Cyclists ride e-bikes in 2023 along West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz. The rising popularity of e-bikes and scrutiny of their safety are prompting calls for additional regulation in California.

As I write this, I’ve just finished a 25-mile electric bike ride. My 60-pound e-bike used about 15 cents’ worth of electricity, and I barely broke a sweat. This has been my primary means of transportation for more than five years. My recent ride imposed low environmental costs, was nearly risk-free to anyone else and occupied a mere sliver of road. 

Because e-bikes fall into a convoluted mix of transportation policies, they remain contentious and unable to fulfill their potential. In the U.S., we have treated small, powered two-wheelers as recreational devices for far too long, and just as e-bikes are proving their value as real transportation, lawmakers in Sacramento are moving to make them slower and weaker.

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At the same time, four-wheeled vehicles are becoming ludicrously heavy and fast. The growing presence of 3-ton, 700-horsepower vehicles that may have a stuck throttle or a loose 90-pound wheel should terrify every other road user. Our concrete barriers, guardrails, crumple zones, airbags and helmets are simply inadequate to cushion the enormous amount of energy these vehicles can impose on their surroundings when something goes wrong.

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