Beijing, China — According to a report in Reuters, China backed down from a plan to reclassify large electric bicycles as motorbikes in December (it had been scheduled to go into effect in January), a move that threatened to derail the phenomenal growth in the e-bike market and a major driver for lead consumption. [Can you tell the source of this article is from a paper dedicated to minerals?]
The proposed legislation had stirred widespread fears that more than 2,000 e-bike factories would close and millions of users would need to get licenses and insurance for motorbikes — which they could not afford. China’s Standardisation Administration said it was rethinking the idea of re-classifying e-bikes that weighed over 80 lbs or that can go faster than 12 miles per hour as electric motorbikes. Top of the range e-bikes in China are designed to go as fast as 20 mph and usually carry 4 lead batteries, which weigh 35-60 lbs.
Read the complete article at E-Bike Ruling Withdrawn, Production Likely to Surge After Chinese Holidays
