New York wants to stop e-moto sales: electric dirt bikes only from dealers

• Bill S10700 bans the sale of non-registrable e-motos capable of more than 20 mph (around 32 km/h).
• Electric off-road motorcycles could only be sold by ATV dealers based in New York, who would have to register the vehicle before handover.
• Violations could cost up to $1,000 (approx. €893) per violation and per day.

Ordering an electric dirt bike online and finding the box on your doorstep a few days later: in the US, that has been completely normal until now. In New York State, that could soon come to an end. Senator Kristen Gonzalez has introduced a bill that targets the point of sale rather than the rider on the road. Fast e-motos that cannot be registered could no longer be sold at all. For registrable electric dirt bikes, buying one would work much like buying a conventional off-road motorcycle or quad: through a dealer, with paperwork and registration. For now, however, the bill is not yet law.

What does bill S10700 in New York regulate?

Bill S10700 is designed to regulate the sale and advertising of e-motos and electric off-road motorcycles. To do so, it introduces two new vehicle classes, bans the sale of e-motos and sets fixed rules for selling electric dirt bikes.

It was introduced by Democratic Senator Kristen Gonzalez, who represents the 59th Senate District. In the Senate she is supported by her colleague Liz Krueger from the 28th District in Manhattan. In the second chamber, the Assembly, Assembly Member Diana Moreno announced the initiative together with Gonzalez. The bill amends the state’s general business law and vehicle and traffic law, and is to apply across all of New York.

The aim is a clear separation. Legal e-bikes and e-scooters are to remain available. Vehicles that are faster and heavier but are often sold under the same names, on the other hand, are to disappear from shelves and online shops or be available only through specialist dealers.

What counts as an e-moto in New York?

According to the bill, an e-moto is any device with a motor capable of propelling it at more than 20 mph (around 32 km/h). Exempt are vehicles already excluded from the definition of a motor vehicle and vehicles that can be registered.

An e-moto is therefore a fast electric two-wheeler that is neither a legal e-bike or e-scooter nor a registrable motorcycle. It is precisely these vehicles that shops and online retailers in New York would no longer be allowed to sell, offer or resell.

How big the gap to legal vehicles is becomes clear from the current rules. In New York, e-bikes have an electric motor of less than 750 watts, equivalent to around 1.0 hp (0.75 kW). They fall into three classes. Class 1 only provides assistance while pedalling and only up to 20 mph (around 32 km/h). Class 2 also has a throttle but is likewise limited to 20 mph. Class 3 may travel with motor assistance up to 25 mph (around 40 km/h) and is only permitted in New York City.

E-scooters may be capable of no more than 20 mph (around 32 km/h) by design and may not be ridden faster than 15 mph (around 24 km/h). All e-bikes and e-scooters must carry a permanent label stating top speed and motor output. Riders must be at least 16 years old. E-bikes and e-scooters have been legal in New York since 2020.

In the bill’s justification, Gonzalez cites slightly different figures. It refers to e-motos reaching 25 mph (around 40 km/h) or more, and to a top speed of 15 mph (around 24 km/h) for e-bikes and e-scooters. What counts for the definition, however, is the legal text with its 20 mph threshold.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has also weighed in on the issue. She made clear that it is already against the law to sell vehicles as e-bikes or e-scooters if they exceed the limits for speed or power. Legally, such vehicles may be e-motos, mopeds or motorcycles, which require registration, a licence and insurance.

How would electric dirt bikes be sold in future?

In New York, registrable electric dirt bikes could only be bought from an ATV dealer based in the state and registered with the DMV, the Department of Motor Vehicles. Online sales of these vehicles would be completely off-limits.

The bill calls these vehicles electric off-road motorcycles. This means off-road motorcycles with an electric motor that can be registered under vehicle and traffic law, whether or not they have pedals. Unlike e-motos, they would not be banned. However, they could only be advertised, offered and sold by ATV dealers. ATV stands for all-terrain vehicle, meaning off-road vehicles such as quads.

The dealer could not simply hand the bike over in a box either. Every electric dirt bike sold would have to be registered with the DMV before the buyer receives it. This is already how it works today for conventional dirt bikes, quads and side-by-sides. The familiar route of choosing an electric dirt bike online, paying by credit card and waiting for the parcel would therefore disappear in New York.

Warning notice and advertising ban at the point of sale

Alongside the sales ban, the bill includes a disclosure requirement. Anyone who sells, displays or delivers e-motos or electric off-road motorcycles would have to show a prescribed warning notice. This applies in stores just as much as in online shops.

The notice must be clearly visible, printed in bold and in the same font size as the price, and must appear before anyone tries to buy the vehicle. It states that the vehicle may not be ridden on public roads under state law, that it may not be sold to buyers in New York and that violations can be penalised. According to Gonzalez, this is also meant to cover retailers who sell across several states.

On top of this comes a ban on misleading advertising. An e-moto or electric off-road motorcycle may not be advertised as an e-bike, e-scooter or off-road motorcycle if it does not meet the respective legal definition. This applies to printed advertising as well as to online listings.

What penalties would dealers face for violations?

Anyone who breaches the sales ban faces a penalty of up to $1,000 (approx. €893) per violation. Each vehicle sold or offered counts as a separate violation, as does each additional day.

The Attorney General can bring action on behalf of the state. She can obtain a court order to stop sales and have injured parties reimbursed. A court may waive the penalty if it is the first proceeding against the dealer and the dealer has taken effective measures against further violations. Municipal consumer protection offices and city attorneys would also be able to enforce the law, in which case the money collected would stay with the respective municipality.

Separate penalties apply to the other rules:

• Missing warning notice: up to $250 (approx. €223) for the first violation and up to $1,000 (approx. €893) for each subsequent one.
• Misleading advertising: up to $500 (approx. €446) per violation, and up to $1,000 (approx. €893) for wilful violations.

The vehicle and traffic law is also to be amended. Vehicles sold or offered in breach of the ban could be seized and forfeited by the police.

Which crash triggered the bill?

The trigger was a fatal crash on the Queensboro Bridge in New York City on 28 May 2026. A non-street-legal stand-up electric scooter which, according to police, was capable of more than 50 mph (around 80 km/h) collided there with a cyclist. Both riders died.

According to the bill’s sponsors, the rider of the electric vehicle was 39 years old and the cyclist 35. The vehicle is said to have been capable of up to 53 mph (around 85 km/h). The bridge lies in the districts of Gonzalez and Moreno.

The crash sparked a debate about enforcement in New York. The bike lanes on the bridge are narrow, and the two directions of travel are separated only by a white line. A speed limit of 15 mph (around 24 km/h) applies on all of the city’s bike lanes. According to a report by broadcaster CBS New York, 12 people had already died on e-bikes and scooters in New York City by the end of May 2026, compared with six in the same period of the previous year.

Enforcement is difficult. There is no room for police officers on the narrow bridge lane. E-bikes can easily weave through traffic and evade checks. Speed cameras do not help because they capture licence plates, and bicycles and scooters do not have any. On top of that comes a political change of course. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch had ordered in 2025 that reckless e-bike and scooter riders be issued criminal summonses. Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration reversed this in 2026 for bicycles and e-bikes, which now only receive civil fines. According to City Hall, this relaxation does not apply to scooters such as the one involved in the crash.

A City Hall spokesperson said after the crash: “This terrible tragedy is a grim reminder that illegal, high-speed micro-mobility devices, like the stand-up e-scooter involved in this incident, are dangerous and have no place on our roadways or bike paths.”

Why does the law target the point of sale?

According to Gonzalez, the state can currently only intervene once an illegal vehicle has already been sold and is out on the road. The new law is intended to prevent such vehicles from reaching buyers in New York in the first place.

In her justification, she writes that although e-motos are banned from the city’s streets, they continue to be sold through dealers and above all online. They are often falsely advertised as e-bikes or e-scooters, so many buyers believe they are purchasing a safe and legal vehicle. When presenting the bill on 16 September 2026 at Queens Plaza in Long Island City, she cited a figure: 973 vehicles had already been seized in 2026. She described this as a drop in the ocean.

On the confusion at the point of purchase, Gonzalez said: “The average consumer doesn’t know the difference between an e-bike that is going under 20 miles per hour and one that’s going over, unless the retailer intentionally shares with them that that is illegal under New York State law.”

Moreno explained that she herself had considered buying an e-bike to get around the city with her young child. Given what is currently on offer, she said, she could unknowingly end up with a fast e-moto. She said: “It should not be on busy working parents or workers to figure out that what we’re being sold is actually outside of the law.”

Who supports the e-moto sales ban?

In addition to the sponsors, the bill is backed by several transport advocacy groups, delivery worker groups and e-bike retailers. New York City Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn also supports the proposal.

Flynn points out that a vehicle’s speed and weight are decisive in how serious a crash turns out to be. Faster and heavier illegal vehicles, he says, are a danger to their riders but also to pedestrians and cyclists. Senator Krueger reports more emergency room cases after crashes involving such vehicles, including brain injuries.

Brooklyn e-bike retailer Upway sees technical shortcomings above all. A spokesperson says that sellers of illegal e-motos often cut corners on construction. Legal e-bikes frequently have hydraulic brakes, whereas many e-motos have mechanical ones. With mechanical brakes, braking force depends on how hard the rider pulls the lever. According to Upway, the difference in braking distance is between 20 and 60 percent. At the presentation, the retailer showed a heavy e-moto advertised as reaching more than 36 mph (around 58 km/h).

Supporters also include the organisations Transportation Alternatives, StreetsPAC, the New York Bicycling Coalition and Families for Safe Streets. The New York Bicycling Coalition stresses that buyers must be able to rely on a product sold as an e-bike actually being legal to ride in New York. The Workers Justice Project supports the ban but calls for delivery workers to be involved in the transition to safe vehicles and for investment in cycling infrastructure.

New York in the context of the US-wide e-moto debate

New York is not alone. In many US states, work is under way in 2026 on rules intended to draw a clearer line between e-bikes and fast electric two-wheelers.

In California, lightweight electric dirt bikes such as Sur-Ron and Talaria have officially been classed as electric off-road motorcycles since 1 January 2026. Since 2024, it has been an offence there to advertise or sell such a vehicle as an e-bike. In August 2026, the Los Angeles City Council also commissioned a review of whether the sale of e-motos without street registration can be banned. In January 2026, New Jersey made almost all bikes with an electric motor subject to registration. Since June 2026, Washington State has kept the three e-bike classes and classifies anything more powerful as an electric motorcycle. In July 2026, Hawaii signed a law that defines e-motos and bans them in certain places. At federal level, the Safe SPEEDS Act has been on the table since March 2026, which would, among other things, prohibit marketing e-motos as e-bikes.

Things are also moving in New York City itself. With her “Ride Safe, Ride Right” package, Council Member Crystal Hudson has introduced her own sales ban on electric micromobility devices capable of more than 20 mph (around 32 km/h). Gonzalez would like to see a nationwide ban. Because Congress in Washington often fails to act on such issues, she says, the state has to lead the way.

For the electric dirt bike market, New York’s approach is remarkable. While other rules often focus on the rider and riding, S10700 targets the distribution channel. Registrable models would thus be brought back into traditional motorcycle dealerships.

When could the law come into force?

No date has been set yet. The bill was introduced on 14 September 2026 and has been in the Senate Rules Committee ever since.

Before it becomes law, both the Senate and the Assembly must approve it, after which the governor must sign it. No hearing or vote has been scheduled so far. StreetsPAC has called on lawmakers to take up the proposal early in the next legislative session. If the bill is passed unchanged, it would take effect immediately. According to the justification, there would be no costs for the state.

Even then, electric dirt bikes would not disappear from New York. Registrable models would remain available, just from a local dealer and with registration. What would be banned are the fast e-motos with no possibility of registration, which have so far often been offered online as e-bikes or e-scooters.

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