Are electric skateboards legal in South Dakota?
No statute names the device. South Dakota puts the ordinary skateboarder on foot: a person riding a skateboard is a pedestrian under its pedestrian chapter. It never says whether that is still true once the board has a motor. The one electric class written for small devices, the motorized foot scooter, requires handlebars.
130 electric skateboards in stock in the United States, priced at each shop ↓
What the law says
| What the text says | Section | |
|---|---|---|
| The skateboarder is a pedestrian | “The term, pedestrian, when used in this chapter means any person moving or traveling on foot, including any person wearing roller skates, <b>riding on a skateboard</b>, or riding on an electric personal assistive device.” The sentence does not say whether a board with a motor is still “a skateboard”, and we do not answer for it. | SDCL 32-27-1.1 |
| The electric scooter class needs handlebars | A motorized foot scooter is “a wheeled conveyance, with handlebars, designed to be stood or sat upon by the operator, and powered by an electric motor that is capable of propelling the device with or without human propulsion”, on no more than two wheels of 12 inches or less, capped at 15 mph. A skateboard does not fit. | SDCL 32-26-21.4 |
| The self-balancing class is not a board | The electric personal assistive device is “a self-balancing two non-tandem wheeled device, designed to transport only one person, with an electric propulsion system that limits the maximum speed of the device to fifteen miles per hour or less.” | SDCL 32-26-21.2 |
| The general definition | The traffic chapter defines “Motor vehicle,” as “a vehicle that is self-propelled. The term does not include an electric bicycle or multi-passenger quadricycle”. We stop at the definition: nothing in the code names the electric skateboard, and we do not supply the missing step. | SDCL 32-14-1(17) |
Each row is the statute's own content, reduced to plain wording where it is long and quoted directly where the exact words matter. The section in the last column is a link to the text.
Electric skateboards in stock in the United States
Priced at shops in the United States, in the currency they charge. Real deals and new lows first, then the lowest price; checked twice a day at the shop itself. We do not rate boards and take no payment for a place here.
| Product | Best price | Verdict | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
WowGo 2S MAX Electric Skateboard & Longboard
🇺🇸renewableoutdoors.com |
US$349.00 | ✓Real deal | |
MEEPO V5 Electric Skateboard
🇺🇸renewableoutdoors.com |
US$379.00 | ✓Real deal | |
WowGo Mini 2S Electric Skateboard & Shortboard
🇺🇸renewableoutdoors.com |
US$444.00 | ✓Real deal | |
MEEPO Flow Electric Skateboard
🇺🇸renewableoutdoors.com |
US$749.00US$649.00 | ✓Real deal | |
Exway Flex Paragon Electric Skateboard
🇺🇸renewableoutdoors.com |
US$1799.00US$1059.00 | ✓Real deal | |
Onewheel Pint X
🇺🇸ridechargedwheels.com |
US$1100.00 | ✓Real deal |
All 130 electric skateboards from shops in the United States · today's real deals · the cheapest one · 37 under $500 · 113 under $1,000 · what one costs · recalls and safety alerts.
Sources
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SDCL 32-27-1.1 — Pedestrian defined.
Official source, read 2026-09-24.
Read from the South Dakota Legislature’s site. We searched the whole of Title 32 (motor vehicles): the word skateboard appears only here. - SDCL 32-26-21.4 — Motorized foot scooter defined. Official source, read 2026-09-24.
- SDCL 32-26-21.2 — Electric personal assistive device defined. Official source, read 2026-09-24.
- SDCL 32-14-1(17) — Traffic regulation — definitions. Official source, read 2026-09-24.
Every source on this page is the text as published by the legislature or the state agency itself. Open them.
How South Dakota compares
The same four questions for South Dakota and its neighbours, each linked to its own page and citations. All 99 jurisdictions we have read are side by side on Compare all jurisdictions.
| Jurisdiction | Status | Helmet | Speed limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Dakota | Unaddressed | no rule naming the device | — |
| Iowa | Regulated | no rule naming the device | — |
| Minnesota | Unaddressed | no rule naming the device | — |
| Montana | Regulated | no rule naming the device | — |
| Nebraska | Unaddressed | no rule naming the device | — |
| North Dakota | Prohibited | no rule naming the device | — |
| Wyoming | Named only | no rule naming the device | — |
Compare all 99 jurisdictions →
The spread is the point. These are neighbouring jurisdictions regulating the same object, and they do not agree on what it is, how fast it may go, who may ride it, or whether it may be ridden at all. A rider who crosses a state line is, quite often, subject to a different legal category rather than a stricter version of the same one — which is why a single national answer to this question does not exist and why anyone offering you one has stopped reading the law.
It also explains why so many rows say the device is unaddressed. Most vehicle codes were written before this machine existed, and a legislature that has not revisited them has not thereby permitted anything — it has left the question to a general classification and to your city.
What about a Onewheel?
No text we read for South Dakota names a board with a single wheel. The reading above is for electric skateboards; whether a Onewheel falls in the same class, another one or none is a question the statutes here do not answer, and neither do we. 11 jurisdictions do name it — Are Onewheels legal?
Onewheel prices, read at the shops: what a Onewheel costs new · used Onewheel prices · Onewheel or electric skateboard · buy or sell a used one.
What this page does not tell you
- It is not legal advice, and it never says you may ride. It says what the statute says, and links it.
- It does not cover municipal law. Cities regulate sidewalks, parks, paths and often these devices by name. Those rules sit on top of everything above.
- It does not cover private property, insurance, or what happens after an accident.
- It may be out of date. Every source carries the day we read it. A statute amended since then will not have updated itself here.
Across the border: North Dakota · Minnesota · Iowa · Nebraska · Wyoming · Montana. Every other jurisdiction: the full list.
Questions this raises
Are electric skateboards legal in South Dakota?
No law we can find defines an electric skateboard. What applies instead is a general vehicle classification and, in practice, your municipality. South Dakota puts the ordinary skateboarder on foot: a person riding a skateboard is a pedestrian under its pedestrian chapter. It never says whether that is still true once the board has a motor. The one electric class written for small devices, the motorized foot scooter, requires handlebars.
Is a Onewheel legal in South Dakota?
No statute we read for South Dakota names a board with a single wheel, so the law there does not answer directly. For electric skateboards, the status we found is: no statute names the device. Only 11 of the 99 jurisdictions we read name a one-wheel board: Utah, Quebec, Queensland, Tasmania, Seattle, South Korea, Belgium, British Columbia, New York, Victoria, the Netherlands.
Do I need a helmet in South Dakota?
No rule naming this device addresses helmets in the sources we have read for South Dakota. Your municipality may have one.
How fast am I allowed to go in South Dakota?
No speed limit specific to this device appears in the sources we have read for South Dakota.
Does this cover city rules?
No. This page reads state, provincial or national law only. Municipal codes frequently add rules — on sidewalks, parks and paths especially — and where the state has written nothing, the city has written everything.
How do I check this myself?
Open the links in the sources below. Every row in the table above names the section it comes from, and every source shows the date we read it. That is the whole point of the page: you should not have to take our word for it.