Vehicle category


A vehicle category classifies a land vehicle or trailer for regulatory purposes.

UNECE categories

Information from Consolidated Resolution on the Construction of Vehicles , Revision 6.
Some categories have further sub classes. See Consolidated Resolution on the Construction of Vehicles for further information.
Vehicles in the table listed within parentheses are examples of the vehicle in that category, e.g..
§CategoryDescription
2.1LMotor vehicles with less than four wheels
2.1.1L1A two-wheeled vehicle with an engine cylinder capacity in the case of a thermic engine not exceeding 50 cm³ and whatever the means of propulsion a maximum design speed not exceeding 50 km/h.
2.1.2L2A three-wheeled vehicle of any wheel arrangement with an engine cylinder capacity in the case of a thermic engine not exceeding 50 cm³ and whatever the means of propulsion a maximum design speed not exceeding 50 km/h.
2.1.3L3A two-wheeled vehicle with an engine cylinder capacity in the case of a thermic engine exceeding 50 cm³ or whatever the means of propulsion a maximum design speed exceeding 50 km/h.
2.1.4L4A vehicle with three wheels asymmetrically arranged in relation to the longitudinal median plane with an engine cylinder capacity in the case of a thermic engine exceeding 50 cm³ or whatever the means of propulsion a maximum design speed exceeding 50 km/h.
2.1.5L5A vehicle with three wheels symmetrically arranged in relation to the longitudinal median plane with an engine cylinder capacity in the case of a thermic engine exceeding 50 cm³ or whatever the means of propulsion a maximum design speed exceeding 50 km/h.
2.1.6L6A vehicle 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 whose engine cylinder capacity does not exceed 50 cm³ for spark ignition engines, or whose maximum net power output does not exceed 4 kW in the case of other internal combustion engines, or whose maximum continuous rated power does not exceed 4 kW in the case of electric engines.
2.1.7L7A vehicle with four wheels, other than that classified for the category L6, whose unladen mass is not more than 400 kg, not including the mass of batteries in the case of electric vehicles and whose maximum continuous rated power does not exceed 15 kW.
2.2MVehicles having at least four wheels and used for the carriage of passengers.
2.2.1M1Vehicles used for carriage of passengers, comprising not more than eight seats in addition to the driver's = 9.
2.2.2M2Vehicles used for the carriage of passengers, comprising more than eight seats in addition to the driver's seat, and having a maximum mass not exceeding 5 tonnes.
2.2.3M3Vehicles used for the carriage of passengers, comprising more than eight seats in addition to the driver's seat, and having a maximum mass exceeding 5 tonnes.
2.3NPower-driven vehicles having at least four wheels and used for the carriage of goods
2.3.1N1Vehicles used for the carriage of goods and having a maximum mass not exceeding 3.5 tonnes.
2.3.2N2Vehicles used for the carriage of goods and having a maximum mass exceeding 3.5 tonnes but not exceeding 12 tonnes.
2.3.3N3Vehicles used for the carriage of goods and having a maximum mass exceeding 12 tonnes.
2.4OTrailers
2.4.1O1Trailers with a maximum mass not exceeding 0.75 tonnes.
2.4.2O2Trailers with a maximum mass exceeding 0.75 tonnes, but not exceeding 3.5 tonnes.
2.4.3O3Trailers with a maximum mass exceeding 3.5 tonnes, but not exceeding 10 tonnes.
2.4.4O4Trailers with a maximum mass exceeding 10 tonnes.
2.5Special purpose vehicle
2.5.1Motor caravan, also Campervan, Motorhome.
2.5.2Armored car, Armored car
2.5.3Ambulance
2.5.4Hearse
2.6TAgricultural and Forestry tractors
2.7Non-road mobile machinery
2.8GOff-road vehicles
2.9.2Special purpose vehicles
2.9.2.1SAMotor caravan: see paragraph 2.5.1.
2.9.2.2SBArmoured vehicle: see paragraph 2.5.2.
2.9.2.3SCAmbulance: see paragraph 2.5.3.
2.9.2.4SDHearse: see paragraph 2.5.4.

Category notes

EU classification

In the European Union, the classifications for vehicle category are based on UNECE standards and defined by:
  • Regulation No 168/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 January 2013 on the approval and market surveillance of two- or three-wheel vehicles and quadricycles.
  • Directive 2007/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 September 2007 establishing a framework for the approval of motor vehicles and their trailers, and of systems, components and separate technical units intended for such vehicles.
The EU general classification of vehicle categories is:
  • Two- or three-wheel vehicles and quadricycles:
  • * Category L1e: light two-wheel powered vehicle
  • ** Category L1e-A: powered cycle
  • ** Category L1e-B: two-wheel moped
  • * Category L2e: three-wheel moped
  • ** Category L2e-P: three-wheel moped designed for passenger transport
  • ** Category L2e-U: three wheel moped designed for utility purposes
  • * Category L3e: two-wheel motorcycle
  • ** sub-categorized by performance:
  • *** Category L3e-A1: low-performance motorcycle
  • *** Category L3e-A2: medium-performance motorcycle
  • *** Category L3e-A3: high-performance motorcycle
  • ** sub-categorized by special use:
  • *** Category L3e-A1E, L3e-A2E or L3e-A3E: enduro motorcycle
  • *** Category L3e-A1T, L3e-A2T or L3e-A3T: trial motorcycle
  • * Category L4e: two-wheel motorcycle with side-car
  • * Category L5e: powered tricycle
  • ** Category L5e-A: tricycle
  • ** Category L5e-B: commercial tricycle
  • * Category L6e: light quadricycle
  • ** Category L6e-A: light on-road quad
  • ** Category L6e-B: light quadri-mobile
  • *** Category L6e-BU: light quadri-mobile for utility purposes
  • *** Category L6e-BP: light quadri-mobile for passenger transport
  • * Category L7e: heavy quadricycles
  • ** Category L7e-A: heavy on-road quad
  • *** Category L7e-A1: A1 on-road quad
  • *** Category L7e-A2: A2 on-road quad
  • ** Category L7e-B: heavy all terrain quad
  • *** Category L7e-B1: all terrain quad
  • *** Category L7e-B2: side-by-side buggy
  • ** Category L7e-C: heavy quadri-mobile
  • *** Category L7e-CU: heavy quadri-mobile for utility purposes
  • *** Category L7e-CP: heavy quadri-mobile for passenger transport
  • Motor vehicles with at least four wheels:
  • * Category M: used for the carriage of passengers
  • **Category M1: no more than eight seats in addition to the driver seat
  • **more than eight seats in addition to the driver seat :
  • ***Category M2: having a maximum mass not exceeding
  • ***Category M3: having a maximum mass exceeding 5 tonnes
  • *Category N: used for the carriage of goods :
  • **Category N1: having a maximum mass not exceeding
  • **Category N2: having a maximum mass exceeding 3.5 tonnes but not exceeding
  • **Category N3: having a maximum mass exceeding 12 tonnes
  • Category O: trailers
  • *Category O1: maximum mass not exceeding
  • *Category O2: exceeding 0.75 tonnes but not exceeding
  • *Category O3: exceeding 3.5 tonnes but not exceeding
  • *Category O4: exceeding 10 tonnes
  • Symbol G: off-road vehicles
  • Special purpose vehicles

    European driving licenses

There is also a different category classification for driver licensing purposes.
The table below shows a translation of Vehicle Categories to European Driving Licence Categories, indicating which vehicle class can be driven with which category of licence.
Vehicle CategoryEuropean Driving LicenceNotes
L1eAM
L2eAM
L3e-A1A1
L3e-A2A2
L3e-A3A
L5eA1, A
L6eAM, B1Cat AM up to 350 kg unladen; cat B1 for four-wheel vehicles up to 550 kg unladen
L7eB1, BCat B1 for four-wheel vehicles up to 550 kg unladen; cat B up to 3.5 tonnes maximum authorised mass
M1B
M2D1, DFor more than 16 seats in addition to the driver's seat Cat D only.
M3D1, DFor more than 16 seats in addition to the driver's seat Cat D only.
N1B
N2C1, CFor mass between 7.5 and 12 tonnes Cat C only.
N3C
O1B, C1, C, D1, D
O2BE, C1E, CE, D1E, DE
O3C1E, CE, D1E, DE
O4C1E, CE

National classification of EU countries

Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic, land vehicle categories are defined by the act No. 56/2001 Sb. and the ordinance No. 341/2002 Sb. Categories M, N, of-road symbol G of M and N vehicles and the category O are defined according to the EU directive. Moreover, there are defined categories:
  • Category L: light motor vehicles
  • * Category LM: bicycles with auxiliary motor
  • * Category LA: two-wheeled mopeds
  • * Category LB: three-wheeled mopeds and light four-wheelers
  • * Category LC: motorcycles
  • * Category LD: motorcycles with sidecars
  • * Category LE: tricars and four-wheelers, four-wheelers of mass not exceeding 400 kg motor power of four-wheeler not exceeding 15 kW
  • Category T: forestry and agricultural tractors
  • * Category T1: standard tractors
  • * Category SPT: tractor trailer industrial machines
  • Category R: other vehicles