AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands - The electric bicycle was the driving force for the Dutch bike market in 2008. In the other main European bike market, Germany, electric bikes are now gaining momentum while also in other markets in Europe electric bicycles are beating the financial crisis with ongoing sales growth.
According to the Dutch industry organizations RAI and BOVAG,in 2008 the number of e-Bikes has risen to about 140,000 units beyond all expectations. Total sales in Germany 2008 raise to 100,000 units. Says the German ZIV association this number is expected to grow with about 25 to 30% for 2009.
According to industry associations,sales it is said to grow to about 400,000 on the expectations for Europe’s 2009. This number again seems at the low end of the scale given the fact that in Europe’s main markets, Germany and the Netherlands, the public interest in e-Bikes even folding electric bikes is at a high level.
The e-Bike business in china remained strong last year which is the world biggest e-Bike market. Total 2008 sales stood at 21 million electric bicycles. According to officials at the China Bicycle Association (CBA),due to economic crises last year the ebike business of China is strong with only a modest 4% reduction in export of complete e-Bikes.
China’s 2008 exports stood at 580,000 complete e-Bikes which were exported to 170 different countries. The CBA figures do not include the very large numbers of CKD and SKD electric bikes that are exported to India and the EU. With them included sales may be much larger than the export number suggest.
The recently founded Light Electric Vehicle Association as well as the EU and USA says on the dynamic growth in the last year in India, many smaller markets Even in the difficult year, it is easy to see that electric bicycles are a very important vehicle category that is becoming one of the top 5 vehicle categories used by humans worldwide.”
