Mamdani Targets Online Illegal E-Moto Retailers

Mayor Mamdani is putting online sellers of illegal e-motos and e-scooters on notice.

The city will issue a cease-and-desist to 42 online retailers who sell two-wheeled electric vehicles that do not meet the city’s legal definition of an e-bike or e-scooter, Hizzoner said on Wednesday.

“The burden of whether or not the bike they buy is safe and legal should not fall on working New Yorkers who are simply looking for a quick and low-cost mode of transportation. It is the responsibility of retailers to only sell the vehicles permissible under New York law in our city,” the mayor said during a press conference at City Hall.

Amazon, Best Buy, Target, Temu, Teverun, Walmart, Marketplace, Wayfair, Segway, Deepower, Wilson’s E-Bikes and several dozen others will all receive the letters demanding they stop selling unregistered e-motos with speeds over 25 miles per hour, and face up to $2,000 fines per violation if they fail to comply by Aug. 18, the mayor said.

New York state legalized e-bikes in 2020, but most of the “bikes” involved in electric vehicle crashes can go faster than what state and city law allows, according to data the city shared this week.

From 2017 to 2025, 54 percent of the people killed on e-bikes were riding illegal vehicles that go over 25 miles per hour, while 52 percent of people killed on stand-up scooters were on illegal vehicles that go over 20 mph, the city said. Two-wheeled e-vehicles were involved in a mere 1 percent of crashes so far this year, according to city records.

Streetsblog previously exposed the online wild-west marketplace of illegal e-motos available for sale for New Yorkers. Many of online retailers falsely advertise the vehicles as “e-bikes.”

“This is not that complicated for these retailers. If they are selling an e bike that can go faster than 25, that’s illegal. If they are selling an e-scooter that goes faster than 20, that’s illegal,” the mayor said on Wednesday. “What we are asking them to do is follow the law that has been the law for more than five years, and yet they continue to violate it. Not in a marginal way — we’re talking about vehicles that can go sometimes more than double the legal limit of the speed. It’s not one or two miles over, and they are doing this because they know that there is money to be made.”

City law enforcement officials have issued violations to brick-and-mortar stores that sell these illegal devices from brick-and-mortar locations, but, until now, officials offered no clear plan for the anything-goes online marketplace.

The NYPD can also confiscate and impound Illegal devices operating on city streets. Pressed on whether the city would hone its street-level enforcement against illegal e-motos, the mayor would only say that Wednesday’s announcement was a “first step” towards getting the vehicles off the street.

Mamdani said he does not support calls to register and license all e-bikes and e-bike riders.

“The focus of today is tackling the root causes of what has led to the loss of many New Yorkers’ lives,” he said. “When it comes to registration for e-bikers, I do not believe that that would actually improve street safety, and that’s not an approach that I believe we should move ahead with.”

The announcement followed the death of teenager Gabriel Nacato who was riding an illegal e-moto on Chambers Street on July 29 when he was struck and killed by an SUV driver.

Nacato, 17, was riding an e-moto from the brand Deepower that his uncle bought for him online. The vehicle had a 1,500-watt motor, double the legal maximum, and was advertised on the Deepower website as reaching 30 mph with a throttle. The seller’s website even gave consumers detailed instructions on how to “effortlessly” override the bike’s speed limiter and to go up to 50 mph — until Streetsblog called it out.

“Many of the devices that New Yorkers think are e-bikes and assume are legal are neither, and many of the retailers who sell these devices contribute to the confusion through their marketing practices and by selling products to New Yorkers that are illegal to operate on our streets,” said Mamdani’s Transportation Commissioner Mike Flynn.

Nacato’s death — and a fatal crash earlier in May involving an illegal stand-up e-scooter — spurred a string of actions by elected officials at both the state and local level.

Last week, Attorney General Letitia James issued a consumer alert to warn those looking to purchase legal e-bikes for city use of the misleading online marketplace filled with illegal devices. And City Council Speaker Julie Menin yesterday announced an upcoming legislative review and hearing on at least 17 different bills related to the issue.

Still, as of Wednesday, New Yorkers could still order the Deepower e-moto Nacato rode directly to their door through the company’s website.