05/06/2026
🚲⚡ California is funding e-bike rebates with one hand and trying to ban e-bikes with the other. Two bills just cleared committee that would do exactly that.
❌ AB 1557 (Papan) would impose a 250-watt motor cap, effectively banning hub-drive e-bikes — they cannot climb California hills at that wattage. It would decrease the top speed of Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes. It departs from the three-class framework used in 45 other states, which I helped pass in California in 2016 as AB 1096.
❌ AB 1942 (Bauer-Kahan) would require DMV registration and license plates for Class 2 and Class 3 e-bikes. Treating bicycles like cars. 🪪
Neither bill addresses the actual problem on our streets: illegal e-motos falsely marketed as e-bikes.
💰 The fiscal contradiction:
▪️ California Air Resources Board allocated $31M for income-qualified e-bike vouchers
▪️ San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Electrify My Ride rebates low-income SF riders
▪️ Ava Community Energy is distributing $10M in rebates through 2026
Many of the e-bikes these programs fund would be rendered non-compliant under AB 1557. California has spent $1.84B on EV subsidies; e-bikes already outsell EVs here without comparable support. We'd be paying twice — subsidize the cheaper climate solution, then suppress it. 🤦
🏛️ What's next:
Both bills head to Appropriations, chaired by Buffy Wicks. AB 1557 is authored by Assemblymember Diane Papan, and co-authored by Matt Haney (SF) and Damon Connolly (Marin) — districts where we serve customers daily.
📣 If you ride or care about e-bikes in California:
✉️ Submit a letter to Appropriations - https://calegislation.lc.ca.gov/Advocates
🔗 Letter template: https://tinyurl.com/2hb8xhfn
☎️ Call Assemblymembers Papan (916-319-2021), Wicks (916-319-2014), Haney (916-319-2017), and Connolly (916-319-2012)
Legal e-bikes are part of California's climate solution. Let's not legislate them out of the market while leaving illegal e-motos untouched. 🚴♀️🌎
