Electric bike profile

[TiesWestendorp]

Feature

Electric bikes are very prevalent (and becoming even more so) in the EU. Could an e-bike profile be added to OSRM to accommodate this? I'm not aware of all the intricacies of OSRM profiles, and so I'm not sure whether a bike profile simply having a higher maximum speed will suffice.

Due to lack of permissions, I was not allowed to open the earlier ticket: #6193. I feel that the previous ticket was misinterpreted and subsequently got no attention, but the wish still very much exists (and has become larger in the meanwhile).

[DennisOSRM]

Thanks for opening this and for digging up #6193. E-bikes are a genuinely different routing case, not just a faster bicycle, so this is worth doing properly.

Before any implementation, it would be great to align on what exactly an e-bike profile should model differently from regular cycling. A few dimensions that come to mind and deserve discussion:

Speed

• Pedelecs (EU: up to 25 km/h assist) vs. S-Pedelecs (up to 45 km/h) are legally distinct categories with different infrastructure access
• Speed assumptions change not just on flat roads but especially on climbs, where motor assist significantly flattens the uphill penalty

Access rules

• E-bikes are legally bicycles in most EU jurisdictions up to 25 km/h, so existing bicycle=* tags likely still apply. Not sure how this applies in other regions of the world.
• S-Pedelecs are often classified as mopeds and may be excluded from cycleways
• electric_bicycle=* tagging exists in OSM but is still sparse

Grade/elevation handling

• Probably the biggest behavioral difference: the steep-grade penalty that applies to regular cyclists should be much smaller for a pedelec rider
• How much smaller, and whether it should be a tunable parameter, is worth discussing

Surface preferences

• E-bikes are heavier; rough surfaces like cobblestones or gravel affect comfort and range differently than for a regular bike

Would love to hear your thoughts on these, and whether there are other dimensions we’re missing. Let’s use this ticket to hash out the requirements before jumping into code. Arguably, that way we get a solid foundation to build on.

[TiesWestendorp]

Hi Dennis, thank you for your time to respond to this ticket. 😄

I have to say I'm not that knowledgeable on what the right choices are for the concerns you raise, but it does make me realize that the way I currently use OSRM for e-bikes is probably incorrect (using just a different default_speed for a bike), and there is a lot to be gained through the proper configuration of an OSRM profile. How are the appropriate factors and parameters usually determined? As for the pedelec versus speed pedelec issue, I'm pretty sure that by far biggest gain is currently in supporting pedelecs: their market share far exceeds that of speed pedelecs.

I think the main issue is that the 25 km/h speed is very optimistic, especially in urban areas. I think those speeds are really only feasible on longer stretches of road, where there are no real safety issues due to traffic density etc.

[nilsnolde]

I have some info here for US states, where e-vehicles (not sure the max allowed speed, i.e. if pedelec/25 km/h is included, but I think so) are not allowed on roads with speed limit > 50 km/h. smth like that. which is very sensible and likely that other states/countries will adopt similar things in the future?

I remember that from a long past project. which was technically about "e-bikes", but can't remember which "type" and could imagine that US comes up with beefier things than 25 km/h :D

my 2c other than that: is decent recuperation a thing for pedelecs? quick google search AI bot says it's 5 - 15 % under ideal conditions, so I'd assume no more than 5ish %? doesn't sound worth the complexity. though for anything e-car it'd need to be considered, can be plugged once that arrives some day?

[nilsnolde]

I think the main issue is that the 25 km/h speed is very optimistic, especially in urban areas.

I don't think it's too optimistic. my parents regularly do that, living in a medium-size german city with 100k. not on "car roads", but quite often people can luckily avoid those in 2026, even in urban settings. even more sensible with a pedelec than a regular bike, bcs the detour one makes to avoid roads is much better offset due to higher average speed on non-car roads. this would be beautifully complemented with "green routing" for bikes:) different story though..