Georgina111

We are going to be sending some of our furniture back to the UK, using a container. The shipping company has quoted us an extra $1,000 for our two e-bikes to cover the batteries.

Does anybody have any experience of shipping electric bikes (or just their batteries separately, if that is allowed)? Recommendations on best companies to use will be appreciated, and expected costs. I have a feeling the batteries have to be within the bike when shipping but not sure.

SkiBoySpouse

I had that problem as the UK deems most eBikes as a 'motor vehicle' if it has any kind of throttle. If they are pedal assist ONLY they can be shipped with the batteries separated from the bikes. They don't want batteries where they could swell, overheat or catch fire. I ended up selling my eBike in the USA rather than the added expense/stress of shipping it. I'll buy one here in the UK as and when I decide I need one again. All the shipping companies I was looking at would ship them but they all had the same issues and added expense.
Good luck with your move!

petitefrancaise

I'm looking into this as well since I have a really nice Rad ebike... I've used it a lot as a car alternative
mine is 750w motor with a throttle and not legal as an ebike in the UK. Can I fly under the radar??
$600 to ship it without the battery.
Buy a new battery from Big Game Bikes or chinese alternative.

I think I'm going to sell bike here in Texas and buy a new one in the UK.

dunroving

A friend had a Rad Rhino, purchased here in the UK, and was always fretting about whether he would get "caught" riding it. They are very distinctive and almost look like mopeds, so could attract unwanted attention. He ended up selling it for other reasons. I guess if you wanted to be "legal" you could register and license/insure it as a moped?

From three moves between here and the US, I'd say a Rad bike is one thing you are probably better off selling rather than trying to ship over. You could always buy another one when you are in the UK.

Pulaski

Like a lot of things, you could likely fly under the radar, until something goes wrong, and the police/ insurers* / "authorities" (whatever that may mean), notice. o in the case of a road vehicle, I'm probably talking about any sort of accident where someone is injured and/ or the police are called. At which point you would likely have, in addition to any problems directly connected to the accident, you'd also likely have issues regarding using an unregistered motor vehicle on the public road and using an uninsured motor vehicle.on the public road.

* Unless you are willing and able to register your bike for use on the road, I suspect that no insurer would provide insurance coverage, so pretty much by default you'd have to ride uninsured as well as unregisterd.

dunroving

Interestingly, a company I have done some gratis work for (Swifty Scooters) has just designed an electric scooter that is road legal (and insurable) in the UK. I think it is classed as a stand-on moped. A Rad could probably be made street legal and insurable in the UK, but I really don't think it would be worth all the hassle. And there's always the possibility it will end up as an expensive paper weight. But as you say, riding it if it's not street legal would be asking for trouble.