The EU Court of Justice has decreed that e-bicycles – which use an electric motor to assist a rider while they pedal – are not legally motorcycles.
The judgement, handed down in October, came from a Belgian court case where an e-bike rider died in a collision with a car. The court has adjudicated that a ‘vehicle’ must be powered exclusively by mechanical means, and the typical e-bicycle design is therefore excluded from laws around traditional powered vehicles. The European Parliament will issue an amendment to its laws accordingly to take effect at the end of the year.