E-bikes and e-scooters in the Netherlands: what’s actually legal

The short answer

The Dutch split isn’t by speed. It’s by whether you have to push with your foot.

The one question that decides everything

Dutch law cares about whether the vehicle moves under its own power, or only when you do.

E-scooters — the Dutch anomaly

Most European countries wrote an e-scooter law. The Netherlands did not. Instead an e-scooter falls into an old category called bijzondere bromfiets — “special moped” — and to use one on the road, that specific model must have been individually approved by the RDW, the Dutch vehicle authority.

Almost none have been. The government’s own guidance is blunt: most e-steps offered for sale are not approved, and those may not go on the road at all. Ride one anyway and police can fine you or confiscate the scooter.

You cannot fix this yourself. You cannot apply for a registration plate for an unapproved scooter — the application is simply not possible. Approval is granted to the manufacturer, for the model, not to you for your machine. Limiting your scooter’s software to 25 km/h changes nothing.

The exception: e-steps you push

There is one clean way through. An e-step with pedal assist — where you must kick and push with your foot, and the motor only helps — is not treated as a motor vehicle at all. It falls under the electric bicycle rules. No plate, no approval list, no insurance requirement.

If you want a scooter-shaped thing you can legally ride in the Netherlands tomorrow, this is it. The trade-off is that you have to actually push.

If you do have an approved e-step

• No driving licence needed.
• No helmet required.
• Keep as far right as you reasonably can.
• Never on the pavement.
• Third-party liability insurance (WA) is compulsory, and the insurer’s sticker goes on the scooter.
• A registration plate has been required since 1 July 2025 — and for models approved before that date, since 1 July 2026.

The ANWB, the Dutch motoring association, notes that approved e-steps follow the rules for a snorfiets: capped at 25 km/h, with a minimum rider age of 16. Confirm the specifics for your exact model with the RDW.

E-bikes — and the fatbike problem

Now the mirror image. On a Dutch electric bicycle, the rules are close to nonexistent.

Read the age row again. There is no minimum age to ride an electric bike in the Netherlands. None. And a fatbike — the heavy, thick-tyred, motorbike-shaped machine you now see everywhere in Dutch cities — is legally just an electric bicycle, provided it assists only to 25 km/h on a 250 W motor.

That combination is exactly why fatbikes became a Dutch political emergency: a twelve-year-old on a 25 kg machine with no helmet, no licence and no insurance is, as the law currently stands, doing nothing wrong.

What’s coming

The government announced in August 2025 that it intends to introduce a helmet requirement for under-18s on fatbikes and other e-bikes. It is not law yet — both chambers of parliament must still approve it. Treat it as coming, not arrived.

When a fatbike stops being a bicycle

The line is sharp, and it is where most fatbike owners fall over it:

• A throttle that moves you faster than 6 km/h without pedalling — that’s not a bicycle any more.
• Assist that continues past 25 km/h — same.

Cross either line and the machine must be approved and registered as a bromfiets, snorfiets or speed pedelec. If it isn’t, you may not ride it on the road at all.

Derestricting: the €320 mistake

Removing or modifying the speed limiter, or fitting a throttle that works above 6 km/h, legally converts your bicycle into a moped. If it isn’t registered as one — and it won’t be — police can fine you €320. After repeat offences, they may seize the bike and destroy it.

That last one is the real cost. Government guidance is explicit: ride a fatbike that doesn’t meet the rules and you are not insured. Your own injuries, your own damage, and the damage you do to someone else — all yours to pay.

Speed pedelecs

Assist to 45 km/h, motor up to 4,000 W. Legally a bromfiets — a moped. That means a helmet is mandatory, along with registration and the appropriate licence. The distinction from a normal e-bike is not a detail: it changes what you must wear, what you must carry, and where you may ride.

Before you hand over the money

• For an e-scooter: check the RDW approved list first, by model. Not the brand — the exact model. If it isn’t on the list, you are buying a machine for your driveway.
• Don’t trust the shop. Dutch retailers sell unapproved e-steps openly and legally. Selling them is fine. Riding them is not. The law puts that on you.
• “It does 25 km/h, so it’s fine” is wrong. Dutch approval is model-by-model, not spec-by-spec. Speed alone doesn’t make a scooter legal.
• If you want a legal scooter now, buy one with pedal assist. The ones you push. They’re covered by the bicycle rules.
• For a fatbike: check the throttle. If it drives you above 6 km/h without pedalling, it is not a bicycle, whatever the shop says.
• Never let anyone “unlock” your e-bike. It costs you your insurance, and that’s a far bigger number than €320.

Common questions

The e-bike trap: continuous vs peak watts

The single most common e-bike buying mistake.

Every e-bike law measures one number: continuous rated power — what the motor sustains all day, which must be 250 W to keep the bike legally a bicycle. But it’s almost never the number on the box; marketing quotes peak power, a brief burst two or three times higher. It looks better in an ad and means nothing in law.

A motor sold as “250 W (750 W peak)” can be perfectly legal — the continuous figure is what counts. A motor rated 500 W continuous is not, however it’s marketed. Ask the seller for the continuous figure in writing, and look for an EN 15194 marking on the frame — the European standard used as proof of compliance.

Note on sources. Nearly everything here comes from Rijksoverheid.nl, the Dutch government’s own site, and the RDW. The 16-year minimum age for approved e-steps is per the ANWB.

Not legal advice. A plain-English summary of published government guidance, accurate to the verification date above. Dutch rules on light electric vehicles are actively changing. Check the primary sources before you buy or ride, and take professional advice if anything important turns on it.

Contains information from Rijksoverheid.nl, published under CC0 1.0 Universal.