Personal Mobility Vehicles (PMV)

The era when mobility was classified as a pedestrian, bicycle, or motor vehicle is history. The different Personal Mobility Vehicles are here to stay.

Personal mobility vehicles (PMV) can be defined as vehicles to assist people in their movement and due to their technical characteristics, exceeding those of a bicycle and in addition power equipped.

The exact definition under the National Department of Traffic (DGT), “according to the instruction a PMV is a vehicle with 1 or more wheels equipped with a single seat and powered exclusively by electric motors to provide the vehicle with a maximum speed between 6 and 25 km/h “

NON PMV vehicles

• Without self-balancing system and with saddle.
• Competition
• People with reduced mobility
• Vehicles under the scope of Regulation (EU) N2 168/2013: scooters with seats, motorcycles, two-wheel mopeds….
• Gadgets that do not exceed the speed of 6 km / h and are considered toys.

PMV TYPES

Electric scooter

Probably the cause of the new standards in development around these PMVs. The boom of these scooters in recent years has been spectacular, especially from 2010 onwards. The typical scooter with two inline wheels and handlebars has seen its electric evolution introduced as a general mobility alternative. Despite being motor-driven, they are not considered motorized vehicles by the DGT, but personal mobility vehicles. As PMV A they can develop a maximum speed up to 20 km / h and PMV B up to 30 km / h.

Segway

Possibly the pioneer of this type of vehicle, although it has lost a lot of ground with the electric scooters. In fact, it is a combination of a hoverboard, with a larger platform and wheels and with self-balancing and accelerating motor, driven by the movement of our body (up to 250w power).

Hoverboard

With the same acceleration and balance characteristics as the Segway, but with a lower platform and no handlebars. Considered toys for a long time, but with the evolution in technical characteristics and strength, they could belong to the PMV classification.

Unicycles

Less frequent, at least in Spain, this option is a less extended version of the hoverboard, with the complexity of a single wheel requiring a lot more balance.

e-bikes

It should be noted that e-bikes with powered assistance, e-bikes or Electronically Power Assisted Cycles (EPAC) are NOT included in the same classification as the previous mentioned. As long as they have only two wheels, a motor with a power of no more than 250w and support up to 25 km / h, this type of bicycle falls under the same rules as a normal bicycle.

Vehicles that exceed these characteristics are already included in the classification of motorcycles, in the L1e category.

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