Senate Bill S10700, sponsored by Senator Kristen Gonzalez, would create new legal categories for high-performance electric recreational vehicles and significantly restrict how they are sold in New York. Unregisterable devices that exceed 20 mph ("e-motos") would be banned from sale, while registerable electric off-highway motorcycles would have to be sold through New York-based, DMV-registered ATV dealers and registered before delivery. The legislation also bans misleading marketing and was prompted in part by a May 28, 2026 Queensboro Bridge crash. S10700 was introduced on Sept. 14 and remains in the Senate Rules Committee.
New York Moves To Tighten Online Sales Of High‑Performance Electric Dirt Bikes
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Electric-powered recreational vehicles have become faster and easier to buy online, and New York lawmakers say that trend is a growing public-safety concern. A newly introduced bill would reshape how high-performance electric dirt bikes—often marketed as e-bikes or scooters—are classified and sold in the state.
What The Bill Would Do
Senate Bill S10700, sponsored by Senator Kristen Gonzalez, creates two distinct categories: an "e-moto" and a registerable electric off-highway motorcycle. An e-moto is broadly defined as a motorized device capable of exceeding 20 miles per hour that is not otherwise excluded from New York's motor-vehicle definition and is not eligible for registration. Under S10700, businesses operating in New York would be prohibited from selling, offering for sale, or reselling these e-motos.
By contrast, electric off-highway motorcycles that are eligible for registration would not be banned, but their sale would be tightly regulated. Online retailers could no longer ship these machines directly to consumers; sales would have to be handled through an ATV dealer physically located in New York and registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Dealers would also be required to register the vehicle with the DMV before delivering it to the buyer—mirroring the process used for conventional dirt bikes, ATVs, and UTVs.
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Marketing And Public-Road Restrictions
The bill also targets misleading marketing: sellers would be prohibited from labeling or advertising a device as an e-bike, electric scooter, or other legally defined micromobility vehicle if it does not meet the relevant definitions. Sellers must also warn buyers that covered e-motos and electric off-highway motorcycles are not legal to operate on New York public highways or streets unless properly registered and authorized.
Why Now?
The sponsor memo cites a May 28, 2026 crash on the Queensboro Bridge involving a non-street-legal electric scooter reportedly capable of more than 50 mph. The collision with a cyclist killed both riders and prompted calls for upstream regulation of how high-performance electric vehicles are sold and marketed—rather than focusing only on rider behavior after purchase.
S10700 was introduced on September 14 and currently sits in the Senate Rules Committee. If advanced in its present form, these rules would not eliminate electric dirt bikes in New York but would make purchasing one more akin to buying a traditional powersports vehicle: a licensed dealer, required paperwork, DMV registration, and fewer mystery packages arriving on doorsteps.
Source: CBS News; New York State Senate
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