Cabinet wants license plate requirement for electric step scooters, Segways and Stints

Special mopeds, including the well-known Stint, the electric scooter, and the self-balancing Segway, will be subject to registration and license plate requirements. This was decided by the outgoing Cabinet on Friday. It is to come into force from July 1 next year, according to Infrastructure Minister Mark Harbers.

Those who already own a special moped that is now registered on the road will be given one year to register the vehicle and obtain a license plate. This will affect an estimated 5,000 specialty mopeds. They must register with the RDW, which arranges the registration and license plate.

The obligation is intended to make it easier to track down unregistered mopeds. As many mopeds look the same, it is sometimes difficult to tell them apart, according to Harbers. "I think this is undesirable because unregistered vehicles are not safe enough," he said. The introduction of a compulsory license plate ensures that people and law enforcement officers can tell at a glance whether they are allowed to drive this vehicle."

It has not yet been decided what the compulsory license plate will look like. The Ministry of Infrastructure emphasizes that the design will take into account the fact that many mopeds only have limited space for a license plate.

In the Netherlands, electric scooters are still banned on public roads, even though they are already widely used on the roads, especially in cities. For years, electric scooter manufacturers have been trying to get the Netherlands to allow the use of special scooters on roads. Something that has long been introduced in other European cities, the AD reports.