Electric bikes are defined by different classes in order to differentiate them from mopeds and electric motorcycles. Your ebike has a certain “class” that it needs to fall under in order to be street legal, and need no license, insurance, or registration.
In the United States, these are the 3 ways an electric bike can be classified –
- Class 1 – Pedal-assist only – no throttle – up to 20mph – max motor wattage 750w
Most trail systems and parks (National & State) that allow electric bikes, only tend to allow Class 1 ebikes. Some National and State parks will allow Class 2 ebikes as long as you don’t use the throttle. Few will allow Class 3’s or they may have restricted rules for them.
- Class 2 – Pedal-assist with a throttle, up to 20 mph – max motor wattage 750w
Class 2 ebikes are usually hub drive electric bikes (though there are some mid-drive class 2’s) and are what most of the online ebikes are. (Rad Power, Lectric, Aventon, etc.
These will typically be for folks that don’t ride a whole lot already or just want to get back into riding again.
Having a throttle to help you out can give you some confidence to get you riding again. You will still want to pedal a bit and you will find yourself pedaling more and more as you ride further.
The intention of the throttle is just to help get you up to speed or to get through an intersection, these throttle-style ebikes are not designed to be ridden primarily using the throttle.
- Class 3 – Pedal-assist only – no throttle – up to 28mph – max motor wattage 750w
With a class 3 ebike, the motor will continue to assist you until you get going faster than 28pmh, which is pretty fast on a bike. Generally, you will need to be going downhill to reach these speeds.
Keep in mind that these class 3 ebike are pedal-assist only and you will need to be pedaling and contributing enough of your own power to keep going that fast.