German Esk8 Laws

You need a seat and handlebar to be allowed to register it

In Italy we have a vehicle category called “ciclomotori e quadricicli leggeri” (category AM) .These have a tiny license plate I believe esk8s would be very easy to squeeze into such a category because it has these rules:

Minimum age: 14 years old 2/3 wheels vehicles: max50cc motor; max 45km/h 4 wheels: max 350kg; max 45 km/h IF ELECTRIC: max 4kw power; max 45 km/h

Examples of vehicles of such a category:

…and brakes, turn signals, headlights/taillights, and a seatbelt, I think.

The problem with esk8 is that no insurance companies are willing to insure a skateboard, because it is incredibly easy to injure yourself, or someone else with it. I know there are a couple of insurance companies in the states which will insure long boards. It is kind of a catch 22 here though; esk8s aren’t allowed to go over a certain speed because there is no insurance, and there is no insurance because those German companies aren’t willing to take that risk. If the German law was more relaxed, i’m sure it would cause insurance companies to open up. If there was the possibility of insurance, the laws would change to support it.

There will have to be a real boom in esk8 to make any of this change in Germany. There has to be $$$ for politicians to want to change their minds.

2 Likes

@fedestanco nice info you got there!

Yeh, if someone could ‘explain’ that it is a ‘moped’ without a seat and handlebars… something like ‘‘mobility device’’ then I think it could be done (of course, if other regulations dont work against it)

Even the speed and power limit is somewhat okay I think :slight_smile: Im sure it would be possible to limit the power to 4kw at least for dual version.

The German eskate laws are complete bullshit and there is no change in sight. You can only hope for a new EU lay, that Germany will probably fight/boycott but will hopefully give into many years from now. Mellow, Boosted etc. did a lot of PR/interviews stating that normally riding it was a “gray area”, which was a plain lie. But more recently Mellow stated in an interview that they think their “endless ride mode” is legal:

Now this really IS a gray area. Because the law makes an exception for vehicles that:

  • can’t accelerate on their own above 6 km/h
  • only assist you in manually increasing the speed
  • stop assisting at 45 km/h
  • do not exceed 200 W

I still live in Germany and thought about building one and setting it up in this way for a long time. But since I find these restrictions completely ridiculous (push assist is definitely more dangerous than the normal ride mode), and since I’m going to move to California at the end of this month I decided to f**k it and wait until I am in the US.

German Police just caught a fellow boarder again: http://www.presseportal.de/blaulicht/pm/110972/3620395

The slogan they mention is from the Mobo website - which is not really stealthy :wink: so I can see why they might have stopped him. But it is still another bad day for eskaters in Germany :cry:

Edit: just checked and the Mobo only has one motor - they mention two 800W motors though. No idea what kind of board he was using then.

Ugh, it must be a slow day when arresting someone for not having insurance is news worthy.

Whether the “feeling of boundless freedom” advertised on advertising on the Internet really can arise, must be doubted in the face of such consequences.

Source: http://www.presseportal.de/blaulicht/pm/110972/3620395

:smiley:

Is that a guess? There is a lot of much darker facts around. Please clarify

That post was written out of experience… sadly but true.

I was caught today with my evolve board. I am based in Berlin. I have been riging here for a while without any problems. I had a helmet on and I rode on the sidewalk. Slowly. I was kind to the policeman. They didn’t ask much questions. just said they need to take it and give it to court to decide. Don’t know what to expect. Board is quite powerful. Did anyone go throug the court decision here? What was the outcome? There is a lot of scary facts around, including police blogpost etc… I will keep you posted on the progress of this situation

In my case the Police officer took my board and said that they have to investigate…

Some weeks later i got my fine but they did not test the board at all. I just hat to pay a lot of Money… after everything They gave me the board back that i can destroy it and not use it anymore :wink:

Thanks for the replay. Can you say how much was the penalty? Where are you based?

Münster, round about 150€ but i do not remember exactly…

oh, that’s a relief… I was reading about x10 higher amounts Thank you so much for responding so quickly. I will post the outcome of my sad adventure.

@Woytec That sucks man. I’m also based in Berlin and now I’m scared to take my board outside… It’s really annoying to have to take public transit to a place like Tempelhof to go drive around if I could just ride there on my board :confused:

Hope you get your board back and not too big of a fine :frowning:

@Jamy When talking to police I told them I usually drive in the forest and they told me that even that is not legal :slight_smile: They told me I can only drive it on my own property. Having said so according to what they said you might be in slight danger in Templehof also ;/ When I was buying my board I saw very little about police getting in involved. As I look now it seems police is more aware of esk8. Meaning they know what they are looking at.

1 Like

@Woytec Well last month Berlin police got an information sheet about hoverboards and esk8’s

So they’re more aware of the legalities. Regarding Tempelhof, I’ve yet to see a cop there :stuck_out_tongue: I’m from Belgium where I had no issues with my esk8. Why is Germany so stupid in this regard… :confused:

2 Likes

Because cars are the biggest industry here and only if VW can make as much money from skateboards as it can do now with cars the politics would change. In the german forum we just sent a letter to three members of parliament to help legalize esk8ing. Any other Germans should chime in there to be heard as well: http://www.elektro-skateboard.de/forum/szene-talk-63/rechtliche-auseinandersetzung-1396-54.php#post42625

1 Like

I’ve been following that, good stuff. Sadly I don’t speak German too well so I’m resorting to using Google Translate.