This bill works against many of New Jersey’s own transportation goals

•  Since 2019, the law has required high-speed (>20mph) devices to be licensed, registered and insured, but this has gone totally unenforced. 

• Requiring insurance for lighter-weight, lower-speed devices (under 20mph) would create a huge, unnecessary barrier to compliance and use, and reduce the incentive to choose the safer mobility option. 

• This bill likely contradicts federal law 15 USC 2085 which defines electric bicycles as consumer products, not motor vehicles.

• It preempts more restrictive laws at the state level which would seek to “upgrade” low-speed ebikes into “motor vehicles” (motorized bicycles requiring a license to operate).

• Someone riding a low-speed e-bike into NJ from NYC or Philadelphia would not have the same requirements for insurance, registration and a license.

• Requiring registration and insurance will not meaningfully address roadway fatalities. By focusing on low-speed e-bikes, this bill distracts from the number-one source of over 500 fatalities and 3,000 serious-injury crashes annually in our state: motor vehicles.

• Increased costs and complicated procedures to operate low-speed devices will disproportionately impact overburdened communities.

• This will limit mobility access for vulnerable populations, such as seniors, families transporting children without a car, undocumented residents (for whom registration may be virtually impossible), and people with disabilities that prevent them from driving.

• This will slow New Jersey’s progress towards net zero. Nearly half of New Jersey’s total carbon emissions come from transportation. We should be incentivizing all types of electric vehicles, not making them harder to get.

• This bill would reduce accessibility on shared-use trails and discourage tourism.