Bluetooth could help police spot e-bikes hacked for higher speeds

by Richard Peace Nov 8 2023

6 comments

Bluetooth could help police spot e-bikes hacked for higher speeds — Bosch launch -25.jpg, by ebiketips

German expert says a Bluetooth accessible speed history on pedelecs would be an important safety feature

Ernst Brust has been described as one of the most renowned and knowledgeable e-bike experts in Germany and, according to Bike Europe, he has recently been pressing for e-bike motor manufacturers to incorporate Bluetooth interfaces, "to make it easier to identify manipulated motors."

Brust was representing German testing and accreditation outfit Velotech at a battery technology conference organised by the Criminal Investigation Department in the city of Würzburg, Germany where he made the remarks.

The Velotech expert noted that such technology would aid police in identifying illegally fast e-bikes - in other words if the police can't catch speeding e-bikes in the act they can always rely on Bluetooth tech for after the event analysis.

“If the police can read via Bluetooth that the output of an e-bike motor is more than 12 watt hours per kilometer, then the motor is tuned. The normal output is 5 to a maximum of 10 watt hours per kilometer,” said Brust.

> Illegal electric bikes seized and arrests made in Cardiff crackdown

He also highlighted the labour saving aspects of Bluetooth speed tuning detection, saying: “Due to the variety of tuning kits, proving whether a motor has been tampered with or not is very time-consuming; you have to open the engine and require specialist know-how. The interface would greatly simplify everything and contribute to security.”

Speed detection also means fire safety

It was also made clear at the conference that the direct physical danger of illegally fast e-bikes isn't the only potential problem they cause. The increased demands of extra speed on an e-bike battery that may not be rated for the higher discharge rates required means extra stress on the battery and an extra fire risk.

The Würzburg conference also saw Brust issue a warning against repairing e-bike batteries, another potential source of battery fires. We have already looked at the options for a rider with an end of life or non-functioning battery as it can be a major issue for consumers - especially where original replacement batteries are no longer available.

> E-bike industry moves to prevent people hacking their e-bikes for more speed

Brust's comments add yet another thread to the speed debate that often surfaces within the industry and indeed on this website. Two eternal questions under debate appear to be, is the industry doing enough to prevent tuning and is the current 15.5mph EU/UK assist limit too low for practical purposes when many non-electric bikes travel at more than this speed anyway.

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Richard Peace

Richard Peace took to full-time outdoor writing/photojournalism after stints in an office and as an English teacher abroad. His cycling route guide books include the best-selling Ultimate C2C Guide and the Ultimate UK Cycle Route Planner plus Electric Bicycles. He has written for various media about many aspects of cycling

6 comments

Paul GOVAN 5 months 3 weeks ago

Ah yeah - the same country that gave us VW's Dieselgate and turned a blind eye to their assorted Car Giants' dirty diesel "open secret" until it was finally exposed by silence-breaking American investigators in America. The usual risible double standards - if it's electric, has 2 wheels not 4 and threatens the car-addicted status quo by moving at more than 25km/h(as ebikes legally do in the US) then the regulators' and media's knives are out 24/7/365.

Paul G

Steve K 5 months 4 weeks ago

I don't have a strong view, but I can see a case for increasing the limit to 20mph. If we are (let's hope, heh!) increasingly moving to 20mph as the default speed limit, there is certainly an argument for setting the limit so e-bikes can keep up with the traffic. Conversely, though, it might be more problematic in segregated infrastructure.

andystow 5 months 4 weeks ago

Maybe the top assist speed could randomly vary from day to day, anywhere from 12 to 19 MPH. The display could show that the motor is "feeling tired."

cdamian 5 months 4 weeks ago

Now do cars.

Secret_squirrel 5 months 4 weeks ago

Emphatically no to this. Firstly bluetooth is an encrypted protocol - precisely to stop it being used to spy on people.

Secondly since Germany is one of the most privacy protecting and aware countries in the world anyone proposing this needs a slap be told to sit down and shut up.

He may understand motors - he doesnt have 2 hapennies to rub together on privacy.

Sriracha 6 months 7 hours ago

"... is the current 15.5mph EU/UK assist limit too low for practical purposes when many non-electric bikes travel at more than this speed anyway."

Emphatically, no.

EAPCs fall under the same legislative framework as ordinary cycles. That relies on them fitting largely within the same performance envelope. To remain credible the bell curve of speed distribution for EAPCs and ordinary cycles has to overlap to a large degree.

As to the point that "many" non-electric bikes travel in excess of 15.5mph, the same performance is of course available on EAPCs, they are not speed limited. But the electric assistance is only designed to place the EAPC rider in the middle of the pack. If it placed them at the upper margins of performance then there would be a marked divergence between the two averages and the whole rationale for treating them the same in legislation is lost.