Roads off limits to eBike
BY SA’ODAH ELIASPUTRAJAYA: The latest fad in town, the electric motorcycle – more popularly known as the eBike – is not allowed to be used on gazetted roads.
Those who have bought such vehicles – mainly imported from Japan and South Korea – can only use them in their own backyards or off-road trails, said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy.
He said that with a maximum speed of between 25kph and 35kph, the machine was too slow for Malaysian roads and this could pose a danger to its rider and other road users.
Furthermore, he said, there was no provision in the Road Transport Act 1987 for such vehicles to be registered or licensed, and those who ride the eBike on the road would be doing so without road tax, licence or insurance.
“Those who fail to comply can be charged for riding without road tax, licence and insurance,” he told reporters after chairing his ministry’s post-Cabinet meeting yesterday.
Chan said the matter needed to be clarified because in the last two months there had been many advertisements in the local newspapers “hailing the positive attributes” of the machines but did not include the fact that it did not require road tax, licence and insurance to ride them.
He said that while the claims made by the advertisements were true, what they failed to inform the public was that vehicles not registered, licensed and insured could not be used on gazetted roads.
Elaborating on the registration procedure, he said that under the Act, vehicles to be registered must carry clear chassis and engine serial numbers, and the rates of road tax to be imposed were based on the horse power (cc) of the vehicles.
The eBike, he pointed out, had a chassis but not an engine and its power was measured in kilowatts.
“Because the machine cannot be registered, it also cannot be insured. Its rider also cannot be licensed as the B Class driving licence that cover motorcyclists classify them according to the horse power of their machines.
Asked if the Government would consider amending the Act to include provisions for the use of the eBike, Chan said: “Not at the moment because there is no compelling reason for us to allow the use of this vehicle.”
Chan said the importer of the machines had not sought advice from his ministry when they came out with the advertisement.
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