BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �






           SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE       BILL NO: AB 2173
          SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN              AUTHOR:  BRADFORD
                                                         VERSION: 4/30/14
          Analysis by:  Nathan Phillips                  FISCAL:  NO
          Hearing date:  June 10, 2014


          SUBJECT:

          Motorized bicycles

          DESCRIPTION:

          This bill increases the maximum horsepower allowed under state  
          law for electric scooters and mopeds from two to four.

          ANALYSIS:

          Existing law defines a "motorized bicycle" or "moped" as any  
          two-wheeled or three-wheeled device having fully operative  
          pedals for propulsion by human power, or having no pedals if  
          powered solely by electrical energy, and an automatic  
          transmission and a motor which produces less than two gross  
          brake horsepower, and is capable of propelling the device at a  
          maximum speed of not more than 30 miles per hour on level  
          ground.

          Existing law prohibits motorized bicycles from being used on  
          bikeways, unless they are within or adjacent to roadways.

           This bill  redefines a motorized bicycle or moped under state law  
          to increase the maximum gross brake horsepower that its motor  
          produces to less than four.  
          
          COMMENTS:

           1.Purpose  .  According to the sponsor, Scoot Networks, Inc.,  
            users of its two-horsepower rental electric scooters have  
            difficulty maintaining safe speeds on hills, and have  
            difficulty accelerating to keep pace with accelerating  
            automobile traffic.  The sponsor asserts that increasing  
            horsepower from two to four would increase safety by allowing  
            operators to maintain speed on hills and accelerate more  
            quickly when needed in traffic.  
            
           2.Horsepower  .  Gross brake horsepower is "raw" engine  




          AB 2173 (BRADFORD)                                     Page 2

                                                                       


            horsepower, not including losses from elements like the  
            drivetrain or ancillary equipment.  The net power of a  
            motorized bicycle, exerted by tire onto pavement, will be  
            somewhat less than the gross brake horsepower.  Two  
            horsepower, the limit for electric scooters and mopeds under  
            current law, equals about 1,500 watts, and four horsepower  
            equals about 3,000 watts.  Another commonly used unit of power  
            is the cubic centimeter (cc).  Four horsepower equals 60 to 70  
            cc, which is about the power of the smallest motorcycles or  
            pocket bikes.  To appreciate the significance of these values,  
            by comparison, low-speed electric bicycles have motors that  
            range from 350 watts to 750 watts.  Thus, doubling the power  
            of the electric scooters considered here to nearly 3,000 watts  
            would make them four to eight times as powerful as typical  
            low-speed electric bikes.  Because electric scooters and  
            mopeds are designed to be primarily used on roadways and  
            shared with motor vehicles, a need for motor power  
            substantially greater than that of low-speed electric bicycles  
            seems reasonable.

           3.Electric scooters and mopeds in bike lanes  .  Existing law  
            allows any motorized bicycle to use bikeways that are within  
            or adjacent to a roadway.  This bill would allow more powerful  
            motorized bicycles to operate on bike lanes on roadways, and  
            bike paths adjacent to roadways.  Safety for all bikeway users  
            would be reduced if these more powerful motorized bicycles  
            enabled operators to take more chances, or to be more  
            aggressive, in passing or "tailgating" conventional bicycle  
            operators.  

           4.Will this promote louder and more polluting motorized  
            bicycles  ?  A potential unintended consequence of this bill is  
            promotion of more powerful, louder, and more polluting  
            internal combustion-powered motorized bicycles, or mopeds.   
            This is unlikely to happen.  Gasoline-powered scooters like  
            Vespa, which continue to be popular, do not qualify as  
            motorized bicycles because they lack pedals, and thus would  
            not be affected by this bill.  The market for mopeds, which do  
            have pedals, appears to be dying, overtaken by electric  
            scooters and low-speed electric bikes on the one hand, and  
            gasoline-powered scooters on the other hand.  New and more  
            powerful internal combustion engine kits that attach to  
            conventional bicycles could, in principal, result from passage  
            of this bill, but they would need to comply with California  
            Air Resources Board regulations that limit air emissions. 





          AB 2173 (BRADFORD)                                     Page 3

                                                                       


          Assembly Votes:
               
               Floor:    78-0
               Trans:    15-0
            
          POSITIONS:  (Communicated to the committee before noon on  
          Wednesday,                                             June 4,  
          2014.)

               SUPPORT:  Scoot Networks, Inc. (sponsor)

               OPPOSED:  None received.