The urban e-bike in Brussels
In Brussels, a benned urban e-bike with a 540 Wh pack covers about 75 km per charge — roughly 6 round trips on the 6.1 km median commute here. That figure is computed at 50% assist against Brussels's terrain, not quoted from a flat-road test.
Computed at 50% assist with a 540 Wh pack, a 78 kg rider and a terrain factor of 0.21 — not a flat-road lab figure.
What Brussels's gradient and your mass actually cost per kilometre.
At the 6.1 km median cycle commute here, each way.
10s6p 21700, 3.1 kg, 4 h to full.
Steering stability: enough to hold a line one-handed, little enough to filter through traffic.
The number that decides whether it comes up the stairs.
A certified pedelec is built in production runs and shipped by sea — there is no express lane for a machine that has to pass EN 15194 as a whole.
What Brussels does to the numbers
The upper and lower town differ by 100 m of elevation, which is the entire argument for assist in this city.
With 140 wet days a year and 9% of trips already made by bike, the specification that survives here is the boring one: full mudguards, a sealed drivetrain, lights wired into the main battery, and a pack you can carry inside.
The legal position
EU EPAC rules; the region’s bike premium refunds part of the purchase for commuters.
Our bikes are pedelecs: the motor assists only while you pedal and cuts out at 25 km/h, which keeps them classified as bicycles across the EU and the UK. No licence, no registration, no insurance requirement, and full access to the bike lanes.
Why the range figure is lower than the one on the box
Most published range figures come from the lowest assist level, on flat ground, with a light rider and no cargo. Ours comes from a formula with your terrain and your mass in it, at half assist — which is where people actually ride.
For Brussels that lands at 6.5 Wh per kilometre. You can push it further by riding in a lower assist level; you will never get less than this figure, which is the point of quoting it this way.