ACCC puts e-bikes and e-scooters on its national safety watch list, backed by $6.6 million
Australia's consumer regulator has put e-bikes and e-scooters near the top of its safety agenda for the year ahead, and attached real money to it. Here is what the ACCC announced and what it means for buyers.
A new national priority
ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb used a speech at the National Consumer Congress on 19 June 2026 to launch the regulator's product safety priorities for the year ahead, and for the first time e-micromobility devices such as e-bikes and e-scooters got a standalone spot on the list. The focus will be on speed and power limits, lithium-ion battery safety, and clearer information for people buying these devices. The federal government has committed $6.6 million over three years, from 2026 to 2029, for the ACCC and Treasury to work toward nationally consistent standards for e-micromobility across Australia.
The numbers behind the priority
Cass-Gottlieb pointed to a sharp rise in harm. Fourteen people died in e-bike or e-scooter accidents on Queensland roads in 2025, and emergency department presentations involving these devices in Queensland rose 23 per cent compared with 2024. At St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, serious injuries involving e-bikes doubled, according to the hospital's own figures. Battery fires are a separate concern: five people in Australia have died in lithium-ion battery fires linked to e-bikes or scooters in recent years. Against that, the ACCC noted the upside, with NSW government data showing 34 per cent of e-bike and e-scooter riders in Greater Sydney would otherwise have driven, rising to 45 per cent in regional NSW.
What a national standard would mean
Right now e-bike rules differ state by state on power limits, path access and, in Queensland, licensing. A single national standard covering power, speed and battery safety would make it easier for a shopper in one state to know whether a bike bought online or interstate is legal to ride at home, and it would give retailers and importers one bar to clear instead of eight. That work is only starting, so nothing changes immediately, but it signals where standards and enforcement are headed over the next three years.
What it means for buyers
The practical read for shoppers is that battery safety and clear power labelling are about to matter more, not less. When you compare e-bikes on BikeFinder, look for a stated continuous motor power and a certification mark, not just a marketing claim, and expect that bar to rise as the ACCC's work lands.