Motorised Quadricycle - Light Quadricycles (L6e)

Light Quadricycles (L6e)

Light quadricycles (L6e) are defined by Framework Directive 2002/24/EC as: "motor vehicles with four wheels (...) whose unladen mass is not more than 350 kg, not including the mass of the batteries in case of electric vehicles, whose maximum design speed is not more than 45 km/h, and:

1. whose engine cylinder capacity does not exceed 50 cm3 for spark (positive) ignition engines, or
2. whose maximum net power output does not exceed 4 kW in the case of other (e.g. diesel fuelled) internal combustion engines, or
3. whose maximum continuous rated power does not exceed 4 kW in the case of an electric motor.

These vehicles shall fulfil the technical requirements applicable to three-wheel mopeds of category L2e unless specified differently in any of the separate directives".

Therefore, in many European countries such as France, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands, light quadricycles can be driven without a full motor car (category B) or motorcycle (category A) driver’s licence, and in some countries without any licence at all (being vehicules sans permis). However, in more recent years there has usually been at least a requirement to obtain a basic road safety certificate (e.g. BSR and ASSR1 in France, analogous to CBT in the UK) along with at least a provisional A1/B1 class licence, meaning only older drivers (typically those who came of legal driving age before 1998) retain permission to literally drive such vehicles "without a licence".