600 - What do you think about E-bikes on the Roads?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
Welcome to Modern Mindset, the show that picks the brains of the world's leading minds to help you unlock yours. Decoding the beliefs and strategies of global experts to give you an updated mindset to make the most of modern life.

**Daniel Clewlow** (0:20)
This is Modern Mindset, the show that picks the brains of the world's leading minds to help you unlock yours. My name is Daniel Clewlow, and today I'm joined by Thomas Eichentopf, brand and marketing manager at Diamant, Germany's oldest bike brand. Welcome, Thomas.

**Thomas Eichentopf** (0:37)
Thank you very much for having me.

**Daniel Clewlow** (0:39)
So you're Germany's oldest bike brand, but today we're going to talk about this kind of more modern side of things, which is e-bikes. You've done a bit of research kind of showing the UK cyclists' knowledge of e-bikes, or maybe lack of knowledge, I suppose actually is what the data has shown. So can you tell us a little bit about what you found out?

**Thomas Eichentopf** (1:03)
Yeah, sure. So what we find is that the appetite is there, but the know-how isn't yet. Only one in five Britons we saw knew, for instance, the basic speed rule.
So people, it seems, are buying e-bikes faster than the knowledge is keeping up with and then the country is informing them.

**Daniel Clewlow** (1:23)
Yeah, so actually, we need to make sure that those who are buying the bike and getting on them, because a fantastic thing to be doing, better for the environment, great for exercise, all that stuff, but actually knowing the rules. So you said that the speed limit was a key thing. So what is that? Is it 15 miles an hour?

**Thomas Eichentopf** (1:43)
The speed limit for e-bikes in Britain is 15.5 miles per hour, which corresponds to the usual 25 kilometers per hour. The good thing is that in an e-bike, the speed limit is also built in. For as long as you don't do illegal things or buy an illegal e-bike, the motor itself has a threshold that you cannot pass while staying in the flat. So you still, while staying in the flat.
And it's also a speed limit, which is like what you are supposed to do, what you're allowed to do with support. So you cannot actually break the speed limit. But there's other misconceptions as well. For instance, we found that half of the people think you are not really allowed to use an e-bike on a bike path. But 20% of people also say you're not allowed to use it on the road.
So where should you use it?

**Daniel Clewlow** (2:32)
Yeah. So you keep it at home and not take it anywhere.

**Thomas Eichentopf** (2:37)
Maybe in the forest, maybe in the backyard, exactly.

**Daniel Clewlow** (2:39)
Yeah. No interest. So there clearly is some confusion around that. So it's good to be able to clear that up because, as we touched on before, it's obviously a great way to get around.
And actually going away from some of the risk factors, I suppose, actually cycling can be super convenient, right? And you are allowed on the road with an e-bike, so we should be using that kind of technology more, right?

**Thomas Eichentopf** (3:08)
Totally.
For instance, if you look at London, 71% of all journeys are less than 8 kilometers long, which is, I think, 5 miles from the United Kingdom, right? So, and that is not a long distance. That's a distance that you can easily do by bike and e-bike. Do you even need an e-bike for that? Well, in London, there's enough traffic lights, so London is not entirely flat, so you might already, on these distances, benefit with the flow and comfort and convenience that you do get from an e-bike as opposed to a regular bike. I would even say sometimes when you go on the road, having a more similar speed to the car, as an e-bike allows you, gives you more safety than what your normal conception is about cycling slow or car fast.

**Daniel Clewlow** (3:57)
It's an interesting point actually, because particularly in cities like London, where traffic flow is maybe a little slower, actually being on a bike is surely very convenient because you can probably weave in and out a bit more, but you're not going that fast. So, if we're talking 15.5 miles an hour as the limit on flat, then actually how often are you driving much faster than that in the center of London? So, taking a journey on an e-bike makes a lot of sense. Well, you show me that.

**Thomas Eichentopf** (4:33)
Yeah, and you save additional time if you factor in what is the actual time door to door, because you also need to find parking.