Confusing Electric Motorcycles With E-Bikes Is More Than Just Semantics

If you're on the hunt for an open-air driving experience, confusing the words "convertible" and "roadster" probably won't leave you with broken bones, despite their semantic differences. It's not the same with "electric motorcycles" and "e-bikes," though. A misunderstanding about the meanings of those words could put you on a quick route to the emergency room. And there seems to be plenty of confusion about the latter pair, some of it intentional on the part of sellers.

See, there are some distinct legal differences between an electric motorcycle and an e-bike, and while we'll get into the details below, what's important here is that e-bikes are limited in both motor size and speed. Electric motorcycles aren't. But, for a couple of reasons, people are mixing the two up, and the result is that folks, including a lot of kids whose parents accidentally bought them electric motorcycles instead of e-bikes, end up riding much more powerful machines than they were expecting — or can safely handle.  

Consider the recent study by the Children's Hospital of Orange County on how speed affects the risk of "e-bike" injuries in pediatric patients. The researchers looked at accidents where riders were going above 20 mph — the limit for many true e-bikes — and reported that the frequency of injuries from those events climbed from 4.2% the first year of the five-year study to almost 50% by the last. Moreover, speed was associated with, specifically, a significant increase in injuries to the head, neck, face, and internal organs.

We've already looked at the pros and cons of e-bikes vs. mopeds, which are often restricted to 30 mph, but electric motorcycles can go even faster. A small electric motorcycle like the BMW CE 02 has a top speed twice that mark.

There are actually two sources you can turn to for the legal definition of an e-bike. On the national level, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has a few simple rules about what qualifies as a bicycle. Under those guidelines, that includes two- or three-wheel vehicles with fully operable pedals and an electric motor of less than 750 watts. Plus, that motor can only be powerful enough to propel a 170-pound rider to a top speed under 20 mph if used alone (without the rider also pedaling).

Many individual states, and much of the e-bike market, have also adopted the classification system developed by PeopleForBikes. According to this nonprofit advocacy group, e-bikes can be divided into three groups, starting with Class 1, where the motor only works when the rider is pedaling and stops working when the e-bike reaches 20 mph. Class 2 e-bikes don't require riders to pedal at all, but still face a speed limit of 20 mph, after which the electric motor cuts out. Finally, in Class 3, the e-bike motor works the same as in Class 1, but at speeds of up to 28 mph. In all cases, e-bike motors must be under 750 watts.

That seems simple enough, so what's the problem? Well, as we hinted above, it's not just greedy car dealers who make everything worse. Unscrupulous e-bike sellers are doing their share by advertising their products as e-bikes when they're actually e-motos — leading to that increase in speed-related injuries also mentioned above. (As you may have gleaned, "e-moto" is the PeopleForBikes term for electric-powered two-/three-wheelers that exceed its power/speed criteria.)