Alcazar

Hi All
Much to my wife's displeasure I'm thinking about buying a 2 seater electric scooter to get me to the pub coffee shop and back.
My question is, what are the laws regarding riding one on the roads, do I need a driving licence, insurance, crash helmet etc?

Any help/advice would be appreciated

Bomber Harris

Electric vehicle classification and whether licence etc is needed depends on it's power and/or speed, but what you describe (2 seats) isn't a scooter as defined in the Código da estrada.

" a scooter is considered to be a vehicle consisting of two wheels in series, which support a base on which the driver rests his feet, driven in a standing position and guided by a handlebar that rises up to the height of the waist"

Alcazar

Thanks for your reply bomber Harris.

I meant to include a picture of the type of scooter I was referring to, but the rule of this site won't allow me too until I've posted at least 5 times.....

It's one of those you see for rent all along the Algarve, with the fat tyres and a seat big enough for 2.

Bomber Harris

If it has a seat it isn't a scooter, so it could be an electrically assisted pedal cycle (no more power than 1000 watt and limited to 25 KPH, and obviously it has to have pedals). If it isn't one of them it will be classed as either an electric moped (no more than 4kw and limited to 45 KPH) or an electric motorcycle, both of which require the appropriate driving licence, insurance and the wearing of crash helmets.
As you mentioned the pub in your initial post, be aware that in Portugal (unlike the UK) the drink driving limits and penalties are the same for riding a pedal cycle whilst drunk as they are for driving a motor vehicle whilst drunk.

Alan PT

Could be AM or A1 depending on power/max speed, but either way pretty much all the laws you'd expect to apply to a motorcycle do apply

Only e-bikes with maximum continuous power below 250W and power assistance limited to 25km/h are exempt from (most of) those regs

Alan PT

1000W is for L1e-A “powered cycles”, which unfortunately are effectively regarded as motor vehicles in most EU countries (the EU left it open to national directive). Only 250W "pedelecs" are treated as cycles.

Alan PT

Though it turns out that Portugal might have decided to be more generous on this, see this recent update: https://dre.pt/web/guest/legislacao-...utom%C3%B3veis

Not really definitive enough for me to argue with a GNR/PSP officer on the point though (especially since it's not long ago that the PSP in Lisbon were fining people for not having a helmet when riding the official Lisbon Gira pedelec bikes!) https://observador.pt/2018/12/10/ca-...omo-e-la-fora/

Alan PT

In case it's useful for anyone, I had a long argument with my insurance company who insisted that they covered a bicycle while in a garage but did not cover my pedelec as it was a "motor vehicle". We "resolved" this by me telling them that it would not be "motor powered" when stored in the garage (as I would remove the battery), but I bet they would still argue the point if I ever had to claim

So I looked around for bike insurance in Portugal (also since I'd quite like it to be covered outside the garage!) and couldn't find any options. I registered with this company who were planning a future launch and they just launched a couple of weeks ago: https://bike.qoverme.com/pt-pt

Alan PT

...and just to share a little more of the (way too much) research I did before buying an e-bike, I found these two Portuguese manufacturers:
https://www.50rebels.com/
https://pt.beeq-bicycles.com/

Sadly they didn't do quite what I was looking for, so I ended up buying from this US designed/China manufactured/EU shipped company: https://radpowerbikes.eu/ partly because their bikes seem to be used by many e-bike rental companies, so it was easy for me to try one out in Lisbon

Bomber Harris

It was increased to 1000 watt for pedal cycles in January this year.
You can't get more definitive than the actual law, but whether the GNR/PSP officer (or any cop anywhere in the world come to that) is fully knowledgeable of the law they enforce is always a gamble.

Alan PT

It certainly makes me hopeful, L1e-A was a tragically missed opportunity in most EU countries but it seems Portugal is more enlightened. The only thing that makes me slightly nervous is whether these clauses do definitively say "an L1e-A is exactly the same as a non powered bicycle in terms of all regulations"
1 - Velocípede é o veículo com duas ou mais rodas acionado pelo esforço do próprio condutor por meio de pedais ou dispositivos análogos.
2 - Velocípede com motor é o velocípede equipado com motor auxiliar com potência máxima contínua de 1,0 kW, cuja alimentação é reduzida progressivamente com o aumento da velocidade e interrompida se atingir a velocidade de 25 km/h, ou antes, se o condutor deixar de pedalar.
3 - Para efeitos do disposto no presente Código, são equiparados a velocípedes:
a) Os velocípedes com motor;

My 250W pedelec gets me up most of the hills around here no problem, but I wouldn't fancy trying it in Lisbon!

Alcazar

Wow, thanks for all the research you've done, much appreciated.
Now I've had 5 posts I'm hoping this picture will load.

Everywhere I go I see these types of scooter being ridden with no crash helmets.

Bomber Harris

L1e-A relates to European type approval requirements. Traffic laws are a matter for each individual member state, hence why you could (and still can) drive a car at age 17 in the UK but you have to be 18 to do so in PT, likewise France and PT allow 14 year olds to ride mopeds but you need to be 16 in the UK.
Paragraph 3 you quoted is quite clear, the provisions of the code (código da estrada) rather than just the single Article (112) that bikes with electric motors compliant with paragraph 2 are treated as bikes.

Alan PT

I see people on motorbikes without helmets... What you see and what's legal may be two different things

There's no pedals visible in that pic, so it certainly can't rely on points 1 or 2 in the regs. I guess if it's no more than 250W & 25km/h then it might arguably fit point 3b

But something with tiny wheels, fat tyres and a 250W motor won't be much fun on anything but smooth, flat roads

Alan PT

Hah, you are more of a regs nerd than me, kudos on the detailed knowledge and thanks for the clarification