“If you asked most owners of these e-bikes about which they’d give up if they had to, they’d probably tell you “take my 21-28 mph speed but leave me my throttle”.”
This seems like a bad take. Do most people really only ride on the throttle?
I’ll keep my higher speed and lose the throttle, thanks. How about a non-stupid firmware update that locks to 20 if a throttle is connected, and unlocks to 28 if there isn’t one?
I can only offer a morsel of anecdata from around my area, but a rudimentary sample of the ebiking public while waiting at red lights in the last few weeks would suggest that yes, a good number of people riding bikes have the throttle pinned and are going at a good clip, which I would estimate to be 20 MPH (32 kph), the existing Class 2 limit.
Granted, I’m only really ever at red lights long enough to survey anything when I’m in the suburbs. And I suspect the thinking here is that 20 MPH is plenty fine if the alternative is walking or riding slower on sidewalk. At least around here, most probably know someone who’s eaten pavement on an e-scooter at 15 MPH, so 20 MPH is likely a reasonable pace for a lot of people.
Such a design could work, but probably can’t be done with a firmware update for existing bikes. A lot of throttles are just – and I’m simplifying for generality – a potentiometer feeding an analog signal to the motor controller. The latter might not be able to detect the absence of a throttle, but merely that if a throttle is present, it is not engaged. That’s not sufficient to meet the clarified laws for 2025, so perhaps the industry will rise to produce throttle-presence detecting ebikes going forward.
Personally, I removed the throttle from my rather-old Class 3 ebike long ago, because I just didn’t use it. When I’m going at the full 28 MPH (45 kph), I’ve got a better feel for the road conditions when I’m actively pedaling, and with the torque sensor backing me up. But I bike as my primary mode of transportation, despite other options available, so it’s also just more fun this way.