Opinion: NSW government’s new rules on e-bikes won’t solve old problem

Will new e-bike rules announced by Premier Chris Minns – halving the power output from 500 watts to 250 watts – actually have any impact? In short, he’s dreaming, writes James O’Doherty.

In 2023, 33 children were injured and went to hospital because of e-bike injuries. This has skyrocketed to 116 from January 1 this year, to December 2.

They are the shock new figures that will strike fear into the heart of parents this Christmas.

Amid renewed calls for a crackdown on e-bikes, I can reveal that the number of children sent to hospital with injuries from powered bikes and scooters has almost doubled in the past year.

From January 1, until this Tuesday, the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network treated 116 kids with injuries that ranged from scrapes and fractures to “deep tissue wounds and severe head injuries”.

That was almost double the 60 children sent to hospital in 2024. In 2023, just 33 kids went to hospital with e-bike injuries.

The Premier, himself a parent of teenage boys, is right to be concerned.

The problem is not middle-aged people on e-bikes, writes O’Doherty.

But will new rules announced this week – halving the power output from 500 watts to 250 watts – actually have any impact?

In short — he’s dreaming.

Making the case for tougher rules this week, Chris Minns repeatedly said that something needed to be done to stop teen hoons riding bikes that could travel at 60 kilometres per hour with “very little pedalling involved”.

“When someone’s zooming past, quicker than a motorbike, and they’re definitely not pedalling … we’re clearly out of whack here,” he said.

If he wants to stop that, he should start by enforcing the rules that are already in place.

For one, NSW Police can start by actually fining anyone over 16 riding bikes - of any description - on footpaths.

The risk that someone whizzing down the footpath at high speed on a 50 kilogram e-bike will careen into an elderly pedestrian and cause serious injury is a real concern. But cops pulling over cyclists breaking the law and slugging them with a $140 fine would go a long way to stop something that is already illegal.

As for teen hoons, the bikes that are the subject of most complaints are, in fact, already banned.

This electric bike was seized this week by Victoria Police after it was found being ridden by a 12-year-old through the streets of Earlwood. This is not a standard e-bike. It’s a high-powered bike capable of speeds up to 60km/h—without pedal assist. The bike has been seized and a Forfeiture Order is currently before the courts. Picture: Vic Pol

It is already against the law to ride motorised bikes that speed up over 6km/h with just a throttle (and not pedal-power).

To be legal, e-bike motors must cut off after reaching 25 km/h, and any bike with a motor that can put out more than 500 watts of continuous power is also not allowed.

That will change from next year, with NSW to halve allowed power output.

It sounds good in theory.

But in reality, the new rules at best just double up on new federal restrictions that will ban the sale of bikes offering more than 250 watts of power from next year.

At worst, the new NSW rules will be all but unenforceable.

Minns says he will “grandfather” the rule-change, meaning that people who already have 500 watt e-bikes will be able to keep riding them, even when they become illegal.

How is that supposed to work? Will cops start pulling over e-bike riders and demanding they prove when it was purchased?

If the NSW government really wants to crack down on bikes that have too much torque, it could consider an e-bike buy-back; offering people cash incentives to trade in their 500 watt bike for a legal alternative.

That option, though, is too expensive for government bean counters to contemplate.

NSW is alone in Australia in allowing 500 watt e-bikes on the street. The rules were changed by former Coalition Minister Rob Stokes, as a way to help older e-bike riders - and women - get up to speed faster when pushing off.

He argues that the European-standard 250 watt limit was intended for flat cycleways in Amsterdam, not Sydney’s hills.

Parents should think twice about buying their children dangerous e-bikes.

Regardless, the problem with e-bikes is not middle aged commuters who need a bit of an extra boost to help ageing knees.

It is reckless teens (in the main) speeding around on bikes never intended for legal road use with little regard for anyone else.

And those bikes only make it into the country because customs officials are not properly policing imports.

Labor MP Greg Warren, chair of parliament’s “Staysafe” road safety committee, believes there has been a “breakdown of process”.

“Something has broken down that has seen many of these illegal bikes come into the market in Australia,” he told DTTV’s State of Affairs this week.

His sparring partner, Liberal MP Ray Williams, agreed. But as Williams said, any vehicle in the wrong hands can be a danger to those around it.

So rather than rush to make new regulations, we should look at the ones we already have.

That means police should play a greater role, and parents should think twice before buying their teens 1000 watt, 50 kilogram, 60 km/h injury machines.

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