{"id":312480,"date":"2026-05-12T20:21:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T20:21:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/312480\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T20:21:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T20:21:09","slug":"there-is-a-difference-between-an-e-bike-and-an-e-moto-heres-why-it-matters-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/312480\/","title":{"rendered":"There is a difference between an e-bike and an e-moto. Here\u2019s why it matters \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the popularity of e-bikes continues to rise, it is increasingly important to know what they are compared to e-motos, or e-motorcycles.<\/p>\n

To the untrained eye, they look quite similar.<\/p>\n

In Orange County alone, authorities say, three serious crashes with teenagers illegally riding e-motorcycles led to two deaths and two parents facing charges.<\/p>\n

E-bikes are moving fast and local laws, safety measures are trying to catch up<\/a><\/p>\n

How can parents ensure what their children are riding is legal?<\/p>\n

Legal e-bikes come in three classes:<\/p>\n

Class 1: Motor provides power only when the rider pedals, with a maximum speed of 20 mph.
\nClass 2: Motor can power the bike even when the rider is not pedaling, with a maximum speed of 20 mph.
\nClass 3: Motor provides power only when the rider pedals, topping out at 28 mph.<\/p>\n

Those riding a Class 3 e-bike must be 16 years old or older. All riders under 18 must wear a helmet while riding an e-bike.<\/p>\n

E-bikes, which cannot have more wattage than 750, do not require a driver\u2019s license to operate.<\/p>\n

By contrast, e-motorcycles, or e-motos, are not street legal unless the rider has a proper motorcycle license, the vehicle is registered and insured, and it has all of the required equipment, including a headlight, tail lights and a license plate.<\/p>\n

E-bikes have pedals, while e-motorcycles have pegs.<\/p>\n

E-motorcycles can reach speeds of 30 to 50 mph and be modified for even higher speeds.<\/p>\n

Oftentimes, children ride e-motorcycles on public streets \u2014 which is illegal. Some e-motorcycles have been sold with pedals to look like e-bikes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Besides streets, in some cases, e-bike riders can go on sidewalks with low foot traffic, but cities may have laws prohibiting sidewalk riding. E-bikes are allowed on some bike paths.<\/p>\n

When on streets, e-bike riders are required to follow the rules of the road \u2014 largely what drivers of cars and trucks and motorcycle riders must.<\/p>\n

\"Clockwise<\/p>\n

Clockwise from top left: A Retrospec Chatham Rev Plus Class 2 electric bike, a Trek Verve+ LT Class 1 electric bike, and a Urtopia Carbon 1 Pro Class 3 electric bike at Two Wheels One Planet in Costa Mesa. (Photos by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An E-Ride Pro SS 3.0 E-moto electric bike is seen at CA E-bikes in Huntington Beach, CA, on Wednesday, February 11, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 2<\/p>\n

Clockwise from top left: A Retrospec Chatham Rev Plus Class 2 electric bike, a Trek Verve+ LT Class 1 electric bike, and a Urtopia Carbon 1 Pro Class 3 electric bike at Two Wheels One Planet in Costa Mesa. (Photos by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Recently, collisions of e-motorcycles have grabbed headlines.<\/p>\n

Last week, a 13-year-old was allegedly riding an e-motorcycle on Magnolia Street in Garden Grove when he hit the center median, lost control, crashed and died.<\/p>\n

An Aliso Viejo mom is facing an involuntary manslaughter<\/a> charge after her son on April 16, authorities say, was doing wheelies on an electric motorcycle in Lake Forest and fatally hit an 81-year-old Vietnam War veteran and substitute teacher as he walked home.<\/p>\n

And a Yorba Linda father was charged in March<\/a> with child endangerment after, authorities say, his 12-year-old son, on an electric motorcycle in July 2025, ran a red light and was struck by a car and critically injured.<\/p>\n

The mother had been warned by deputies about her son riding an e-moto. Months before his son\u2019s collision, authorities say, the father and son had attended an e-bike safety class after the boy was cited for riding an e-motorcycle<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the popularity of e-bikes continues to rise, it is increasingly important to know what they are compared…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,7,723,138,137,100,611,612,5518,136],"class_list":["post-312480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-california","tag-crime","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-riverside-county","tag-san-bernardino-county","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}