Survey exposes public’s confusion over legal electric bikes; industry launches E-Bike Positive trust mark

Miscontrued headlines around electric bikes have highlighted the general public’s confusion over what an electric bike actually is, and a new poll has underlined the huge gap between perception and reality – revealing that the vast majority of the public cannot tell a road-legal eBike from a non-road-legal one.

The poll comes as the two main cycle industry bodies – the Bicycle Association (BA) and the Association of Cycle Traders (ACT) – launch a new safety trust mark, E-Bike Positive, with the goal of helping Brits buy safe and legal eBikes with confidence.

At launch, the scheme includes 33 brands covering over 80% of reputable eBikes sold in the UK, with over 600 stores signed up nationwide, including Decathlon, Evans Cycles and Halfords, as well as hundreds of independent high street bike shops.

The polling conducted by YouGov found that a striking 84% of people admitted they were not confident they could tell a road-legal eBike from an illegally modified one.

The E-Bike Positive safety trust mark launched today is designed to address this confusion by bringing together verified brands and approved retailers under a single, recognisable safety trust mark.

Existing official guidance on eBike safety currently tells the public to buy from a reputable retailer, without providing any mechanism to identify what that means in practice. The BA and ACT are confident that E-Bike Positive can be that mechanism.

E-Bike Positive: Bike shop commitment

To become an E-Bike Positive approved retailer, a bike shop must commit to selling only road-legal eBikes and to servicing and repairing eBikes only in line with manufacturer instructions, and to supplying only compatible, safety-tested batteries and chargers with full safety information. E-Bike Positive retailers will refuse to work on non-road-legal and unsafe e-bikes.

Approved retailers must also be an authorised stockist of at least one E-Bike Positive verified brand and agree to verification, including mystery shopper visits and documentation reviews.

Brands can qualify as E-Bike Positive verified brands by passing a rigorous independent audit that assesses product safety policies and procedures, quality management systems and other technical and regulatory aspects of proper operation as a responsible eBike supplier. This process includes verification that the brand’s eBikes are all road-legal, properly safety-tested, and are tamper-resistant.

E-Bike Positive verified brands and approved retailers are listed at ebikepositive.co.uk, where consumers can also find extensive advice on staying safe and road-legal when purchasing an eBike. There is appetite for the scheme as nearly half of respondents (48%) said a recognised safety trust mark would increase their trust that an eBike is safe and legal, and 40% said it would influence which shop or brand they chose to buy from.

Government support required in tackling supply of unsafe products

The scheme is entirely funded by industry through a small levy on complete eBike sales, shared equally between brands and retailers. But both the BA and ACT recognise that the scale of the current problem means industry action alone is not enough.

Government actions are also needed, for example, to address the supply of unsafe products, especially through online marketplaces, and the demand for such products in the gig-economy delivery sector. The government should also act to close the ‘loophole’ that allows non-road-legal vehicles (and the conversion kits often used to create them) to be legally sold on the basis that they will be used only on private land.

Until such measures are in place, however, E-Bike Positive will help direct purchasers to responsible suppliers of safe and road-legal e-bikes.

Steve Garidis, Executive Director, Bicycle Association, said: “Reputable brands spend years and considerable sums developing eBikes which meet longstanding international standards and all the regulations for their legal sale and use on the road. They are a fantastic product with a wide variety of customers and benefits to health and the environment. But all this is undermined by illegal and unsafe products often sold through online marketplaces to unsuspecting consumers. That’s why, as the industry trade bodies representing reputable e-bike brands and retailers, we have developed a safety trust mark as part of the E-Bike Positive scheme, so consumers can easily identify safe and legal eBikes and where they may be purchased.”

Jonathan Harrison, Director, Association of Cycle Traders, said: “Our members are proud to sell properly tested, road‑legal eBikes, but until now they have had no simple way to prove it to customers who are understandably seeking reassurance. E‑Bike Positive changes that. When retailers and the brands they stock carry the trust mark, customers can buy with confidence, knowing the products come from independently verified brands and that the retailer is committed to recognised standards and responsible retailing.”

YouGov examines gulf between public perception and reality

Other key YouGov research findings show that just 16% correctly identified the legal speed at which an eBike’s motor must stop assisting the ride (the answer is 15.5mph), that 69% recognise that an incorrect charger can cause fires, and 65% point to substandard conversion kits bought through online marketplaces. Even so, 30% still believe all eBikes are equally prone to fire, a sign of how far illegal products have coloured perceptions of the whole category, including legitimate brands that are produced to exacting international standards.

Lithium battery fires linked to unsafe products have caused deaths and serious injuries. The volume of incidents continues to rise as illegal and dangerous products flow into the market, overwhelmingly through online marketplaces and informal sales channels.

The consequences are not limited to the products themselves. Fire and rescue services are responding to a growing number of incidents. Insurers are withdrawing cover and landlords, employers and transport operators are introducing blanket bans on eBikes, including safe, road-legal products supplied by reputable UK manufacturers and retailers. The reputational and economic damage to the entire legitimate, road-legal eBike category is severe and risks slowing progress towards transport decarbonisation.

The findings were published as cycling industry experts joined the City of London Police to assess seized illegal and unsafe eBikes in the capital, ranging from quietly de-restricted e-bikes to throttle-driven machines barely distinguishable from mopeds.

Sergeant Stu Ford, Cycle Team at City of London Police, said: “The machines we are seizing are not bicycles. Many have been illegally modified to reach speeds that put riders, pedestrians and other road users in serious danger, and the batteries and chargers involved carry a real fire risk. Enforcement is essential, but so is helping the public understand what they are buying. Anything that makes it easier for people to choose a safe, legal eBike, and to avoid the dangerous alternatives, supports the work we are doing on the streets.”