{"id":978624,"date":"2026-08-03T20:54:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T20:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/978624\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T20:54:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T20:54:13","slug":"attorney-general-issues-consumer-alert-on-speedy-motorized-two-wheelers-illegally-marketed-as-e-bikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/978624\/","title":{"rendered":"Attorney General issues consumer alert on speedy motorized two-wheelers illegally marketed as e-bikes"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the heels of a July 29 crash that killed a teenage e-moto rider<\/a>, state Attorney General Letitia James last week issued an alert reminding consumers and businesses alike that it is illegal to buy or sell microbility devices that are marketed as e-bikes or e-scooters but can exceed New York\u2019s strict speed limits for the two-wheelers.<\/p>\n

James\u2019 office\u2019s alert makes clear that two-wheeled electric-assisted vehicles that go faster than 25 miles per hour inside of New York City and 20 mph across the rest of the state do not qualify as e-bikes or e-scooters under state law. Instead, New York classifies them as e-motos, mopeds, or motorcycles, all of which may require additional licensing, registration, and insurance compared to e-bikes and e-scooters.<\/p>\n

James, in a statement, said the strict legal limits are aimed at keeping New Yorkers safe and that those who ignore them are placing \u201ceveryone on our streets in danger.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge businesses and consumers throughout our state to follow the law and keep unlicensed and unregistered motor vehicles off our streets,\u201d James said. \u201cNo one should have to fear for their lives when crossing the street, and I encourage New Yorkers to follow the law and report those selling illegal e-bikes and e-scooters to my office.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attorney general\u2019s office urged New Yorkers to file consumer complaints<\/a> about companies they find to be selling devices illegally marketed as e-bikes or e-scooters in the city, including those sold online.<\/p>\n

James\u2019 office issued the alert following a couple of recent incidents where riders of illegal motorized two-wheelers got into fatal crashes. It came just two days after a 17-year-old, whom several news outlets identified as Gabriel Nacato,<\/a> riding an illegal e-moto device, was killed by colliding with an SUV on Center Street in Lower Manhattan.<\/p>\n

Nacato was riding an e-moto produced by the company Deepower, according to local officials and safe streets advocates.\n<\/p>\n

The device is marketed as an e-bike, even though it weighs 100-pounds, can reach a top speed of 30 mph, and has a 1500-watt motor, according to Deepower\u2019s website<\/a>. Given those specs, it exceeds the legal limits for both e-bike speeds and motor power in the city.<\/p>\n

Legal e-bikes in the Big Apple, none of which can have an electric motor that exceeds 750 watts of power, are divided into three classes, the consumer alert says.\n<\/p>\n

Class 1 and 2 e-bikes \u2014 those that are low-speed pedal-assist and low-speed throttle-assist respectively \u2014 can both only help the rider with electric power up to 20 mph in the five boroughs, according to the alert. Class 3 e-bikes also use a throttle, but can go up to 25 mph with assistance.<\/p>\n

E-scooters, meanwhile, must have a maximum speed of 20 mph in the city and are illegal to ride over 15 mph, James\u2019 office warned.\n<\/p>\n

However, officials and advocates have warned that while such devices cannot be sold as e-bikes and e-scooters under state law, the companies that make them often get around those restrictions by selling online.<\/p>\n

Ben Furnas, executive director of the safe streets advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, applauded James\u2019 consumer alert in a July 31 statement, saying it is \u201cbeginning to turn the tide on these companies\u2019 deceptive practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Yorkers deserve to know whether they\u2019re buying something safe and legal, or dangerous and illegal,\u201d Furnas said. \u201cIt\u2019s unconscionable that companies have been falsely marketing illegal high-speed devices as street-legal and selling them to unwitting New Yorkers, leading to multiple deadly crashes on our streets.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the heels of a July 29 crash that killed a teenage e-moto rider, state Attorney General Letitia…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":978625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,239815,56194,392764,169033,29652,392765,392766,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,56196,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-978624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-attorney-general-letitia-james","tag-ben-furnas","tag-deepower","tag-e-bike-crash","tag-e-bikes","tag-e-motos","tag-e-scooters-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-transportation-alternatives","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117033570757236220","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=978624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/978625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=978624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=978624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=978624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}