UL Certification FAQ
Safety is Rad Power Bike's top priority, for our bikes and across the industry. As America’s largest ebike brand, we have a responsibility to drive the entire ebike space forward for all riders. We’re supportive of greater regulatory requirements, like mandatory compliance to key safety standards that will ensure all ebike brands are prioritizing rider safety, making ebikes even safer for all riders, while boosting ebike awareness.
Starting in 2024, Rad Power Bikes will only produce new ebike models that are certified to meet UL 2849 and 2271 standards, the highest available for ebike electrical and battery safety. This means our ebikes can be sold in New York City adhering to local regulations, and further signals our ebike’s electrical systems, charger, and batteries have been thoroughly assessed to ensure safe and high-quality components, battery cells, and battery management systems that meet or exceed requirements.
All of Rad Power Bikes’ ebikes offered for sale on our website today, and some of our freestanding battery packs, have been designed and built to conform to UL standards. Unless specifically identified as “UL Certified”, such ebikes and batteries have been tested by an accredited third-party lab to meet applicable industry safety standards published by UL Solutions.
UL definitions
- UL Certified - Products certified to relevant safety standards by UL Solutions itself can bear the UL mark.
- Compliant to UL – Products tested by an accredited third-party lab to meet applicable industry safety standards published by UL Solutions.
- UL 2849 - Standard for Safety - Electrical Systems for Ebikes.
- UL 2271 - Standard for Safety - Batteries for use in light electric vehicle (LEV) applications.
Why is compliance to a UL standard important for ebike safety?
Compliance with UL standards, as Rad Power Bikes does, ensures that ebikes and accompanying batteries are upheld to the highest standards of safety and have undergone rigorous testing.
The UL 2849 testing process ensures electrical, fire, and shock safety for owners of ebikes with rechargeable lithium batteries. Testing evaluates the following components of the e-bike’s electrical system:
- Drive unit
- Battery
- Battery management system (BMS)
- Interconnecting wiring
- Power inlet
- Charger
The UL 2271 testing process tests ebike batteries for safety against overcharging, short-circuiting, and temperature abnormalities and ensures that battery packs have adequate measures in place to prevent fire and explosions.
Rad Power Bikes ebike models and batteries tested to UL standards
New ebike models launched in 2024 (Radster Road, Radster Trail, RadExpand 5 Plus and RadWagon 5) are tested by UL Solutions and certified to UL 2849. The accompanying 15Ah batteries are tested by UL Solutions and certified to UL 2271. The ebike and battery will carry a sticker with the UL Certified mark.
Current ebike models (RadRunner 2, RadRunner Plus, RadRunner 3 Plus, RadExpand 5, RadWagon 4, RadCity 5, RadRover 6) produced since October 2023 have been tested by ACT for compliance with UL 2849. The accompanying 14Ah batteries have been tested by ACT for compliance with UL 2271. Certifications of conformity can be downloaded at https://act-lab.com/e-validate/.
The RadTrike has been tested by ACT to be compliant to UL 2849. New production of 10Ah batteries for the RadTrike are UL Certified to UL 2271, but some of the current stock of batteries are not. However, all RadTrikes offered for sale to New York City will come with a battery that is certified to UL 2271.
Further reading