NJ Proposes Registration and $25K Insurance Coverage for E-Bikes; Insurance Sector Pushes Back

New Jersey lawmakers have advanced legislation that would treat e-bikes like motor vehicles.

Bill S2292, a revision of Bill S4132 introduced during the 2022–2023 legislative session, would require the owners of two or three-wheeled electric bicycles and electric scooters to register the micro-mobility devices with the state Motor Vehicle Commission and maintain liability insurance coverage, personal injury protection coverage for pedestrians, and uninsured motorist coverage.

The proposed legislation would apply to class 1 e-bikes, defined as bikes that provide “assistance only when the rider is pedaling, and ceases to [assist] when the bicycle reaches the speed of 20 miles per hour,” and class 2 electric bicycles “equipped with a motor that may be used exclusively to propel the bicycle, and that is not capable of providing assistance when the bicycle reaches the speed of 20 miles per hour.”

E-bike owners would be required to pay an initial registration fee of $8. Subsequent renewals would cost the same amount. Insurance costs would probably be significantly higher, considering the proposed requirements.

Micobomility owners would be required to obtain insurance plans for injury to, or death of, one person in any one accident with a limit of $15,000 (if the plan is issued or renewed before January 1, 2023), $25,000 (if the plan is issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2023, but prior to January 1, 2026) and $35,000 (for plans issued after January 1, 2026).

Personal injury plans would have a limit of 30,000 for January 1, 2023, and scale to $70,000 for plans issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2026. At the same time, property damage coverage would have a limit of $25,000.

Objections to these proposals came from an unlikely source—the insurance industry.

Gary La Spisa II, vice president of the Insurance Council of New Jersey, explained that insurance companies in the state do not offer policies for e-bikes and developing such policies would take a considerable amount of time–years–according to NJ.com.

“Right now, there is no product,” explained La Spisa. “You’ll need time to develop it and roll it out. We’re talking years, not months, to develop it.”

La Spisa told legislators that motorcycle insurance was the closest policy to what was being proposed.

“The product would cost what motorcycle insurance costs, which is not cheap,” said La Spisa.

Lyft, operators of the CitiBike program in two New Jersey cities, also opposed S2292 as a significant portion of Lyft e-bikes are class 1 e-bikes.