Speaking as a self-pronounced bike geek (hence the username), I love seeing e-bikes gain in popularity, since they help normalize cycling as a mode of transport

Speaking as a self-pronounced bike geek (hence the username), I love seeing e-bikes gain in popularity, since they help normalize cycling as a mode of transportation. Normalizing makes motorists more aware of my existence, and it also increases political pressure to build and maintain cycling infrastructure. One thing I have mixed feelings about is the fact the people riding e-bikes aren't required to get a license to operate them on public infrastructure. People who want to operate motorcycles on public infrastructure typically have to pass tests (often after taking classes) to qualify for a license. In the classes they teach you about how 2-wheeled vehicles with a motor on the back wheel can get finicky under a variety of situations. The author of the linked article learned that lesson the hard way. I've learned that the hard way even on a leg-powered 2-wheeler. (One lesson: Treat any wet piece of metal on the road as you would a cluster of tiny marbles.) One e-bike rider who would often pass me on a trail (usually well above the 15mph speed limit) on my morning commute just kept on blasting through corners as the weather gradually turned colder through the fall season. One morning there was enough frost accumulated on the pavement that I saw him slide right out on a patch of frost while he gunned the throttle around a corner like he probably did for the past ~100 times on his commute. Another co-worker of mine was cycling in to work for a while. Part of the commute went down a steep hill. I warned him that, when he sees that the grass is frosty in the morning, he should probably take another route that's not so steep. Sure enough, on the first of said frosty days that year, he showed up to work with a messed-up elbow. He told me he remembered what I told him, but he thought, "Okay, so the grass is frosty. The road looks okay, I guess. How dangerous can it be? I'm sure it will be fine." It wasn't. The thing about traction on a bike: You've got it, over and over and over again, until suddenly one time you don't. And the instant you lose traction, you're generally gonna have a bad time. Unless someone somewhere has drilled that into your head in the form of a class or test or whatever, you're not going to know when you need to slow way down and possibly dismount. Or avoid a specific route altogether. Or swap out for studded tires. Or even maybe take the bus that day. You'll be likely to just keep doing what's always "worked" up until then, to your peril.