# Title 39 — Motor Vehicles

## Chapter 39-10.3 — Experimental Vehicles

### § 39-10.3-01. Definitions.

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Chase vehicle" means a motor vehicle that accompanies an experimental vehicle
while operating on a highway.
2. "Experimental vehicle" means a vehicle with an unladen weight of six thousand
pounds [2721.55 kilograms] or less which may be equipped with any configuration of
axles and wheels and which is primarily powered by some source other than a
combustion engine, muscle, or an animal.
### § 39-10.3-02. Applicability.

An experimental vehicle is a motor vehicle under this title, except:
1. Chapter 39-22 does not apply to experimental vehicles.
2. Registration of an experimental vehicle is governed by this chapter.
3. The governing body of a political subdivision may regulate, restrict, or prohibit the use
of an experimental vehicle operating within the political subdivision's corporate limits in
areas under the jurisdiction of the political subdivision.
### § 39-10.3-03. Experimental vehicle registration - Application - Issuance - Fees -

Renewal.
1. An individual may not operate an experimental vehicle unless the vehicle has been
registered in accordance with this chapter.
2. The department shall design and furnish an application that must be used to register
an experimental vehicle. The registration must state the name and address of every
owner of the experimental vehicle and must be signed by at least one owner. A copy of
the application is evidence of registration for the first thirty days after the date of
application.
3. On receipt of an application and the appropriate fee, the department shall register the
experimental vehicle and assign a registration number and a certificate of registration.
The certificate of registration must include information regarding name and address of
the owner.
4. The fee for registration of an experimental vehicle is fifty dollars for each registration
cycle of one year ending on March thirty-first. The department may prorate the initial
registration fee. For a duplicate or replacement registration number or registration card
that is lost, mutilated, or becomes illegible, the department may charge a fee of not
more than five dollars.
5. To renew a registration, the owner of an experimental vehicle shall follow the
procedure adopted by the department and pay the registration fee.
6. The department may adopt rules for the registration of experimental vehicles and the
display of registration numbers.
### § 39-10.3-04. Exemption from fees.

Payment of fees is not required of an experimental vehicle owned and used by the United
States, a state or any of its agencies, institutions, or political subdivisions; an experimental
vehicle registered in a foreign country and temporarily used in this state; or an experimental
vehicle validly licensed in another state and which has not been in this state for more than thirty
consecutive days.
### § 39-10.3-05. Transfer or termination of experimental vehicle ownership - Change of

address of owner.
Within fifteen days of a transfer of any ownership interest in an experimental vehicle, other
than a security interest, the destruction or abandonment of any experimental vehicle, or a
change of address of the owner as listed with the application for registration, written notice of

the fact must be given by the last registered owner to the director in the form the director
requires.
### § 39-10.3-06. Rules of operation.

A person may not operate an experimental vehicle on a highway without being
accompanied by a chase vehicle. The chase vehicle must follow the experimental vehicle at a
safe-driving distance.
### § 39-10.3-07. Equipment.

An experimental vehicle must be equipped with a horn, front and rear turn signal lamps,
stop lamps, a balanced and coreactive dual-braking system, a windshield, a safety belt installed
at each seating position, an exterior mirror mounted on the operator's side of the vehicle, a roll
cage that encompasses the entire driver, fresh air intake vents or wheel openings, and either an
exterior mirror mounted on the passenger's side of the vehicle or an interior rearview mirror.
### § 39-10.3-08. Penalty.

A violation of this chapter for which there is no penalty in this title is a class B misdemeanor.
