New Hampshire E-Bike and E-Scooter Rules for Riders and Parents

Before you buy: the three classes

RSA 259:27-a calls a bike an electric bicycle when it has pedals, a motor under 750 watts and fits a class. A Class 1 helps only while you pedal and cuts out at 20 mph. A Class 2 can move on the motor alone but stops assisting at 20 mph. A Class 3 helps only while pedaling, keeps going to 28 mph and must have a speedometer.

The 2019 law, chapter 93, also rewrote the RSA 259:6 definition of bicycle so it now covers e-bikes and removed them from the moped and motor driven cycle definitions. Those changes took effect August 18, 2019.

• Class 1: assist while pedaling, up to 20 mph
• Class 2: throttle permitted, no assist past 20 mph
• Class 3: assist while pedaling up to 28 mph, speedometer, operator 16 or older

What the law treats an e-bike as

RSA 265:144-a gives e-bike riders the same rights and duties as people on regular bikes, and treats the e-bike as a vehicle only to the extent a bicycle is one. For plates, title, registration, driver licensing, financial responsibility and off highway recreational vehicle rules, the law says an e-bike is not a motor vehicle, so you can skip all of them.

A new e-bike must satisfy federal bicycle safety rules, 16 C.F.R. 1512. Its motor must quit as soon as the rider brakes or stops pedaling. Modifying a bike so it goes faster, or so the motor kicks in differently, is against the law unless you also fit a new class label that reflects the change.

Ages and helmets for your kids

Two helmet rules stack. RSA 265:144, X makes anyone under 16 on a bicycle on a public way wear protective headgear of a type the health commissioner approves. Since the legal word bicycle now takes in e-bikes, all three classes are covered. RSA 265:144-a, X adds that nobody under 18 may be aboard a Class 3, as rider or passenger, unless wearing a properly fitted bicycle helmet meeting CPSC or ASTM standards.

Class 3 is the only class with an age floor: no operator under 16, though a Class 3 built for passengers may carry a younger child as a passenger. So a helmeted 14 year old is legal on a Class 1 or 2 anywhere a bicycle can go, and a 17 year old on a Class 3 still has to wear one.

On the ride: roads, paths and trails

E-bikes may go wherever bicycles go, with path limits. Class 1 and 2 bikes may use bicycle and multi-use paths where bikes are allowed, unless the town, city or state agency that controls the path says no. A Class 3 stays off those paths unless the path is within or beside a roadway or the agency permits Class 3 use.

Natural surface trails marked non-motorized are up to the city, town or agency that manages them. On roads, stay to the right if traffic is moving faster than you. You can leave that line to pass, to turn left, to continue straight where right turns are permitted, or to get around glass, sand or a door opening into your path. From 30 minutes after sunset, put on reflective gear.

If it is faster than an e-bike

A machine that goes beyond e-bike limits lands in another category. Under RSA 259:57, a moped is a motor driven cycle whose top speed within one mile is 30 mph or less; if it burns fuel, the engine must be no bigger than 50 cubic centimeters, with no gear shifting. RSA 259:65 covers motor driven cycles: motorcycles and motor scooters of 5 horsepower or less, plus any bicycle with a motor attached, e-bikes excepted.

According to the Driver's Manual, a moped license lets you ride a moped, and anyone already licensed for Class A, B, C, D or motorcycles can skip it. Fees on the DMV schedule as of October 2026: $8 for a moped license and $55 for a license limited to motor driven cycles. Check with the DMV on registration before taking either onto a public way.

Stand up scooters and the Manchester ordinance

No New Hampshire statute defines a stand up electric scooter. You will hear the argument that a scooter counts as a motor driven cycle, but none of the DMV guidance we read resolves the point, so cities write their own rules. Manchester, the biggest city in the state, wrote Chapter 75 of its code for scooters powered by gas or electricity that the rider stands on.

In Manchester, riders must be 16 or older but need no driver's license. Each scooter needs a brake and a city license and plate, $5 from the police department. Riders wear sturdy closed shoes, and after dark the scooter needs a white front light that can be seen from 300 feet and a red reflector on the rear. Rentals need licenses, fines start at $25, and impoundment is possible on a third offense. Check the current text with the city first.

If the label is missing, or the law changes

The core e-bike sections have stayed the same since 2019, but e-bike and scooter bills come up in the General Court regularly. Before you spend money on a Class 3 for your teen, or on a high powered scooter, read the current RSA pages on the General Court site and your town's ordinances, since towns control path access and sidewalk riding.

Be wary of a bike with no label, or a seller who cannot tell you its class. Without a class, RSA 259:27-a may not cover it, and the law could then class it as a motor driven cycle, which requires a license.