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How Carmel plans to tell ebikes from e-motor devices: wattage, labels and observable features
Summary
City legal and police outlined technical criteria in a draft ordinance to help officers distinguish ebikes from more powerful e-motor devices, including manufacturer labels, wattage thresholds (750 W), speed classes and observable structural cues.
City legal walked the committee through the criteria the draft ordinance would use to classify micromobility devices so officers can enforce rules consistently. Sergei Grushuk said the draft leans on manufacturer specifications, visible structural components, digital displays and—where relevant—motor wattage and system voltage to distinguish an ebike from an e-motor device.
"If it exceeds 750 watts, it's by definition an e motor device," Grushuk said, adding that manufacturer labels introduced after 2020 often include class information that can be used in the field or later in investigations. The draft also references state ebike classes (class 1, class 2, class 3) and the practical speeds associated with them, noting that class 1 and 2 are generally up to about 20 mph while class 3 can be faster (around 28 mph).
