The NSW government has announced a “crackdown” on illegally modified ebikes, with police given powers to impound and destroy those exceeding the legal speed limit.
Transport Minister John Graham announced on Sunday that he would develop new seizure laws to allow police to seize any ebike that does not cut off power assistance at 25km/h, removing non-compliant bikes from the streets and crushing them.
The laws apply to all illegally modified bikes – even if the owner doesn’t know their ebike is non-compliant.
The government invests in several “dyno units” – portable speed-testing devices – to measure the ebike’s power output.
The move is an expansion on the state’s existing impound laws, which are designed to remove high-powered cars and motorbikes from the road, a long, complicated process that Graham said is “a lot of paperwork” and “doesn’t work to get these electric motorcycles on our streets.”
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This follows about 40 ebikes and e-motorcycles in Wednesday’s event Encircles the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Footage posted online also shows the riders – including those inside The so-called fat bikes – Traveling and Maneuvering in the Western Distributor.
The NRMA wants to crack down on illegal ebikes and e-scooters And it says NSW faces a developing “road safety disaster”. In 2024, there were 226 ebike-related injuries, while in the first seven months of 2025 there were 233 injuries and four deaths.
NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury welcomed Sunday’s announcement.
“To confiscate and crush a bike is an expensive proposition, but paying for a funeral is much more expensive,” he said.
Graham said the proposed laws were a direct response to community concern about “souped-up ebikes and the antisocial behavior that seems to go hand in hand with them.”
“Riders and owners of illegal ebikes should now hear our words loud and clear: if you break the rules and your bike doesn’t meet the clear specifications of a pedal-assist ebike, expect it to be confiscated and crushed,” he said.
“Illegal bikes end up as a twisted wreck so they can’t get back on the road. We see ebikes behaving like bicycles, not motorbikes.”
Graham said the NSW Government said transportation NSW and NSW Police will develop laws but look to mimic those currently in place in Western Australia, where police have confiscated and crushed dozens of bikes.
“We’re basing our laws on the Western Australian model, what they allow is a much faster process, a much more streamlined process, much easier to police,” he said.
“If you engage in the extreme behavior we’ve seen on the golf courses over the Harbor Bridge, your bike will be crushed.”
He said the changes were the “start” of a wider package of reforms to ensure ebikes are “safe, legal and suitable for use on public roads and paths”, with further measures to be announced in the coming weeks. Graham said the NSW government had previously committed to reducing the maximum legal power output of e-bikes to 250 watts.
The Roads Minister, Jenny Aitchison, said it was “repression, plain and simple”, while the Police Minister, Yasmin Catley, said the Government was “drawing a line in the sand”.
“Illegal high-powered ebikes are harmless and anyone who thinks they might slip under the radar should take this as their last warning. If your bike doesn’t comply, it will be destroyed,” she said.
Catley says parents also have a role to play in making sure their kids are riding legal ebikes.
“If you buy or allow a child to ride a high-powered ebike that doesn’t meet the regulations, you’re not only gambling with their safety, you’re gambling with the bike, and there are no exceptions,” she said.
Natalie Ward, deputy opposition leader and coalition transport spokeswoman, described the announcement as a “slow, reactive and bureaucracy-first approach” to a growing problem that did not address rider behaviour.
“Ebikes don’t drive themselves,” she said. “Society wants accountability for rider behavior and enforcement of road rules.”
A Liberal government “will continue to tinker with license plates, enforcement and accountability as Labor continues to tinker,” she said.
