While the electric car and charging points project was launched with much fanfare in Malta, the European Commission recently described something at the other end of the scale as the most exciting innovation in low-carbon transport.

Rapidly gaining ground in mainland Europe as an excellent zero-emission commuting choice, pedelecs offer flexible, sweat-free cycling that you can do in a suit and tie, even in Malta.

Pedelecs, like bicycles, nicely bridge the gap between walking and using a bus but without adding to congestion and parking problems. While electric cars still face an uncertain future, still struggling to gain a significant market share, pedelecs are a mature technology with a booming commercial potential.

So it is rather odd that Malta has decided, laudable as the intentions are, to launch head first into the realm of the electric car. Even more so as Malta has yet to resolve its regulations covering pedelecs, something that was expected late last year.

Meanwhile, environmentally conscious commuters and vendors of pedelecs wait with breath abated for Malta to catch up with the rest of the EU and declare pedelecs, which use a tiny 250w hand blender motor that relies on the rider also pedalling, in the same category as bicycles.

Pedelecs are not to be confused with ebikes or petrol-powered converted bicycles.

In a pedelec, the primary source of power is the rider, not the motor. Because of this, pedelecs have an added value of offering enormous health savings as active transport. That’s convincing many mainland Europeans to switch to cycling rather than driving cars.

Not so Malta, as bicycle shop owners and potential customers were left seething at the government’s failure to include pedelecs in the grant scheme for battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

The potential value of the pedelecs market is one other sectors can only dream of. Why is Malta doing things backward?