Previously, e-bikes and pedelecs — bicycles fitted with small motors — were required to share the road with motorists, though the laws were decidedly fuzzy.

Electric bikes are divided into two broad categories. Officially, an e-bike is an electric bike that can be controlled with a throttle and doesn't require the rider to pedal. A pedelec (pedal-electric) is an electric bike whose motor is activated only when a rider pedals.

Pedelec, a company set to start manufacture of a battery-assisted bicycle, has offers of aid from the two countries and overtures from the Welsh Development Agency.