I have not seen this type of electric bike here in Shanghai, the two wheeled varieties are very popular, some of them look more like motor scooters than and electric one.

Prices are very good too here equiv of US$220 (about 120 GBP)they have become so popular a price war has broken out.

At least in Shanghai they are replacing the smelly little two stroke Piaggio copies, however in Beijing they have been banned. The reason was that the bus companies and taxi companies thought that they were being done out of revenue if people used these, so they put pressure on the Beijing Local Govt to ban them. Only it was not put that way, the official reason was that they were dangerous(?) and the govt could not decide if they were a motor vehicle or not.

In other parts of China they are popular too. Each city here has the right to formulate its own regulation regarding motor vehicles which results in something being banned in one area but not another.

The down side of all the electric bikes in Shanghai is that they are silent and the only warning you get as one comes along is a frantic shout of 'Wei! Wei' as they get nearer their kill zone. The riders ignore any rules of the road such as there are anyway. No licence is required to drive one, and it shows!

The motors seem to be quite powerfull, though the top speed is limited to about 20 KMH I have seen ones with three people on. Dad, mum and the wee'en.