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Like camels in ancient Hatra or ferries on the Thames in Tudor London, electric bicycles are etched into the soul of 21st century China. Every day, tens of millions of them gather at intersections in the largest cities, waiting for the lights to turn green. However, the country appears to be having significant difficulties regulating, and even defining, these vehicles.
When you buy an electric bicycle in China you must register it with the police. To comply with the registration, you must have pedals in place and are restricted to driving at a speed limit of 25 kilometers per hour. However, once registration is complete, the pedals are invariably removed, looking out of place on what is essentially a moped. As for the speed, it can be easily adjusted.
In Shanghai, electric bikes are the fastest way to get around. Given its access to special bicycle lanes, part of a relatively recent urban landscape, a trip that would take around half an hour by car can be done in a third of that time. You also do not need to pass an exam to obtain a license.
In reality, many travel much faster than 25 km/h. But on newer models, regardless of speed, the display will not show a higher number.
E-bikes are now so widespread that if their speed were limited to the official limit, the economic impact would be serious. This captures a broader principle of policymaking in China. Although the weight of state bureaucracy may give the impression of rigid decision-making, the reality on the ground is governed by often unlimited flexibility.
The expression “pointing at a deer and calling it a horse,” or “misrepresenting,” originally referred to a test of loyalty that a prime minister imposed on officials in ancient China. It has a new relevance when it comes to electric bicycles, which have evolved much more rapidly.
In the early 2000s, fast and heavy motorcycles were largely restricted to the centers of major Chinese cities. Faced with this limitation, the country’s manufacturing sector appears to have produced electric bicycles that have some similarities to motorcycles but can comply with the country’s regulatory framework for electric bicycles.
This can cause confusion. On Xiaohongshu, a social media platform, a vehicle guide identifies bikes that look like most electric bikes registered as “electronic light motorcycles.” Ninebot, one of the largest electric bike manufacturers, recently banned a popular model for being too heavy.
Speed is more difficult to measure than weight. But there is no shortage of people to ask, even if they risk walking away mid-conversation. At one intersection, an electric bike driver from the Meituan delivery company said he could reach 70 or 80 km/h. He could do his job at 50 km/h, he said. Could you do your job at 25? I asked him. He shook his head and then left.
“If everyone followed the rules, it would be too slow,” explained one person I met while loading my bike (the cost, about 1.5 yuan a time, is negligible).
Confusingly, the streets of Shanghai are full of traffic police who meticulously enforce other rules, such as wearing helmets. The fines for failure to do so, of just 30 RMB, reflect the income of the e-bike user base, largely blue-collar and migrant workers. In many cities, tensions with those who drive cars appear to be rising; Vehicles have quietly become a modern marker of social class in China.
I asked a police officer if he had ever ticketed anyone for exceeding the 25 km/h speed limit on bicycles. Not once in fifteen years, he replied. It would only happen if there was an accident. The law was very difficult to implement, he added, echoing a broader consensus.
Last month, the government proposed regulatory reviews that could help enforce the speed limit. For now, screens that cannot exceed 25 km/h appear to be something of a compromise within the manufacturing process. At another intersection, one driver explained, unlike others, his screen showed the actual speed. His bike was from before 2019, when the latest regulations were introduced.
The lights changed and as we set off, their speed soon exceeded the critical threshold. As for the newer displays, they remain true to their own version of the truth.
Additional reporting by Wang Xueqiao and Wenjie Ding