The call to introduce electric bicycles in the country is now being studied at a rather aggressive pace – as part of that exercise, the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) is inviting members of the public and industry to give their written views, comments and feedbacks on whether and how electric bicycles should be regulated in Malaysia.
The feedback, MIROS says, will be useful for the study that it is currently conducting in order to make proposals on how to regulate the use of electric bicycles. In many countries, e-bikes are classified as bicycles rather than motor vehicles, and so are defined separately and looked at as a specific vehicle type in many areas of legal jurisdiction.
It’s all part of a greater effort by the Government to look at the e-bike issue in depth. Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha has said that aside from MIROS, various agencies including the Attorney-General’s Chambers, Road Transport Department, Road Safety Department Malaysia are part of the study; public feedback will also be taken into consideration in formulating the regulations.
The findings from the study will be submitted to the cabinet for a final decision. In a statement issued last week, Kong said that the electric bicycle will be accepted as a bicycle and the regulations governing it will not be very complicated, but will follow international standards. He added that the electric bicycle will be allowed on the road, and that the government does not want to make it difficult for the public to get approval for it, though the safety of road users is the government’s main concern.
So, giving your views in the public consultation is invaluable. Unfortunately, there’s not that much time to do so – all submissions must reach MIROS by 5pm on April 29, which is later this week.
Below are the points covered, and questions regarding, the issue.
PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON ELECTRIC BICYCLES IN MALAYSIA
PUBLIC CONSULTATION: The Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) is pleased to open for public consultation the issue of electric bicycles in Malaysia.
PURPOSE: The aim of this public consultation is to obtain views, comments and feedback from the public on whether and how to regulate electric bicycles in Malaysia.
BACKGROUND: MIROS has been directed to study and make proposals on how to regulate the use of electric bicycles in the country. The possible use of electric bicycles in Malaysia cuts across multiple sectors such as road safety, green technology, specification standards, the extent of regulation (for example registration, licensing, training, insurance and law enforcement) and socio-economic factors, to name a few. The outcome of this public consultation could have significant implications for consumers and industry.
ISSUES: MIROS therefore seeks feedback from the public and industry on the aforesaid matters and in particular, the following:
1. According to your understanding:
A. What is a bicycle?
B. What is an electric bicycle?
C. How should we differentiate an electric bicycle from a motorcycle?2. Should there be a clear definition of “electric bicycle” in the law?
A. If yes, why? (Please provide reasons for your views)
B. If no, why not? (Please provide reasons for your views)3. Whether electric bicycles should be allowed in Malaysia?
A. If yes, why? (Please provide reasons for your views)
B. If no, why not? (Please provide reasons for your views)4. If electric bicycles are to be allowed in Malaysia:
A. What type of electric bicycles should be permitted and what specification standards (for example, speed, battery type, lights etc) should be applicable? (Please provide the reasons and basis for your views)
B. Should any other aspects of the industry be regulated?
C. Should the use and operation of electric bicycles be regulated?
a. If yes:
i. what aspects of their use and operation should be regulated? (Please provide reasons for your views)
ii. to what extent should they be regulated? (Please provide reasons for your views)
iii. in what way should they be regulated? (Please provide reasons for your views)
b. If you think electric bicycles should not be regulated please also provide the basis for your views.5. What are your views, if any, in respect of the following regarding electric bicycles:
A. Road safety in respect of:
a. The individual electric bicycle rider ( i.e. electric cyclist)
b. How the presence of the electric cyclist on the road might influence the safety of other road users; and
c. Bicycles being powered by electricity instead of human power
B. Environmental impact
C. Socio-economic issues6. Are you a user of electric bicycles?
7. Are any of your family members an electric bicycle user?
SUBMISSION DETAILS: Please send us your comments by email to [email protected] or by hard copy addressed to Nurmaizah Jamsuri at MIROS at:
Lots 125 – 135,
Jalan TKS 1,
Taman Kajang Sentral,
43000 Kajang, Selangor.All comments (whether by email or hard copy) must reach MIROS by 5pm, Friday 29 April 2011, at the latest. The aggressive timeline for this study does not, regrettably allow for a longer time for this public consultation.
If you have the time and are so inclined, you might want to find out if there are any more seats at tomorrow’s Electric Bicycle Usage In Malaysia forum, which will discuss the views from various parties, vehicle safety aspects, law enforcement, green energy, infrastructure and other related areas.
The public can attend the forum, which will take place tomorrow, April 26, at the Pullman Hotel in Putrajaya, from 8.30am-2pm, but seats are limited; contact Abdul Rahmat at 03-8924 9316 or e-mail at [email protected] to register and confirm your seat, if there are still any left.
Meanwhile, over here, we’d like to hear your thoughts about electric bicycles. Aye or nay, and why? Do share your musings with us.
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I have always wanted to buy a ebike, but the cost is quite expensive.
There’s China Ebike selling at rm800.. but i doubted the quality.
CLOSE MIROS. A waste of public fund !!!!!!
Sounds pretty positive, what they should be looking at is to regulate the maximum speed allowed on a e-bicycle before it is categoriesed as a motorcycle. So theoretically anything that does below 60km/h or 50cc equivalent engine or lower should be termed as a bicycle and the higher ones should be termed as a motorcycle thus requiring all the licence and insurance that goes with it complete with vehicle registration numbers. Higher capacity motors and higher speeds means any accident will potentially involve fatality. As far as looks is concered, it may look like a motorcycle for all I care but with pedals which essentialy identifies it as a bicycle / human powered. It may be encased / conceled for design but it is for all intents and purposes a bicycle.
yup totally agree.. but haha so the lawn mover later gonna be known as bicycle la
bring in the Segway!
Segway is already in Malaysia long time ago, market by a company in the Weld Shopping Centre.
Correction
U can get Segway from Custom Lifestyles S/B in 3 two Square PJ.
Bicycle is green enough for environment. They just dont get it. Make other vehicles that polluting to electric. Not bicycle ! Nothing to be proud of here. It was free,now u have to pay to charge bicycle.
My opinions:
1) Electronic bicycles are quite pricy. People would rather buy second-hand motorcycles
2) There are no specific lane in the roads. The risk of getting hit by other vehicles are high as it can’t speed up like motorcycle
3) Not really practical
4) Did I hear Hybrid car?
5) Little exposure on this and public awareness on electronic bicycle is still not convincing
6) Can’t we just use a normal bicycle? This shows how lazy we are!
7) People would question how safe to use e-bicycle in the busy city like KL
Thank you.
hope G introduce and provide better cycle lane in the city. Take China and Japan as example. Provide the permission to carry folding bike (electric or non) into public rail transport, building management should allowed those bike to be carry into elevator to the office. G also provide enough parking space for those bike (electric or non).
More bikies having TT at my favourite mamak leaning their bikes AT THE F*CKING VACANT TABLES.
No thanks!
e-bikes in malaysia? forget it…
with uncertain weather everyday, people will get sweat(hot) or wet (rain)
and more taxes? prfff….
electric bicycle is a good thing..but make sure the government provide a special lane from them..I mean..just take a look at Kuala Lumpur, most part of the city are not pedestrian friendly already..sooner or later we will have this electric bicycle pulak..and you don’t expect this bicycle to share the same road with all those big metrobus and rapid kl, car and motorcycle right?
use bicycle in this hot weather country is not practical, we need to get a shower and spare cloth before start work…
The usage of electric bicycle overseas was possible cause of the bicycle lanes which was provided. Here the bicycle lanes are non existent. The infrastructure is not widely avail so I’ll think electric bicycle usage would be limited in cities like kl. Due to the fact e bikes will use the same pathway as pedestrians most of the time there would inevitably be accidents involving between e bikes and pedestrian which would then then cause the usual govt knee jerk reaction of banning e bikes. I’m all for e bikes but u lots need to done by the govt before it gains wide acceptance here.
Kong should start using one to get to work. Makes it easier to convince the public later.
It is 25 km from my home to office n take 30 minutes to reach…. with ebike, i hour maybe…. no thanks…
Mengarut la idea ni..
HOW MUCH THE BATTERY COST???
6 AA around RM10 – 15, i think. Can get cheaper for china one.
Ape benda la ko ni? Did you even read the whole article? They didn’t force you to BUY the damn thing, they only ask you what you think about setting up regulations for the use of e-bikes in Malaysia.
Ada dia suruh ko beli?
as far as i am concern
whatever bike
be it propelled with human power
or electrical power
or later we managed to power it with nuclear or whatever
that thing is a bike
so if it is a bike thats mean
generally it should be kept away from the motorway
thats for a start
then if the bike is to be used at an open motorway
there should be some safety measures undertaken
i.e necessity of helmet, high visibility jacket, and other protective gears
and we dont expect them to do dangerous manouevers i.e overtaking like motorcycles
just keep it to the left section of the road. no more.
and in any circumstances, since they are on the motorway,
i expect them to honour all the basic motoring signals
if these bikes dont want to do this, i expect them to be confine to closed surrounding
accomodate the police with appropriate power
to take action on these errant e-bikers
it should be easy to haul them into the truck
ringan ja.
They should not approve this bike to be ride on the road.. like now, people who used this bike also go on the road, but they just like normal bicycle.. just at the side of the road.. but, if approve to be on the road, many problem will happen.. Nothing slow than 60km/h should be on the road.. it is very dangerous for themself, and others road user.. even now also when someone dirve or ride slow than 60km/h will make other driver/rider bahind them angry…..
I think Malaysia government should take on Singapore way of managing the e-bikes. I am a malaysian, but now staying in Singapore. How they manage the e-bikes import is fully controlled that the electric side of it are kept to easing the cycling part. Not turn it into a low power moped. Check out at onemotoring.com.sg for e-bikes or electric assisted bikes. Cheers
I’m have no knowledge in the e-bike. How fast can the e-bike go?
Actually the question should be why do we need e-bike?
What is the purpose of having one?
If it is for environment protection, why don’t we all buy bicycle instead? It is not only good for the environment, it is also good for our health cause we can treat it as an exercise which we don’t have enough nowadays.
So many other questions to ask rather than the questions that they set there.
They can go pretty fast. Maxed out at 40 km/h.
If you come to Kampar, you’ll see a number of them here. They are for students who want to save on gas but are too lazy to cycle. Or for aunties and uncles to travel to pasar and to meet their friends to minum teh at the local mamak or kopitiam.
It’s like a motorcycle but without the ‘oh no, harga minyak naik lagi.’
It’s like a bicycle but without the ‘oh no, naik bukit lagi.’
Fantastically simple answer for the layman!
more money for G.. tax, insurance, rodtax..summons
Why the last minute invitation? Typical!
Nobody asked you to write a PhD thesis. Its just a bunch of simple questions asking you about e-bikes and its effects on road users. I completed it in 15 minutes. Stop complaining and do the questions.
This is just a decoy to get free publicity. We all know the objectives of setting up MIROS and they are paid to get their KPI done. They can quietly do all the work behind the scene, get things around with AAM, JPJ, Puspakom, JKR, etc., implement top class policies, instil practical safety etc. Thereafter they can gauge if they are able to earn public recognition, only then they can be proud to appear more frequent (like in Paultan.org) – to get close to the public.
Performance first, publicity later.
i think this is a bad idea to allow e-bike on the road, we’re having many accidents from bikers now e-bike ! I cannot imagine ppl riding this e-bike along LDP or MRR 2 ! Too dangerous !
basikal letrik ni jangan duk atas jalan raya macam orang lain dah ar..tak salah pun kalau duk tepi2 macam orang pakai basikal biasa…jangan plak kena saman sbb pakai basikal letrik…sdangkan mereka ni duk tepi jalan raya macam basikal biasa lain juga…cuma larang mereka duk sama2 dengan kenderaaan lain…tu yang payah tu….
sepatutnya benda ni dah selesai lama dah…macam kenderaan letrik juga…kerajaan suruh kita berinovasi tapi maam2 larangan yang ada dari jpj, polis dan sebagainya…contoh klasik yang ada ialah skuter solarin turtle…sampai pelabur tu dah nak pindah pergi negara lain sbb tak boleh nak jual dekat sini…semua tu kerajaan juga ar tu,…
bukan berpolitik tapi perlulah rasional dalam kaedah inovasi ni…sebenarnya nak lulus tu lambat…kerugian akhirnya pada negara…lambat bergerak nak boleh lulus itu dan ini…macam kenderaan elektrik, kita baru nak lulus…orang lain dah jual dah buat semua2 infrastruktur dah..tulah masalah dengan agensi penguatkuasaan negara kia…napolean kecil
ebike may allow use in some area in recreation park, but with dedicated lane for this type of bicycle..also may be useful for lorong (lanes) taman, kampung… BUT i am not agreed if Gov allowed this ebike spread or legally use in main road, city or area purpose for public transportation.
just imagine… ebike lie around in motorcycle lanes, federal highway, city road. Nowadays car of heavy vehicle try to avoid motorcycle.. but in future motorcycle riders need to be very careful to avoid collision…if there suddenly ebike crossing or racing with them.
:)
Fact is there are e-bikes available out there. Just like a bicycle but powered by an electric motor. Question being asked now is should they be treated like a bicycle or motorbike? 2 very different ways of treating them depending on how we decide to clasify it. Whether its good for the environment or not, whether its suitable for our weather/our streets or not, is not the point.
And if they are allowed, does it really mean you’ll see e-bikes all over town and all over our highways? My guess is that they’ll still be used like those riding a bicycle now la. I doubt people in the drones will start trading in their Kelisas and start taking it to work on the daily commute.
if this is meant as an alternative transportation for the masses… then i’d say its too late.
it may work for the newer townships like putrajaya and cyberjaya where the cycling infra may be there already or can easily be incorporated, but for kl, pj penang, ipoh etc,…i think its just gonna bump roadside fatalities only.
there are too many idiots on the road already and that include ALL of us. efforts should be put on mass public transportation, not increasing number of unprotected, easy-riding goons on e-whatever.
they should have their own lane for e-bike. still considered under bicycle but lower speed output. too many mc guyver out there for engine transplant and modifier has raise worrisome. it may risk car on the roads. probably 10-20km/hour okay to run. do enforce licence to whom need to ride. at least can covered insurance when things happened.
wooaa…
What exactly are you guys expecting from an e-bike. it should not be an electric bike, but electric assisted bike.
You still need to peddle an e-bike, just that the electric motor will assisting the rider (ie, up hills, or getting up to speed). ….not unlike Honda’s IMA for cars.
Yes, I do know some e-bikes can do solely on electric power but they are still more bicycle than moped.
Basically your differentiation will come from top speed. when powered, it should be limited to 20-30km/h not unlike what you can normally already do on a bicycle. Same traffic rules applies.
The issue is not how to differentiate between an e-bike and normal bike. It is how to differentiate it between a moped/motorcycle and an e-bike….since the real issue is, how to tax them, and subject them to motorcycle traffic rules and requirements.
it is good that these guys are studying alternative methods and thinking out of the box more often….fact of the matter is i personally think our motorists are not ready for this. in countries where there are loads of these bikes…it is obvious that the people have the sense of patience that has to come with other road users. we are sadly pretty far off from this for now. there would be plenty of mishaps on the road if this were to be implemented right away. maybe they could start in certain parts of the city and let the city folks of that part and those driving thorough that area to get use to this idea. instant widespread promotion would end up in a heap of accidents.
“Usual road user” dislike road hogger… If ebike are allowed on the road, they’ll be road hogging due to their limited speed…. Driver at their back will surely need to overtake them, this will increase risk of accident… Should not let them on the road! Should not provide designated lane for them either…. Just don’t waste tax payer $!
Just don’t let kids(below 12) ride ebike, its too dangerous…. be a responsible parent!
No helmet or safety restraint can safe them when accident occurs…
So please ban their import!
Go to China. They’ve been using e-bikes more than 5 years and the number of e-bikes on the road are more than 100million units. So the technology’s been proven and commercially viable. The top range e-bikes cost less than RM2000.00, able to travel more than 60km on a single full charge. A new battery can last about 2 years, before needing any replacement. But if some Bx cronies involved trying to make some bucks out of this noble intention. It defeats the purpose and objectives of serving the mass/ poor consumers. Good luck Malaysia.
Bring e-bikes in. They are useful in countless ways to describe here. The main thing is – these bikes should be governed by these conditions.
1) They cannot be driven on highways, federal routes, city roads. Summons should be issued if they are driven there. Make these bycles legal only on kampung roads and tamans.
2) Speed limits cannot be more than ,,, say 20km/h. Anything higher – summons can be issued.
3) The rider has to be at least 12 years old to drive an e-bike.
4) Driving (or rather Riding) license is not needed. But the rider must have some form of identification (to verify his age).
I think the e-bike is do-able. It’s suitable for use in residential areas e.g. I don’t need to drive to the kopitiam to tarpau my chee cheong fun.
Maybe it’s also a good way to slowly take a number of cars off the city roads, especially the CBD, once people are used to the idea of commuting short distances with these bikes i.e. you still drive / take public transport to work but if you need to go from e.g. Jln Raja Chulan to Jln Imbi, you can hope on your e-bike instead of driving.
And for those who live 5-10km from their workplace, it’s not a bad idea to ‘cycle’ either. You save on parking and you free up parking space for someone else.
The only downside is our weather. Not so much the sun (I’ve cycled Langkawi island; you don’t feel the sun unless you stop) but the rain.
I think the max speed should be capped at 40km/h. I can easily take a normal bicycle up to 50km/h (60 if I’m going downhill) for a sustained distance but it can be risky at that speed.
Helmets are a must. So are front and rear lights. Knee and elbow pads can be optional.
For what I know, there are many countries are using e-bike. We can use e-bike but safety like wearing a helmet is most important. Apart from using e-bike, the public must be made known of their existence especially when they are using the speedway. Although accidents might happen, it is only all about having a bad attitude. We know that Malaysia has the highest statistic in summons and accidents. So why blame this e-biker for having trouble with the present auto user? Unless we change our attitude in our driving nature, I will sincerely see less in accidents and more in the eco-friendly automobiles running slower that the dare devils we seem almost every minutes on the road. Don’t you think so?
i don’t know bout regulation..but i think if we keep the cc below 50, maybe we should just treat it as a plain bicycle. no rules apply but give the user guidelines such as “do not lick ur battery’, ‘do not ride on the middle white lane” or “do not carry & park in any building, and shop and restaurant and religious-house!!”
BTW, maybe it’s just me or maybe the campaign really work. i’ve a lot of bicycle in my hometown, Kuala Terengganu lately, especially at night and weekend..younger, older, man, child, races, riding bicycle. it looks cool though with the color, light, diversity etc coz most of em ride “basikal racing” instead of plain bicycle.. or maybe they just proud coz Trg had been pretty successful in bicycle-sport lately??? hmmm how bout other city/state???
MIROS is dumb! If your job is to make policy, do proper research and lay down the policy rather than ask public opinion as if trying to win popularity contest!
just sell it. BUT never ever allow this thing on main road..way tooooo dangerous!
1st thing gov should do is educate MALAYSIANS about safety.
I’m on my moped most of the time (my waja fuel cons is sucks!), so sad to see other rider not wearing helmet or just wear helmet kure2..even no visor.
for me i think is cool. since goverment said subsidy is very costly. why not allow citizen to ride ebike or electric bicycle to work. i myself want to get electric foldable bike so can ride to lrt then to work…
unfortunately cant find dealer selling those.