The new regulations on electric scooters will come into force throughout Spain in 2026 and will directly affect users in Barcelona, Girona, Tarragona and the rest of the Catalan municipalities. From that date, it will be mandatory to register electric scooters in a national registry and to contract specific insurance for each vehicle, as stipulated in law 5/2025, of July 24.
National registry and mandatory insurance to circulate
Registration implies obtaining a license plate, which must be placed visibly on the scooter. The process is carried out exclusively online through the DGT website, with a fee of 8.64 euros. The license plate sticker, which must be acquired at an authorized establishment, has a price ranging between 12 and 24 euros, to which shipping costs must be added.
The mandatory insurance will cover civil liability from 6.45 million euros, with annual prices ranging from 60 to 220 euros depending on the type of scooter. The total cost to regularize an electric scooter is between 80 and 250 euros, depending on the characteristics of the vehicle and the insurance contracted.
Economic impact and regularization figures
Estimates on the number of electric scooters in Spain vary. Gorka Pradas, spokesperson for the Cluster for Innovation in Electric Mobility (Clime), places the figure at 7 million vehicles, while the DGT estimates there are "a little over 4 million". If the 7 million scooters are regularized, the total revenue could range between 560 and 1,750 million euros. In the event that only 4 million are regularized, the figure would be between 320 and 1,000 million euros.
However, the Public Administration will only collect the amount of the registration fee, that is, between 34.5 and 60.4 million euros, depending on the volume of registrations.
Conditions and sanctions for the users
Regularization is mandatory only for electric scooters with a motor and that are certified. Aurora González, president of the Spanish Federation of Personal Mobility Vehicles (Fevemp), warns about the situation of vehicles acquired before 2024.
"It must be taken into account that VMPs acquired before 2024, which according to our internal surveys could reach 75% of the total fleet, are not certified. As of January 2027, it will be illegal to circulate with them on public roads, which is why many users have considered that regularization does not compensate them and opt to withdraw them prematurely" - Aurora González, Fevemp
The law establishes economic sanctions for those who fail to comply with the regulations. The fine for driving without a license plate will be 200 euros. In case of doing so without mandatory insurance, the sanction will be 500 euros for light scooters (less than 25 kilos) and 1,500 euros for heavier models.
Technical details and registration process
Spanish legislation adapts community directive 2021/2118, which requires mandatory insurance for electric vehicles over 25 kilos in the European Union. Scooters and vehicles for people with disabilities under 25 kilos and under 14 km/h must have insurance coverage of 6.45 million euros. For those exceeding these limits, the coverage amounts to 70 million euros.
The price of annual insurance for light scooters ranges between 60 and 70 euros, while for heavier ones it stands between 150 and 200 euros. The DGT reminds that the registration process is exclusively online and offers telephone assistance at 060 for those who need it.
"What is precisely intended is to prevent users from going to the Directorate to do it. It is a very simple procedure and, if needed, you can call 060 to request help" - Spokesperson, DGT