Beijing OKs electric bicycles to ease traffic

As of January 4th, electric bicycles that have been registered with Beijing’s traffic administration and have met national standards are officially allowed on public streets. The city stopped registering electric bikes from August 2002 after the number reached tens of thousands, according to China Daily. Removal of the ban is the latest attempt by city administrators to tackle horrible traffic congestion, air pollution and possible fuel supply, caused to a large extent by a rapidly growing number of cars on the road.

With sales increasing from 40 to 200 percent annually over the last three of four years in the United States (NYT), personal electric vehicles are seen by many as a solution to municipal traffic woes, but complicated regulation and poor industry oversight has limited their adoption. Hopefully the legal framework emerging in cities like Beijing will be useful to later adopters and encourage the next wave of reform.

China Daily article