Only have time to skim? Here’s what you need to know:

Benefits of Ebikes: Ebikes facilitate commuting, carrying loads, and inclusive mobility for underrepresented groups, older adults, and people with disabilities.

Regulatory Framework: Our community needs to adopt the industry-standard three-class system to categorize ebikes for consistent and clear regulation across jurisdictions.

Current Gaps: Alaska lacks a regulatory framework following the veto of HB 8, and Anchorage's outdated ebike definition needs alignment with the three-class system.

Safety and Public Perception: We’ll bust common myths about ebike speeds and their impact on trail safety, emphasizing the necessity of data collection on ebike usage and speeds to inform policy.

Infrastructure Recommendations: Expanding and improving trails and on-street bike infrastructure is essential to ensure safe and accessible routes for all cyclists, including ebike users.

Introduction

Electric bicycles (ebikes) present a tremendous opportunity to enhance Anchorage's transportation network. Bike Anchorage believes that ebikes are a critical component of a sustainable, multimodal transportation future for our community. This publication seeks to summarize the current status of ebikes in Anchorage and Alaska as a whole, provide a one-stop shop for research and data around ebike usage and safety, and recommend sensible regulations to promote safe ridership.

Ebikes are useful

Why do people choose to ride ebikes? Because they make it easy to go by bike! Some of the most popular reasons to choose an ebike include:

• Commuting: Ebikes can easily replace many car trips, especially for work commutes where people prefer not to arrive sweaty and tired. More than half of people’s daily trips are under 3 miles - prime candidates for switching to bike travel.
• Carrying Loads: With enhanced power, ebikes facilitate carrying groceries, cargo, and passengers, making biking a viable alternative to driving. The electric boost makes it easy to tackle strenuous hills, even while carrying a heavy load.
• Inclusive Mobility: Ebikes enable more people to ride, including underrepresented groups, older adults, and people with injuries or disabilities, and are a very affordable form of transportation.

Research indicates that ebikes encourage more frequent cycling trips, which helps in replacing car journeys with bike rides. This shift is essential for achieving Anchorage’s sustainable transportation goals outlined in the 2040 Land Use Plan, 2050 MTP, Complete Streets policy, Climate Action Plan, Vision Zero Action Plan, and Non-Motorized Plan.

For instance, studies show that:

• People who start riding ebikes dramatically increase their number of trips taken by bike and their total mileage. Source
• While ebikes are used across all ages and economic brackets, the greatest benefits are enjoyed by those with the most need for equitable transportation: non-car owners and low-income households. Source

Ebikes come in many varieties

The vast majority of states have implemented a three-class system to effectively categorize ebikes for regulatory purposes. PeopleForBikes tracks the legal status of ebikes nationally and advocates for consistent, reasonable ebike regulations across jurisdictions. As demonstrated in the below graphic, Alaska and Rhode Island are the only two states with a problematic (or, in our case, absent) regulatory framework for electric bicycles.

Under the three-class system, in order to be classified as a bicycle rather than a moped, motorcycle or other vehicle, an ebike must have a saddle to sit on, operable pedals, plus all the characteristics of one of the following classes:

• Class 1: The motor is pedal-assist only, and stops providing assistance at 20 mph.
• Class 2: The motor can be operated by pedal-assist or a throttle, and stops providing assistance at 20 mph.
• Class 3: The motor is pedal-assist only, and stops providing assistance at 28 mph.

This system allows jurisdictions to enact clear guidelines on where each type of ebike can be used, promoting safe and appropriate integration into our transportation network.

Class 1 ebike: Electra Loft Go! 7D EQ Step-Thru Electric Bike, photo courtesy of REI

Class 2 ebike: Velotric Discover 1 Electric Bike, photo courtesy of Business Insider

Class 3 ebike: Aventon Level Step-Thru, photo courtesy of Outdoor Gear Lab

Not an ebike: Juiced Scorpion. Its 1000W motor and advertised top speed of 30+ mph exceed the legal maximum under both Anchorage’s current laws and the proposed 3-class regulatory framework. If you want to ride this in Anchorage, it’ll have to be on the roadway, but you’ll have no problem keeping pace with traffic!

Concerns about certain ebikes are understandable, but it's important to know that Anchorage already prohibits riding super-powered electric motorcycles like the Juiced Scorpion on multi-use trails, pathways and bike lanes. Their motor power and top speeds exceed the current legal limit, making them electric motorcycles, not bicycles.

Ebikes need reasonable regulation

Currently, the state of Alaska has no regulatory framework in place for ebikes, as HB 8 was vetoed by Governor Dunleavy in 2023. Anchorage code currently classifies ebikes as high- or low-speed, with a cutoff for motors at 750W.

Anchorage and Alaska should adopt the PeopleForBikes three-class regulatory framework. Within this framework, we can determine which bicycles are appropriate in different environments. Many jurisdictions use the following outline:

• Class 1 and 2 Ebikes: Permitted wherever traditional bikes are allowed.
• Class 3 Ebikes: Often limited to roadways and paths directly adjacent to the roadway. (A local example would be the Glenn highway path from Anchorage to Eagle River)

While ebikes do need to be regulated in a consistent and logical way, we must be careful not to become over-reliant on laws and regulations to create a safe culture of active transportation. According to the Municipality of Anchorage’s 2024 mayoral transition document, the Anchorage Police Department is understaffed by 60 officers and staffing continues to decline. Law enforcement resources are limited and must be allocated in a way that maximizes public safety, which does not include posting police officers on multi-use greenbelts to hassle bicyclists over whether their bike is Class 1 or Class 3. Investing in public education and culture-building would be a positive, non-punitive and more effective method of creating a safe environment for all trail users.

Ebikes aren’t well understood

MYTH: Ebikes are faster than standard bikes.
FACT: Research shows that most people riding ebikes travel at about the same speed as standard bikes.

MYTH: Lower-wattage ebikes don’t go as fast.
FACT: Ebike motor wattage does not have a linear relationship with speed, but it does make a difference for hauling cargo, pulling a trailer, or riding with a passenger - all things that will happen more as people use ebikes to replace car trips.

Ebikes are classified by their top “assisted speed,” or the speed at which the motor stops providing assistance, but a top assisted speed of 20mph does not mean that a Class 1 ebike often or always travels at that speed. Think about it: Sure, your car can reach 80mph, but you don’t actually drive at that speed when you’re heading to the grocery store. And it’s important to note that almost all bicycles, electric or not, are capable of reaching speeds of 20mph or more.

A 2021 National Park Service literature review supports the fact that people riding ebikes do not typically travel at faster speeds than those on standard bicycles, except in one situation: Ebikes, understandably, are faster on the uphill. However, on average, the review states: “E-bikes generally travel at similar speeds as traditional bicycles on roadways, off-street paths, as well as natural surface trails.”

Anchorage currently does not collect any data on ebike ridership, the types of ebikes used, ebike-related crashes, or any trail user speeds whatsoever. We cannot responsibly legislate if we don’t have a baseline understanding of the current environment. To address concerns and make informed policy decisions, we call for a comprehensive study to include:

• On-trail Surveys: Understanding user experiences and perceptions.
• Speed Data Collection: Directly measuring ebike speeds compared to traditional bikes.
• Bike Counting: Quantifying ebike usage to assess impact and demand.

Such studies will provide a clearer picture of how ebikes interact with other trail users, informing future legislation and infrastructure development. In the meantime, we can look to studies performed in other communities, such as a 2019 ebike study in Boulder County that found no basis for the claims that ebikes cause trail conflicts or travel at higher speeds than traditional bikes.

Ebikes can make us safer and save us money

According to the Municipality of Anchorage’s most recent annual traffic report, there were 3,528 traffic crashes recorded in 2022, causing 1,209 injuries and 22 deaths. These crashes, and the tragedies that result, are preventable. Our city’s Vision Zero plan states, “The only acceptable number of traffic deaths is zero.” The data is clear: We should prioritize initiatives that mitigate the real dangers on our roads - car crashes - and ebikes offer a compelling solution to this issue.

By encouraging more people to replace car trips with bike trips, we diminish the likelihood of car crashes, because a car parked in the driveway can’t be crashed into another car, bicyclist, or pedestrian. E-bikes are accessible, efficient, and environmentally friendly, and restricting their use runs counter to our goals of improving transportation safety and achieving Vision Zero. Instead, we should integrate ebikes into our transportation network by creating abundant space for all bicyclists to safely get where they’re going.

Increasing bike ridership doesn’t just save lives; it’s fiscally responsible. It’s not news that riding a bicycle for transportation costs an individual significantly less money than driving a car. But it may surprise you to learn that biking can also save all of us money, because bicycles cause almost no road damage compared to other types of transportation.

All traffic on a road causes some level of damage to it, and the bigger the vehicles, the faster that damage accumulates - leading to more frequent and expensive repairs that we all pay for through our property and federal taxes. This chart from Urban Fort Collins lays it out, starting with bicycles at 1 “unit of roadway damage” compared to other road users:

More people on bikes is a good thing

Anchorage’s planning documents call for greater ridership. Ebikes are an important part of accomplishing that goal. When more people ride bikes, it creates benefits for everyone.

The presence of more people on trails underscores the need for better infrastructure. Our recommendations include:

• Expanding Trails: Developing more and wider trails to accommodate growing demand.
• Improving On-Street Infrastructure: Enhancing bike lanes and other facilities for safer and more efficient active transportation.

Many roadways are currently unsafe for all cyclists, with already-high speed limits routinely violated by distracted drivers and no dedicated bicycle infrastructure. In the downtown core, it is illegal to ride bicycles on the sidewalks, further restricting riders’ access to jobs, shops and restaurants. It is critical to build out comprehensive bike infrastructure that accommodates the growing bicycle and ebike user group, so that everyone can get where they need to go safely.