That e-bike you bought your teen might be an illegal electric motorbike – and the risks are real

A “health emergency”. A “total menace”. “Take them away and crush them”.

E-bikes are in the news for all the wrong reasons. A spate of deaths and injuries linked to e-bike crashes have led to widespread concern. Hundreds of serious injuries have been recorded over the past two years in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. High-speed rideouts across Sydney Harbour Bridge and through golf courses have infuriated authorities.

The vehicles authorities are concerned about aren’t really e-bikes at all. They’re effectively illegal electric motorbikes, able to accelerate rapidly — some to more than 100 kilometres per hour — and often without the safety standards of a legal motorbike. For years, these vehicles were imported through a loophole allowing them to be used on private land. But once in Australia, most end up on roads, bike paths and public space.

The thrill of these vehicles can be a potent cocktail for young people. Their range and speed gives teens more independence before they can legally get a car. That’s great. But teens are also generally more likely to take risks and test boundaries, and less likely to comply with rules. Unsurprisingly, injury and death rates among younger e-bike riders are rising given widespread access to cheap, fast, unlicensed vehicles – often by their well-meaning parents.

How did we get here?

Many people associate e-bikes with parents ferrying kids around on electric cargo bikes, or commuters in business attire zipping to work without raising a sweat. These types of legal vehicles are pedal-assisted and limited to 25km/h.

But the term “e-bike” covers a huge range of vehicles in a booming sector. In 2017, around 9,000 e-bikes were sold across Australia. This year, sales are tipped to be close to 300,000, worth A$1.3 billion.

One reason for the boom: national import standards on high-powered models were loosened in 2021 to reduce red tape at the border.

In late 2025, a more stringent import standard was reintroduced. But because thousands of overpowered vehicles are already here, this won’t be an overnight fix.

If we think of non-compliant e-bikes as illegal electric motorcycles, the risks make more sense. Legal motorbikes, whether electric or petrol, are notoriously dangerous. In 2024, 278 riders died, representing 21% of Australia’s road fatalities despite being just 4.5% of registered vehicles. This is one reason the licence test and safety requirements for motorbikes are rigorous. By contrast, riders of these electric motorbikes don’t sit any test and don’t have to register their vehicle.

Australia doesn’t collect national statistics on e-bike injuries and deaths. What we do know suggests young, usually male e-bike riders are more likely to be injured. Data from the Netherlands and China indicates e-bike riders are more likely to be injured or die than riders of unpowered bikes.

In the United States, e-bike injuries tend to be much more severe, more like motorbike rider injuries than pedal bikes: pelvic fractures, brain injuries, concussion. When pedal bike riders are injured, just 0.3% die. When e-bike riders are injured, the US figure is 11%.

How are young people getting access?

One way young people have been getting these bikes is as gifts from parents.

Why? Reasons include a lack of knowledge about how fast the bikes can go and the risks they present. E-bikes broadly promise more independence for teens and less driving for parents, a benefit many “chauffeur” parents appreciate. The blanket term “e-bike” can make parents think of the overpowered models as just bicycles with a boost.

The spike in popularity means peer pressure is reportedly a factor. “Rideouts” organised and popularised through social media can draw many riders. On TikTok, these vehicles have become status symbols – “tools of identity and rebellion”.

Closing Pandora’s box?

Coverage in recent months has verged on moral panic. But it’s not helpful to think of e-bikes as a threat. The challenge is protecting the excellent uses of e-bikes while weeding out unsafe models.

As we have argued, the word “bike” in “e-bike” is misleading. E‑bikes should be treated as a separate category to pushbikes.

To help parents and other buyers, we should distinguish between street-legal pedal-assisted e-bikes capped at 25km/h, and illegal electric motorcycles with a throttle and much higher top speeds.

What should authorities do?

To get illegal electric motorbikes off the roads, police would benefit from the ability to test the voltage or top speed of e-bikes, as their UK counterparts do.

On the legal front, enforcing the newly adopted standard will be essential – not only at the border, but also at points of sale.

But this won’t be enough, given riders can overclock legal e-bikes by removing built‑in speed restrictions.

Here, authorities could require importers to ensure e-bike software can’t be altered without manufacturer authentication. We already have models for this, such as Queensland’s anti-tampering laws for regulated vehicles such as heavy freight trucks.

E-bike sellers should be required to display prominent, standardised labels and advise buyers that tampering with speed limiters will void their warranty, insurance and legal road access. It must be clear responsibility falls on the owner and rider.

New laws could be useful to restrict higher-powered e-bikes to adults, while teens aged 13–17 could access lower-powered pedal-assist models, ideally with mandatory training or licensing.

Real safety requires infrastructure

E-bikes are here to stay. Even if authorities successfully clamp down on the illegal electric motorbikes, there’s much to be done to use these vehicles safely and effectively.

It might make sense for slower e-bikes to be able to access shared paths and bike lanes, while legal higher-powered e-bikes can use roads.

But in most parts of most Australian cities, bike infrastructure is poor. Bike lanes peter out into traffic and gaps are common. Cycling infrastructure has long been grossly underfunded.

If we are to keep everyone safe on roads, trails and bike lanes, it won’t be enough just to ban overpowered e-bikes. Safety requires careful laws – and real infrastructure.