Why Does Your Electric Bike Need Lights?

Key Takeaways:

• Modern electric bikes typically include a number of bright LED lights, for the purpose of riding at night.
• If you do not turn these lights on while riding at night, you may be subject to legal penalties.
• These LED lights can also come in handy while riding during severe weather conditions.

Electric bikes typically feature a number of LED lights on the front and rear of the frame. Consumers may be wondering exactly what purpose these lights serve and why they come standard with most good-quality eBikes.

Learn the Laws About Night Riding

These LED lights are often required to be in use while riding an electric bike at night. The penalties for not doing so vary from state to state and city to city, but you should expect a fine if you are caught night riding without your LED headlights enabled.

Why Does Your Electric Bike Need Lights?

In addition to making night riding a safer and more enjoyable experience, the LED lights affixed to your electric bicycle serve some other purposes.

Automated Lighting

Just like how you would find with a car, many eBikes are equipped with sensors that will automatically power on the LED lights when entering a low light scenario. This takes the guesswork out of knowing when to turn these lights on and off. As a warning, only the more expensive eBike models tend to offer this feature, so read the fine print before making a purchase.

Tip: Just like how you would find with a car, many eBikes are equipped with sensors that will automatically power on the LED lights when entering a low light scenario

Warning: As a warning, only the more expensive eBike models tend to offer this feature, so read the fine print before making a purchase

Riding in Bad Weather

Powerful LED lights can come in extremely handy while riding your eBike in the dead of night, but they can also be useful while riding through severe weather conditions. High visibility is an absolute must while riding during a storm, during some heavy fog, or even during a simple cloudy day. These LED lights should help you safe no matter the weather condition, though we recommend avoiding riding an electric bike during an extreme weather event, as the bike itself could become damaged.

Tip: Powerful LED lights can come in extremely handy while riding your eBike in the dead of night, but they can also be useful while riding through severe weather conditions

Warning: we recommend avoiding riding an electric bike during an extreme weather event, as the bike itself could become damaged

Related Posts:

• How Far Does an eBike Go on a Single Charge?
• How to Hack Your Electric Bike’s Speed

Finding Stuff at Night

You may find the LED lights useful for finding a lost item while night riding, such as a pair of keys or a smartphone. Simply flash the lights on their brightest setting and check the ground for your lost item.

Battery Usage

There is one drawback to excessively using the LED lights that come with an electric bike. They can be a significant drain on the bike’s integrated lithium battery pack. For this reason, we recommend avoiding inclement weather conditions or any other scenario where you may need the lights to be running continuously. It cannot be helped at night, however, as the law dictates that LED lights be turned on while riding in the dark.

STAT:

A Consumer Products Safety Commission study found that 46 percent of all cycling fatalities happen at night, while only 8 percent of the cyclists involved in these collisions were equipped with lights. (Source)

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_bicycle

https://www.bikelaw.com/2014/12/bicycle_lights/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_lamp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-emitting_diode

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15389588.2019.1696963