Tag Archive: Active Mobility

  1. The mobility pyramid concept supports the future of sustainable urban transport

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    Source: Tomorrow.city

    EIT Urban Mobility has published the second edition of its Costs and Benefits of the Urban Mobility Transition study, the findings of which support the logic of the mobility pyramid, where active mobility and public transport are prioritised over private motorised transport, for optimum environmental and financial returns. The study was developed in conjunction with consultancy firm TRT Trasporti e Territorio.

    The mobility pyramid concept is based on that of the familiar food pyramid, and was originally conceived by Danish architecture company Jaja. The pyramid format is intended to encourage people to make more choices from the base and lower parts of the pyramid structure, and the least from the top, with Jaja stating simply that “It’s good for you, your wallet and the environment.”

    The position of different transport modes in the pyramid is a result of ranking based on their efficiency, impact on the environment, and their societal benefits.

    • Active mobility: This forms the pyramid’s base section, with net-zero emissions, and should be the most dominant mode for sustainable transport networks and systems.
    • Public transport: This forms the mid-section of the pyramid, and is an efficient, scalable mode enabling people to travel further and quicker in scenarios where active mobility is not feasible. EIT Urban Mobility emphasises that public transport systems should be “inclusive and accessible, available to all.”
    • Private motorised transport: The tip of the pyramid represents the least sustainable, but often most ubiquitous mode of transport, due to car-focused urban planning.

    The EIT Urban Mobility study’s findings support the hierarchy of the pyramid, demonstrating that active mobility and public transport translate into significant health benefits, reductions in carbon emissions, and cost savings.

    Study methodology

    The study explores three scenarios of emissions reduction through simulations in twelve city prototypes. These scenarios are evaluated using carbon emissions indicators, plus financial costs and benefits linked to the interventions, and simulated to align with the Green Deal objectives.

    Cost benefits

    The study’s third scenario, which prioritises the achievement of net-zero emissions by 2050, found that the encouragement of a shift towards walking and cycling could result in health benefits equating to approximately €850-1,170 per capita. The WHO’s Health Economic Assessment Tool (HEAT) is cited in the study, which has found that “greater levels of activity yielding greater benefits for individuals, particularly those who are induced into active modes from relatively inactive lifestyles.”

    Scenario three – assuming the highest reduction in private car trips – is also the one which demonstrates the greatest cost savings for transport users. A shift in habits from private motorised transport towards more public transport and shared mobility translates into the highest cumulated cost savings per inhabitant – individual savings of up to €2,900 per inhabitant in 2030, and €15,000 per inhabitant by 2050.

    The role of shared mobility

    Shared mobility solutions, such as bikes or scooters, can serve as key connection modes within the transport ecosystem, particularly for first- or last-mile connectivity to public transport and destinations. The study emphasises that, while such services have the potential to enhance accessibility, there must be proper planning in place, to allow these services to complement public transport effectively. Without holistic planning and proper integration, shared mobility can actually reduce public transport use, rather than support it.

    Investment in public transport

    The study highlights that investment in reliable, efficient public transit systems can increase ridership by 7% by 2030, when combined with regulations such as low emissions zones which are designed to discourage individual car usage. An important additional benefit is that road traffic deaths decrease when users switch from private cars to urban public transport, as trams, buses and metro systems all lead towards safer streets.

  2. Last Chance: Sign the Open Letter Before ZIV’s Proposal Destroys Your EPACs or EPAC Components

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    The German bicycle industry association, ZIV, has published a position paper, “E-bikes – Active Mobility as Success Factor”, that supposedly aims to protect the legal status of electrically power-assisted cycles (EPACs) by keeping them out of the type-approval system in Regulation 168/2013. If ZIV’s proposals were ever adopted, a large share of the EPACs that are currently excluded from Regulation 168/2013 would actually be pushed into that ill-suited and expensive legal framework. That would destroy a large part of the EPAC market. Will your EPACs or EPAC components survive the ZIV proposal?

    At the moment, all EPACs with a maximum continuous rated power of 250 W and motor assistance up to 25 km/h, provided the rider is pedaling, are excluded from Regulation 168/2013 under Article 2.2(h). As a result, they fall under the Machinery Directive. In the meantime, the sector has developed European standards to help manufacturers comply with that Machinery Directive framework: EN 15194, EN 17404, and the EN 17860 series. Under this system, which allows self-certification, millions of EPACs have been placed on the market. Under the type-approval system, in category L1e-A for EPACs with a maximum continuous rated power of 1 kW and motor assistance up to 25 km/h, not a single bicycle has been brought to market, because the legal framework of Regulation 168/2013—written for mopeds and motorcycles—is unsuitable and far too expensive for EPACs.

    However, ZIV proposes to add several technical requirements to the current exclusion of EPACs from Regulation 168/2013. On top of the existing maximum continuous power and speed limit, ZIV proposes the following:

    • A limit on motor assistance to a maximum of four times the power the rider produces themselves. So if you cannot produce enough power to get the motor’s needed help to move the EPAC—for example because you are not physically strong enough or because the terrain is too hilly—your access to EPACs will be severely restricted. In other words, access to EPACs for physically weaker people is put at risk. The use of cargo EPACs in non-flat areas is also jeopardized.
    • A limit on peak power to 750 W. Peak power means the highest power the motor can deliver for a brief moment, for example to accelerate or, again, to get up a hill. Current law does not impose a limit on that power. This proposal would also restrict access to EPACs to those who are physically strong enough to pedal the EPAC forward on their own.
    • Finally, ZIV also wants to limit the weight of EPACs that are excluded from Regulation 168/2013: to 250 kg for single-track and to 300 kg for multi-track. As a result, almost all cargo EPACs for logistic purposes would fall under type approval.

    Conclusion: a large share of the EPACs that can currently be built according to European standards and self-certification would end up under Regulation 168/2013 and type approval. This legislation consists of 1,032 pages of technical requirements and associated tests. The vehicle type must be approved by an accredited test house—of which there are only a handful in Europe. When anything on the vehicle type is changed, there is a good chance that type approval will have to be performed again.

    That is exactly why no vehicles are approved in L1e-A. All EPACs that would be pushed into type approval by the ZIV proposal are therefore as good as doomed. On top of that, most Member States do not grant L1e-A the same conditions of use as EPACs under the Machinery Directive. They would no longer be allowed on the road under the same rules as conventional bicycles, and there is a real risk they would be subjected to helmet requirements, driver’s licenses, insurance, and more.

    ZIV is already trying to make this proposal a reality. In CEN/TC 333, the European committee where EPAC standards are developed, ZIV is continuously pushing for a new standard with so-called performance requirements for EPACs, with maximum assistance ratio and peak power as the main elements. Together with its members, LEVA-EU is systematically filing objections in TC 333 against such a standard. If that standard were ever formally put on the table, ZIV would then have a perfect argument to get those same parameters added to Article 2.2(h) of Regulation 168/2013. That would mean only EPACs would be excluded that have:

    • a maximum continuous rated power of 250 W, and
    • pedal assistance up to 25 km/h, and
    • a maximum assistance ratio of 4, and
    • a peak power of 750 W, and
    • a weight up to 250 kg for 2-wheel EPACs or 300 kg for EPACs with 3 or more wheels.

    This would immediately push a large part of EPACs and their components into type approval—and ultimately out of the market. So ZIV’s proposal, which supposedly is meant to protect the status of the EPAC, would in reality destroy a significant portion of EPACs, their components, and the businesses behind all of this.

    Last Chance to Act

    LEVA-EU will close this initiative this week and send the open letter to policymakers. This is your final opportunity to sign and make your voice heard.

    Read and sign the full open letter below. Then, go one step further: share it with your colleagues, partners, and networks.

    Do not let Europe become the desert of light electric mobility innovations.

    Read and sign the full open letter here. Then, go one step further: share it with your colleagues, partner, and networks.

    LEVA-EU Open Letter on ZIV PositionDownload

    Stand with LEVA-EU. Sign the open letter.
    Please note that when you sign, your name, company/organisation and your job title will be published

  3. Help Stop ZIV’s Attack on Light Electric Mobility: Sign and Share LEVA-EU’s Open Letter

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    LEVA-EU has issued an open letter, addressed to ZIV, CONEBI, and the European Commission, warning that the ZIV proposal for more requirements on Electrically Power Assisted Cycles (EPACs) would cripple innovation, accessibility, and sustainability in Europe’s light electric mobility sector.

    The open letter, see below – now open for signatures from companies, researchers, users, and associations across the LEV community – calls on the two trade associations and on the European institution to reject ZIV’s proposal and instead work with stakeholders on a dedicated, technology-neutral LEV Regulation.

    What’s in ZIV’s Proposal?

    On 7 April 2025, ZIV published its position paper “E-bikes – Active Mobility as Success Factor”. Behind the polished language lies a restrictive agenda: arbitrary technical limits on EPACs, including:

    • maximum assistance ratios
    • peak power caps
    • vehicle weight limits

    If enacted, these rules would force countless Electrically Power Assisted Cycles (EPACs) into the L-category type-approval system under Regulation 168/2013 — a costly, outdated, and unsuitable regime.

    Why We Wrote the Open Letter

    In the letter, LEVA-EU and co-signatories warn that this proposal would:

    • Eliminate entire categories of LEVs crucial for logistics, inclusivity, and sustainable transport.
    • Discriminate against elderly, disabled, and physically weaker users, restricting their access to essential mobility.
    • Protect incumbent interests while penalising innovators and start-ups.
    • Undermine the EU’s Green Deal and climate goals, limiting the modal shift potential of LEVs.

    The open letter stresses: “Do not let Europe become the desert of light electric mobility innovations.”

    A Structural Problem Needs a Structural Fix

    The letter also highlights the legal flaw in EU rules: the split between Regulation 168/2013 and the Machinery Directive, both inadequate for Light Electric Vehicles (LEVs).

    Today, nearly identical vehicles face radically different rules, one example:

    • a 250W EPAC escapes type-approval,
    • while that same EPAC with 300W must undergo expensive and unsuitable testing.

    This violates the principle of technology neutrality enshrined in EU law. Instead of correcting this, ZIV’s proposal would make the situation worse.

    The Call: A Dedicated LEV Regulation

    The open letter urges all addressees the European Commission to brush asise ZIV’s restrictions and instead work with the LEV community to establish a dedicated LEV Regulation — a fair, proportionate, and future-proof framework that supports innovation, accessibility, and Europe’s climate goals. This is more than a policy debate. It is a defining moment: will Europe lead the world in clean, inclusive mobility, or will it allow protectionism and outdated rules to hold us back?

    Join the Movement – and Mobilise Others

    Read and sign the full open letter below.

    Then, go one step further: share it with your colleagues, partners, and networks. Every signature strengthens our message to policymakers that Europe’s future in light electric mobility cannot be sacrificed to outdated rules and protectionist agendas.

    Together, we can stop ZIV’s attack on light electric mobility.

    Read and sign the full open letter here.

    LEVA-EU Open Letter on ZIV PositionDownload

    Stand with LEVA-EU. Sign the open letter.
    Please note that when you sign, your name, company/organisation and your job title will be published