The regulatory landscape for e-bikes is shifting fast, and not all of it is moving in the right direction. What started in New Jersey with S4834 is now rippling outward, with California legislators introducing bills that could reshape how millions of Americans ride. If you own an e-bike or are thinking about buying one, the next 12 months matter.
New Jersey Drew First Blood
We covered New Jersey's new law in detail in our complete guide to S4834M. The short version: Governor Murphy signed it on his last day in office, reclassifying all e-bikes as motorized bicycles. Registration, licensing, liability insurance, all now required regardless of whether your bike tops out at 15 mph or 28. Riders under 15 are banned outright. New Jersey became the first state to abandon the three-class framework that 45 other states use, and the first to mandate e-bike insurance.
The law was a response to real tragedies, mostly involving high-powered e-motos marketed to teenagers. But it painted every e-bike with the same brush, pulling a commuter on a pedal-assist bike into the same regulatory category as someone on a 50 mph Surron.
California Is Next
Now California is following a similar playbook. Assembly member Bauer-Kahan introduced AB 1942, the "E-Bike Accountability Act," which would require license plates and DMV registration for all Class 2 (throttle-assist, 20 mph) and Class 3 (pedal-assist, 28 mph) e-bikes statewide.
That's a big deal. California has the largest e-bike market in the country. The state's own Electric Bicycle Incentive Project drew over 100,000 applicants before it was defunded last year. Registration and licensing mandates would introduce friction into a system the state was actively trying to grow.
On the other side, Senator Blakespear introduced SB 1167, which takes a more targeted approach. That bill would go after companies falsely advertising high-powered e-motos as legal e-bikes, a practice that puts the wrong machines in the wrong hands and fuels the safety headlines that drive blunt regulation.
The Data Doesn't Support a Blanket Crackdown
The backlash against e-bikes is running ahead of the evidence. In 2023, cars killed over 40,000 people in the United States. E-bikes were involved in roughly 80 of the year's 1,166 cycling fatalities, about 7%. Youth account for roughly 20% of e-bike crashes, proportional to their share of the population.
Even those numbers are unreliable. Nearly half of recorded e-bike fatalities don't specify the bike's class, lumping legal pedal-assist commuter bikes together with throttle-powered e-motos and mopeds. Researchers have called this "classification chaos." An observational study at several California schools found that only 12% of the two-wheeled electric devices on campus were actually legal e-bikes. The rest were higher-powered machines that don't meet the legal definition.
Crash numbers have risen as e-bike sales have surged, but without accurate ridership data it's impossible to say whether e-bikes are more dangerous per mile ridden or simply more common. That distinction matters enormously when writing policy.
What Actually Makes Streets Safer
The advocacy coalitions in the Bay Area, including Bike East Bay, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition, and the Marin County Bicycle Coalition, have laid out what they think works better than blanket registration mandates.
Enforce truth-in-advertising. The biggest safety gap isn't legal e-bikes. It's companies selling machines that exceed legal speed and power limits while calling them e-bikes. California's attorney general already has the authority to act. SB 1167 would strengthen that hand.
Build the infrastructure. Protected bike lanes are a proven way to reduce crashes for everyone: cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers. Many of the communities expressing the greatest concern about e-bike safety are the same ones that lack adequate cycling infrastructure, forcing bikes and cars into the same lanes. For context, about 1 in 100 bike crashes in Alameda County involves a pedestrian. For cars, it's 1 in 11.
Fund e-bike incentive programs. When riders buy from local shops rather than unvetted online sellers, they're more likely to end up with a bike that meets legal specifications and a mechanic who can maintain it properly.
Don't bring back registration as an enforcement tool. California passed AB 1909 specifically to prohibit local bike registration requirements because they were being used as a pretext for biased stops. Reintroducing plates and registration reopens that door.
What This Means for E-Bike Owners
For riders in New Jersey, the rules are already live. You need liability insurance now, and registration by July 19, 2026. Velosurance offers compliant e-bike liability coverage that meets and exceeds the state minimums.
For riders in California and elsewhere, nothing has changed yet, but watch closely. AB 1942 is in committee. If it passes, millions of riders would face new registration and potentially insurance requirements.