda for the first time in Q3, the Japanese automakers are now teaming up to survive the every “100 years” industry shakeup.

With its sights set on even more growth in 2025 as it starts local production in overseas markets, BYD is quickly closing in on Ford and others.

Source: BYD

Tesla (TSLA) released its production and delivery results for the fourth quarter and full year 2024 today.

The automaker confirmed having delivered 495,570 electric vehicles, way below expectations and its own guidance from just two months ago.

As we reported earlier this week, the analyst consensus for the fourth quarter was 507,000 vehicles delivered. The street expected Tesla to fall short of its goal to deliver more than 515,000 vehicles in order to be slightly up on deliveries for the full year 2024 compared to 2023.

This morning, Tesla released its official production and delivery results, confirming that it produced 459,445 vehicles and delivered 495,570 vehicles in Q4:

• Model 3/Y
  • Production: 436,718 units
  • Deliveries: 471,930 units
  • Subject to Operating Lease Accounting: 5%
• Other Models
  • Production: 22,727 units
  • Deliveries: 23,640 units
  • Subject to Operating Lease Accounting: 6%
• Total
  • Production: 459,445 units
  • Deliveries: 495,570 units
  • Subject to Operating Lease Accounting: 5%

While this is both below Wall Street expectations and below the company’s own guidance, it is Tesla’s new quarterly record for deliveries.

Tesla achieved those results while implementing its largest-ever discounts and incentives through direct discounts on cars, boosted referral programs, and incentives like free Supercharging, free Full Self-Driving, and more.

With these results from Q4, here are Tesla’s total production and delivery numbers for 2024:

That’s a slight 1% decrease in deliveries compared to the 1,808,581 vehicles delivered in 2023, but it’s a giant swing in growth from a 38% increase in 2023 versus 2022.

Tesla’s stock went from being up almost 2% in pre-market trading to down 3% after the release of the delivery results.

However, there’s a silver lining in Tesla’s results. While the company’s main business remains automotive, it has a growing energy storage business, and Tesla has started including energy storage deployment in its quarterly delivery results over the last year.

Today, Tesla confirmed that it deployed 11 GWh of energy storage through its Megapack and Powerall products – a new record.

Electrek’s Take

This is worse than I expected. Again, Tesla hadn’t offered quarterly delivery guidances in years, but when it did, it was pretty good.

The reason for that is that it generally gave it when already into the quarter with great order visibility. As Tesla claims, it has the best sale data of any automaker thanks to its direct sale model.

But this time it was off by 20,000 units or even more since it claimed that it would achieve slight growth in overall deliveries for the year with a strong Q4.