Minnesota bill would treat e-motos as motorcycles

A new Minnesota House bill, HF 3785, would reclassify many high‑powered electric "e-motos" as motor vehicles and effectively regulate them as motorcycles, tightening rules that directly affect how they’re sold and ridden in Twin Cities streets and trails. Sponsored by Rep. Tom Dippel (R–Cottage Grove) and heard Wednesday in the House Transportation Finance and Policy Committee, the measure would redefine 'motor vehicle' to include battery‑operated electric motorcycles not originally built for on‑road use, triggering licensing and enforcement requirements under existing motorcycle statutes. The bill would also sharply limit the machines themselves in Minnesota, cutting allowable top speed from 30 to 20 mph, dropping maximum weight from 500 pounds to 100 pounds, and requiring throttle motors between 750 and 1,500 watts, while banning operation and sale of non‑compliant e‑motos unless they’re third‑party certified. Hastings resident Janet Stotko, who says a 14‑year‑old on an e‑bike hit her from behind at about 25 mph last summer, told lawmakers the crash gave her a traumatic brain injury and left her with no charges filed, no insurance coverage and essentially no legal recourse because e‑motos aren’t clearly defined in law. The Bicycle Alliance of Minnesota backed the bill as a practical way to use existing statutes to rein in a fast‑growing class of electric dirt‑bike‑style machines that police say they’ve struggled to regulate, and the proposal was laid over for possible inclusion in a broader transportation omnibus, with any new rules taking effect Aug. 1, 2026.