Crisis of intelligence!

https://www.electricbike.com/electric-bike-law/

Every one I know is either a 'nihilist' or a 'denialist'. 

Most people have no idea how bad life will be without gasoline. The USA will be the hardest hit, just because we are so addicted to petroleum. In other parts of the world they are gearing up to move away from fossil fuels fast.

But you can forget about large electric cars! They are going to be very expensive and inefficient because the energy mongers want your money! And when electric bikes get in the way of too many cars there will be a crackdown.

The laws will not change until we all understand the problems. This will not happen by building illegal vehicles. Manufacturers of e-bikes need to understand what it takes to build electric bicycles correctly.

This will involve a rear wheel, belt driven directly from the motor, and a crank activated power system that cannot push the vehicle faster than the law allows. Unfortunately most people want a vehicle that moves as fast as a car! That is a crisis of 'ignorance' (denial)!

There would not be a problem with e-bikes if they were geared so that they cannot be driven faster than 20 mph; regardless of the amount of power used!! All you have to do is take the maximum RPM the motor will produce, and calculate a gear ratio to keep the bike under the speed limit. This will give you much better hill climbing ability, with less power!

Or use a speed sensor to cut off the power when moving faster than the correct speed. This will allow you to travel at, or below the speed limit all day without burning out the power system. But the speed sensor can be by passed too easily on some e-bikes.

Hub motors are responsible for the power limitations of e-bikes, simply because once you have that one-to-one gear ratio of a hub-motor, the cyclist will be able to exceed the speed-limit with as little as 350 watts. And Mid-Drives are even worse!

The main high tech thing to look for is a controller that has a voltage multiplier in the slow speed output range.

Why electric bicycles are illegal
State e-bike laws must change 
How much power do you really need?

Build a sexy micro car!

http://commutercycling.blogspot.com/2015/02/mid-drive-power-systems.html

velomobile design from the 1940's