What is an E-Bike? California wants to know
A few months ago, a family came to Pasadena Cyclery in Pasadena, California, to fix what they thought was their child’s ebike. “I’m not going to fix it here,’ Daniel Purnell, the shop manager and technician, remembers telling them: “That’s a motorcycle. My mother got angry. He didn’t realize that what he thought was an ebike could go very fast, maybe about 55 kilometers per hour.
“There is definitely an education problem,” said Purnell. In California, bike advocates are pushing a new bill designed to clear up that confusion about what counts as an electric bike—and what doesn’t.
It’s a tricky balance. On the other hand, proponents want to allow commuters to access new, faster, and less expensive non-motorized transportation options, ones that don’t require licenses and don’t issue taxes. On the other hand, people, especially children, seem to be getting hurt. Ebike-related injuries jumped more than 1,020 percent nationwide between 2020 and 2024, according to hospital data, though it’s unclear whether statisticians can distinguish between ebikes and their faster “e-moto” cousins. (Moped cycle damage and energy subsidies jumped 67 percent during that time.)
“It’s overdue for better ebike legislation,” said California state Sen. Catherine Blakespear, a Democrat who sponsored the bill and represents parts of San Diego’s North County. “This has been an ongoing and growing problem for years.”
Senate Bill 1167 would make it legal for dealers to list high-powered, electric vehicles as ebikes. It will specify that ebikes with fully functional pedals and electric motors do not exceed 750 watts, which are enough to hit a top speed between 20 and 28 mph.
“We’re not against these devices,” said Kendra Ramsey, executive director of the California Bicycle Coalition, which advocates for riders and advocates for the law. “People think they’re ebikes and they’re not really ebikes.”
Bill supporters say they hope the amendment, if passed, will make a difference, especially to young people, who love the freedom that electric motors provide but can get into trouble if something goes wrong at high speeds. Children 17 and under accounted for 20 percent of ebike injuries in the US from 2020 to 2024, roughly in line with the population share. But the headlines—and the laws that follow—have focused on youth injuries and even deaths.
There are no national laws governing cycling. But bike advocates have spent years lobbying states to pass laws that put ebikes into three categories: Class 1, which has pedal-assist that works only when it’s actually turned on, and goes up to 20 mph; Class 2, with throttles that work without rowing but still up to 20 mph; and Class 3, which uses pedal-assist up to 28 mph. Many states and cities restrict Class 3 bikes with more power to people older than 16. (In reality, some ebikes have different “modes”, which allow riders to switch between Class 2 and Class 3.)
Last year, researchers visited 19 San Francisco Bay Area middle and high schools and found that 88 percent of the two-wheeled electric machines parked there had so much power and speed that they didn’t fit the three-phase system at all.
Ebikes have clearly struck a chord with federal policymakers: at least 10 bills introduced this year are related to ebikes, according to Ramsey.
Some bicycle advocates believe that the injuries have less to do with ebikes than with “e-motos,” a category that may have appeared in retail stores or the kind of social media ads that attract young people to the technology. These have powerful motors and can go over 30 mph. Vehicles, such as the Surron Ultra Bee, which can hit a top speed of 55 mph, or the Tuttio ICT, which can hit 50, are often marketed by vendors as “electric bikes.” Because most sales happen online, it can be difficult for people, especially parents, to know what they are doing.
