Authorities in several states have pursued enforcement against illegal e-motorcycles in recent months, responding to a proliferation of electric two-wheeled vehicles — often illegally built or modified — that can reach the speeds of cars. In May, Todd Spitzer, the Orange County district attorney, launched a specialized unit targeting “juveniles and adults, including parents who knowingly allow their children to ride illegal E-Motorcycles.” The move followed charges brought against parents earlier this year in the aftermath of crashes, including one in which a teen on an e-motorcycle fatally struck a pedestrian. In another case, a father was charged for modifying his 12-year-old son’s e-motorcycle to reach 60 mph; the boy suffered serious injuries after he ran a red light and was hit by a motorist.

The enforcement extends beyond California. In New Jersey, the state legislature passed a law requiring registration, a license and, in some cases, insurance for anyone to ride an ebike. Similar laws are already on the books in a few other states, and comparable legislation has been proposed in others, including California and New York. The actions come as local and state authorities respond to cheap, speedy vehicles that have flourished through largely unchecked online retail sales, often marketed as ebikes despite exceeding federal speed and power rules set for actual ebikes.

Under federal law, an ebike is classified by battery power of no more than 750 watts, plus operable pedals to power the motor and top speeds of 20 mph for throttle bikes and 28 mph with pedal assist only. Many of the vehicles entering the market, much of it from China and often labeled as ebikes, have frames far more akin to motorcycles and dirt bikes than traditional bicycles, and they can go much faster than the rules allow. Kendra Ramsey, director of the California Bicycle Coalition, said these mis-marketed, cheaply made “junk” vehicles have given real ebikes a bad rap. “It is clear what an ebike is, but it’s not clear what it isn’t,” she said.

Online marketplaces make such vehicles easy to find. A search for “ebikes for teens” on Amazon yielded dozens of vehicles that lack pedals and exceed the battery power of regulated ebikes. The first sponsored result advertised a 2,000W dirt-bike style “Electric Bike for Adults [and] Teens,” with a product description reading: “Whether you’re climbing mountain trails or speeding through city streets, this ebike for adult [sic] delivers thrilling acceleration and reliable climbing power.” Other listings contained similar mixed messaging, including an “off road motorcycle” featuring videos of young riders speeding and popping wheelies on public streets — conduct that is illegal on a type of bike that is supposed to be registered in California as an off-highway vehicle.

Asked about those listings, a spokesperson for Amazon said via email: “Safety is a top priority and we require ebikes sold in our store to meet applicable safety standards and Amazon policies. We are looking into the products in question.” Amazon had previously announced it would stop selling electric vehicles in California that don’t comply with state laws, and some e-motos advertised on its platform now carry a notice that “this item cannot be shipped to your selected address due to local laws or Amazon policy.”

Officials have also moved directly against the online trade. In April, Rob Bonta, California’s attorney general, issued a consumer alert for “too fast, too furious” electric vehicles. “Sometimes, what looks like an ebike or is marketed as an ebike is not a bike at all,” Bonta said. “Bike riders and parents: if your or your teen’s electric two-wheeled vehicle goes too fast, it might be a motorcycle or a moped – not an ebike.” Earlier this month, New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, sent cease-and-desist letters to 42 retailers who sell illegal two-wheeled electric vehicles that don’t meet the city’s legal requirements for ebikes or scooters.

Advocates question whether the enforcement approach will be effective. Ramsey said the lack of market regulation leaves a “big information gap” for parents, the majority of whom might not knowingly put their children in danger. “A lot of adults are not in a good position to teach their kids good bicycling skills because they don’t ride bicycles themselves,” she said. Dillon Fitch-Polse, co-director of the BicyclingPlus research collaborative at the University of California, Davis, said he is concerned authorities are responding to this “legal gray area” by adding bureaucratic barriers that will deter people of all ages from riding ebikes. “That’s too bad, because either [riders are] going to do it illegally or they’re going to lose out on the freedom that an ebike can provide,” he said. He proposed instead prohibiting retailers from advertising the illegal bikes in the first place, an approach backed by a bipartisan effort in California’s state legislature that Ramsey’s organization is co-sponsoring.

The trend is also putting shops that sell legal ebikes in a bind, said retailer Brett Thurber, who owns the New Wheel with locations in San Francisco, Oakland and nearby Larkspur. Thurber said kids and parents call his shops frequently or stop by in person seeking to buy e-motorcycles, which community-based businesses like his don’t sell, and he uses those opportunities to educate people on the hazards of unregulated vehicles. Though he has made some converts, he said he is sure many callers hang up and buy the e-moto they wanted online. “Kids want freedom. They want something that’s cool,” Thurber said. “They like doing things that the adults kind of frown on and wag their fingers at.”

Injuries and fatalities have accompanied the trend. Researchers at UC San Diego, analyzing California collision data from law enforcement agencies, found that ebike injuries increased “exponentially” from 2018 to 2024 and were “associated with a higher severity of injuries compared with traditional bicycles.” They noted that far more people on non-electric bikes were injured during the study period — more than 14 times as many compared with ebike riders — and that the data is murky because e-motos “may be visually mistaken for ebikes and not be accurately identified by reporting agencies.” According to federal data, the majority of crashes that kill ebike riders involve automobiles. Data compiled by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission show 19 pedestrians were killed across the country in collisions with ebike riders in the eight years from 2017 to 2024 — roughly the average number of pedestrians killed by motorists every single day of 2024.

Fitch-Polse said he believes the public discourse has misplaced its focus. “It’s really sad to me that we have normalized so much traffic violence in society,” he said, arguing that public discourse and government officials take the easy route by pointing the finger at teenagers on trendy vehicles rather than reckoning with the systemic issues that make streets dangerous. For Thurber, the mounting toll of kids being hurt and killed while riding bikes represents “a societal failure,” one he said authorities should address not by stifling the autonomy more kids and young adults have embraced through biking but by redesigning streets to better protect them and other vulnerable road users from people behind the wheel of an automobile. “My worry is that here … the tendency is to just put kids back in cars and have them be chauffeured around by their parents,” he said.