EVU XXIII 2014-21 Pedelecs (pedal electric cycles) – Legal principles, technical properties, acceleration and brake tests of a rapidly growing group of road users

Dipl.-Ing. Hendrik Fische
Ingenieurburo Schal & Meyer
Lubeck; Germany

Summary

This paper gives an overview of a presently rapidly growing and presumably also in the future further continuing growing group of road users. The article deals with power assisted bicycles, which are called pedal electric cycles or abbreviated “pedelecs”.

First, the legal principles related to electric bicycles are explained. Hereby also the classifications of different types of pedelecs in some countries of the European Union are compared. Subsequently the technical properties of these bicycles are described.

The main part of the article deals with driving experiments, in which different test persons conducted acceleration and braking tests. By the recorded accelerations and decelerations it was possible to calculate distances and speeds of the electric bicycles. The determined values may be used as connecting factors especially for accident reconstruction. Due to an increasing number of sold pedelecs there is also an increase in the number of accidents, in which pedelecs are involved. Thus, there is a particular growing need of lucidity and importance for those values to be expected.

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Autore	Dipl.-Ing. Hendrik Fische Ingenieurburo Schal & Meyer Lubeck; Germany
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