What the law calls it
Effectively prohibited — falls to “motor vehicle”
The law’s definition reaches this device without naming it.
An ordinary powered EUC falls within Illinois’s broad vehicle and motor-vehicle wording, unless a stated exception applies. The existing two-wheel EPAMD and two-or-three-wheel scooter definitions do not fit a one-wheel EUC; the new EUC definition takes effect January 1, 2027.
Why PEVRA reads it this way
Before January 1, 2027, the starting point is the general Illinois Vehicle Code wording. Section 1-217 covers a device in, upon or by which a person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, as well as the separate title-requirement branch. It excludes human-powered devices, devices used exclusively on stationary rails or tracks, and snowmobiles. An ordinary powered EUC capable of transporting its rider upon a highway fits that functional wording.
Section 1-146 then covers every self-propelled vehicle. Its listed exceptions are vehicles moved solely by human power, motorized wheelchairs, low-speed electric bicycles and low-speed gas bicycles. The proposed classification is therefore capture by the general motor-vehicle definition, subject to those exceptions. It does not decide that a particular modified device or disability-related use falls outside an exception or accommodation.
The existing section 1-117.7 describes a self-balancing device with two non-tandem wheels, one rider and propulsion limited to 15 miles per hour or less. A one-wheel EUC does not satisfy the wheel requirement merely because it balances itself. Section 1-140.11 describes a scooter weighing less than 100 pounds, with two or three wheels, handlebars and a standing floorboard, powered by electric motor and human power, with a maximum speed no greater than 10 miles per hour. It excludes a moped or motor-driven cycle. Riding a one-wheel EUC slowly does not supply the scooter’s missing wheels or handlebars. These category thresholds are not EUC operating-speed limits.
Public Act 104-0854 adds an express EUC definition in section 1-117.8 and includes EUCs in the new electric micromobility category in section 1-117.6. Section 99 makes those provisions effective January 1, 2027. They do not supply today’s express EUC classification or today’s riding permissions.
Classification as a motor vehicle does not by itself answer whether an EUC may be used on a road, bike lane, shared path, sidewalk, trail or park. Access rules, equipment, credentials, local authority and disability accommodations require their own applicable provisions. The broad classification alone establishes neither a blanket permission nor a blanket prohibition.
Provenance: steward jesse read the four current ILCS sections and the enrolled Public Act against browser-saved copies and validated this reading on the steward desk on October 6, 2026 (UTC; packet us-il/euc/definition, revision 3, prepared by Astra). ilga.gov blocks automated readers, so the four ILCS sections are browser prints saved to PEVRA’s evidence store rather than Internet Archive captures; the Act is the publisher’s own PDF, downloaded unmodified. PEVRA reviews this row on January 1, 2027, when the Act’s own definition of an electric unicycle takes effect and this reading is superseded.
Every vehicle which is self-propelled and every vehicle which is propelled by electric power obtained from overhead trolley wires, but not operated upon rails, except for vehicles moved solely by human power, motorized wheelchairs, low-speed electric bicycles, and low-speed gas bicycles.
625 ILCS 5/1-146 — "Motor vehicle" (complete section)Tier A — the jurisdiction’s own official publicationLaw as of Archived copy
Verified by Jesse Garnier on · next review · last checked , source unreachable
The definition turns on: wheel count, handlebars, floorboard, enumerated list.