They call it a NEV -- a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle

[JohnS]

I own two other vehicles, one is a sedan and the other is a small pickup. I live in a neighboring town to Albany.

[Ken]

Let me start by saying I was researching online about things NEV. I came across RZehr's post about NEV's. I have owned an NEV (golf cart) since 2010. I live in the Willamette Valley in Oregon and come Summer I usually drive my NEV to Micky D’s for breakfast. I have an Oregon plate and I’m legal on city streets posted 35 mph or less. Top end speed is around 25 mph with a tail wind. I found some of the comments interesting because of the lack of knowledge that one has regarding the subject that is being discussed.

My e-bike has a top speed under power of 28 mph and I usually cruise at about 25 mph on my daily commute across Vancouver. I ride mostly on bike lanes on streets posted for 35 mph but in point of fact, most of the traffic is passing me by at closer to 45-50 mph or even higher. I am fine because I'm in the bike lane which is slow moving and doesn't block traffic. But I would think a NEV poking along at 25 mph on these suburban streets would be a major annoyance in heavy traffic. Perhaps in your rural community it works well. But I can't see it being practical in my environment. Here is the typical kind of street that I ride on. I promise you that people are doing a lot faster than 35 on this road and most of the others like it: https://maps.app.goo.gl/PiTFtWW4En9xjtrM8

[Josh]

Note that things like golf carts typically cost more than an old used vehicle. I can get a minivan for under $1,000, good luck getting a golf cart that still runs for that. (If you do find one the batteries are probably completely shot and replacing them is expensive.)

[Joy]

I was glad to see that Amish in Holmes County are allowed to use e-bikes now. Those hills are pretty steep for a regular bicycle. So in the cold and rain, travel time is mercifully shortened.

[Josh]

I was glad to see that Amish in Holmes County are allowed to use e-bikes now. Those hills are pretty steep for a regular bicycle. So in the cold and rain, travel time is mercifully shortened.

They actually aren’t; the OOA has just had a near total breakdown in discipline and a lot of members do things they aren’t supposed to, such as use tractors as road transportation, drive e-bikes that don’t require pedal assist, acquire and use smartphones, and so on.

I don’t get why people think Amish having travel time “mercifully shortened” is some good thing. It essentially means no longer being Amish.

[steve-in-kville]

My former EPMC employer had a few of them. I called them Mennonite four-wheelers as they were not allowed to have real 4-sheelers, but it was okay for their kids to race around on a golf cart.

[Neto]

I was glad to see that Amish in Holmes County are allowed to use e-bikes now. Those hills are pretty steep for a regular bicycle. So in the cold and rain, travel time is mercifully shortened.

They actually aren’t; the OOA has just had a near total breakdown in discipline and a lot of members do things they aren’t supposed to, such as use tractors as road transportation, drive e-bikes that don’t require pedal assist, acquire and use smartphones, and so on.

I don’t get why people think Amish having travel time “mercifully shortened” is some good thing. It essentially means no longer being Amish.

Judging from the fact that I know a minister-bishop who has one, I would guess that some districts have fully accepted them. I was there at his business once a year or more back when he was on the telephone with his sister, who is in a different district, around 30 miles from his. She was 'scolding' him for having one, and he was kidding her that she was just against them because she couldn't have one, as they were not approved in her district. When he hung up he told me that the 'Fat Amish will just get fatter.' His words, not mine. There is often an almost steady stream of them racing down our street here in Berlin. They go around the curve on the inside (wrong side), and you cannot see around that curve, either. Then they go down the hill and onto a county road, and it's extremely rare that they stop at the stop sign, only slowing enough to make the turn. It's only a matter of time before someone is seriously hurt or even killed there, because the vehicle drivers generally don't keep within the speed limit there, either. (An Amish businessman 'told on himself' to me, telling how he couldn't make the curve farther down that county road going out of Berlin, and was knocked unconscious, and was taken in on the squad. Speaking of distance travel by electric bike - he lives down close to Fresno, if you know this area. And it was getting on towards evening, too.)

In this area, at least, it has become a serious issue, with even young children riding at speeds far above their capacity to make good judgements.

[Joy]

Well, that's a matter of breaking the law and not using common sense. I saw a young guy zooming down our street on an electric scooter recently, and as with bicycles on paved hiking trails zipping around people and dogs, accidents will happen if people aren't careful. Each method of transportation has its dangers, and it pays to be aware and take precautions, especially with smaller methods that aren't easily seen.

[Josh]

Judging from the fact that I know a minister-bishop who has one, I would guess that some districts have fully accepted them.

There is a minority that have explictly accepted them. The rest seem to be powerless to stop it. I have heard there are 3 specific OOA districts that to still discipline for it and essentially have no e-bikes.

Virtually every Amish group outside of the OOA has not accepted them (Danners, Tobes, Swartzies, New Order, and so on). As time goes on I think the OOA will basically go extinct (essentially just being like Beachys) and the other groups will become what we think of as "Amish".

The OOA districts I mentioned above caucus with the New Order now since they feel they have more in common with them.

[Neto]

Judging from the fact that I know a minister-bishop who has one, I would guess that some districts have fully accepted them.

There is a minority that have explictly accepted them. The rest seem to be powerless to stop it. I have heard there are 3 specific OOA districts that to still discipline for it and essentially have no e-bikes.

Virtually every Amish group outside of the OOA has not accepted them (Danners, Tobes, Swartzies, New Order, and so on). As time goes on I think the OOA will basically go extinct (essentially just being like Beachys) and the other groups will become what we think of as "Amish".

The OOA districts I mentioned above caucus with the New Order now since they feel they have more in common with them.

Yes, the more conservative Amish 'orders' don't accept bicycles of any type, some only scooters, so that would be a HUGE jump for them. And, as you say, the New Order is in many ways now much more conservative than the Old Order.

But in respect to the Beachy Amish-Mennonites, I also do a good deal of business with them as well (not locally here in Ohio, but in Kentucky), and other than using (black) vehicles, and they are more strict than the Old Order Amish in many ways. The less conservative Beachy-Amish Mennonite congregations here in Holmes County (with a few isolated exceptions) are either no longer Beachy at all, or are also far from what they were when I first moved to this community in 1983. (None of the BAM congregations I had connections with through family and friends from back then had the restriction for black vehicles at that time. I don't know how to describe by name, the more conservative BAM congregations here in Holmes County, but two examples would be the Fryberg and Penial BAM congregations. (The name on the church house sign has changed on the former, so I don't know if they are still in existence.)