LOUISVILLE, Colo. — Colorado e-bike sales manager Perry Fletcher said his sales and repair shop has seen an increase in back-to-school sales among young riders and families this fall as the popularity of battery-powered bikes increases.
But the children’s enthusiasm for their new rides is tempered by a recurring question from worried parents: Are they safe?
This question can be difficult to answer. Federal government regulations on e-bikes are few and far between, and efforts to expand them have stalled, leaving states and even counties to fill the void with their own disparate rules. Meanwhile, the seemingly endless variety of electric bikes for sale vary in design, speed, and quality.
In this environment, retailers like Fletcher aim to educate consumers so they can make informed decisions.
“We are very careful about what comes into the store because there are dangers,” he said.
Federal rules requiring safety standards for batteries in e-bikes and other devices such as e-scooters are in limbo after the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the independent federal regulatory agency meant to protect people from death and injury caused by bikes and other consumer products, withdrew proposed regulations in August.
The commission then sent the rules for review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within the Office of Management and Budget, in response to President Donald Trump’s February executive order requiring independent agencies like the CPSC to be more aligned with White House priorities. In May, Trump fired three commission members appointed by his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, the commission’s proposed separate rules for dealing with injuries from mechanical failures languish. Shira Rawlinson, CPSC communications director, said she plans to update the status of both proposed rules.
This leaves e-bikes subject to existing standards written for traditional bicycles and which the commission determines, based on a preliminary assessment, are not adequate to reduce the risk of e-bike-related injuries. Colorado, Minnesota, and Utah recently passed laws regulating e-bikes to address this gap.
The laws address issues such as battery fire risks and rider safety and seek to distinguish low-speed electric bikes from faster electric motorcycles, or electric motorcycles, which can reach top speeds of 35 miles per hour or more. No federal law dictates the age at which someone can ride an e-bike, but more than half of states have age restrictions for riding Class 3 bikes, which reach a top speed of 28 mph, while two California counties recently set a minimum age for riding Class 2 bikes, with a top speed of 20 mph.
“The biggest issue is e-bikes going from an electrically assisted bicycle to essentially a motorized scooter,” said Democratic state Rep. Lesley Smith, who co-sponsored the Colorado bill.
Colorado’s e-bike law requires safety certification of lithium-ion batteries, which can explode if manufactured or used improperly. They caused 39 deaths and 181 injuries to people using micromobility devices such as e-bikes from 2019 to 2023, according to the CPSC.
Most dealers, importers and distributors have agreed to use batteries that meet safety standards, but there will always be manufacturers who skimp on safety to save money, said Ed Benjamin, president of the Light Electric Vehicle Association, whose hundreds of members supply light electric vehicles such as e-bikes or their parts.
“There are some who don’t care what the right thing to do is. They just want to make the cheapest bike possible,” Benjamin said.
Amy Thompson, Safe Routes to School program coordinator for the Boulder Valley School District, said education officials are scrambling to install more bike racks at several schools to accommodate the increase in e-bike use.
Students use them to get to school or activities quickly and easily transport their sports equipment or instruments, Thompson said. She said she has observed alarming behavior, such as students riding three on a bike, riding without helmets or attempting motorized wheelies popularized by social media.
Thompson said children turn off the speed limiter on e-bikes to operate at higher speeds. “It’s very easy for kids to go on YouTube and find a video that will teach you how to bypass or disable the cruise control on a bike,” she said.
Thompson alerted parents to monitor their children’s e-bikes in September and described the blurred lines between e-bikes and e-motorcycles last fall.
These blurred lines disrupt an e-bike classification system adopted, in part or in full, by nearly every state, in which e-bike motors are generally required to operate at 750 watts or less. Class 1 e-bikes use pedal assist and must not exceed 20 mph; Class 2 e-bikes include a throttle and must also not exceed 20 mph; and Class 3 e-bikes use pedal assist which must not exceed 28 mph.
Some e-bikes easily move from Class 2 to Class 3, sometimes without parents’ knowledge, said Smith, the Colorado lawmaker. A California parent sued an e-bike manufacturer last year, claiming it falsely advertised as Class 2 an e-bike that could upgrade to Class 3.
The dangers of Class 2 e-bikes have prompted Marin County, California, to ban children under 16 from using them and require anyone using one to wear a helmet. Youth ages 10 to 15 who crash their e-bikes need an ambulance five times more often than other age groups involved in e-bike accidents, according to county health officials. The growing number of serious injuries on e-bikes, particularly among teenagers, is an emerging public safety issue, the American College of Surgeons said in June.
Marin County Legislative Director Talia Smith defended the California law that allows Marin County to impose age restrictions. After hearing from a dozen other counties facing similar problems, she said state lawmakers should move to a statewide law from piecemeal, county-by-county ordinances. San Diego County prohibits cyclists under the age of 12 from riding Class 1 or 2 bicycles.
Vehicles claiming to be both electric bicycles and motorcycles fall through the cracks between two regulatory agencies, the CPSC and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said Matt Moore, general and policy counsel for PeopleForBikes, a trade association for bicycles, including electric bikes.
PeopleForBikes wants the Highway Safety Administration to stop shipments or take other legal action against electric motorcycles that are labeled as e-bikes and don’t meet federal standards, Moore said.
If the federal government does not act, states should clarify their laws to define electric motorcycles as dirt bikes or motor vehicles requiring a license, he said. In October, California defined electric motorcycles, requiring them to display an identification plate issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles for off-road use.
In Boulder, Thompson said, the school district considers communication and education the cornerstones of safety. Children and adolescents should learn and practice traffic rules, whether they ride a two-wheeler with their own legs or with an accelerator, she said.
“E-bikes are a fun, environmentally friendly and relatively inexpensive form of transportation. So how can we make them safer and more viable for families?” » said Thompson.
KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism on health issues and is one of KFF’s primary operating programs, an independent source of health policy research, polling and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
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