E-bikes have gained velocity on the bicycle market

Crisis, what crisis? The producers of electric power-assisted bicycles, known in the industry as e-bikes or pedelecs, have bigger things on their minds than worrying about incoming orders. Quite the contrary! If you ask an e-bike maker about what’s troubling them you’ll get complaints about production capacities and how it’s affecting the rate drive components are being delivered. E-bikes are all the rage on the bicycle market. A success that is comparable with the sharp increase in mountain bike sales about two decades ago. And on the EUROBIKE, the world’s leading and biggest trade fair for the bicycle industry, the e-bike segment is gaining speed.

The EUROBIKE international bicycle trade show will take place from 2 to 5 September 2009 on the Friedrichshafen Messe fairgrounds. The EUROBIKE team is convinced they will exceed the target goal of 1,000 exhibitors by the beginning of September 2009.

E-bikes’ big appearance
The e-bike will be able to make an even bigger appearance on the EUROBIKE 2009. Visitors will be able to test drive new models in the Zeppelinhalle and in the new Freigelände Ost. The exhibition area for the E-bike sector is twice as big as it was in previous years. “More than 50 top brand bikes will be exhibited at the EUROBIKE; all leading e-bike makers will be in Friedrichshafen,” says Stefan Reisinger, Project Manager.

Strong market
“E-bikes are hot right now,” says Siegfried Neuberger, General Manager of Germany's bicycle industry association (ZIV), summing up the mood on the market. In the last few years the E-bike market grew with amazing velocity. Annual sales in Germany at about 100,000 units basically quadrupled from 2005 to 2008. And the sector has already calculated in another increase for this year. Although it’s not clear how high the increase will be, experts anticipate another increase of 20 to 50 percent.

The object of desire is by and large still the e-bike in the 25 kilometers per hour class, the “H-class”. Models that offer assisted cycling for speeds up to 25 kilometers per hour and usually powered by a 250 watt motor.

New target groups
Every employee’s dream can come true: to zip through the city streets and arrive at the office perspiration free. E-bikes are also becoming popular with those bicyclists who ride in groups of various physical conditions. The battery-powered two-wheelers also have the potential of winning new target groups for bicycling – namely those who find cycling simply too much of an effort and take the car even for short distances.

“We think the market will grow even stronger,” says Gianni Mazzeo, Head of Exports at Biketec, a Swiss manufacturer that became one of leaders on the e-bike market with their Flyer brand e-bike. “E-bikes have currently reached a market share,” explains Mazzeo, “of around 2 percent of the European bicycle market. We anticipate the same sharp increase we experienced with the mountain bike,” predicts the Flyer manufacturer about the e-bike segment.
The market should receive more momentum with the new “high-speed e-bike class”. These are built with more powerful motors – assisted pedaling shuts off automatically only at 45 kilometers per hour. In contrast to other e-bikes, this model is largely viewed by law-makers as a moped, requiring insurance and a moped (class M) driver’s license.

This new high-speed class should mostly attract everyday bikers. After all, those who cycle regularly know that going faster than 25 kilometers per hour can stretch the limits of physical capacity. The more powerful motor raises this target group’s fun factor.

The EUROBIKE will take place from Wednesday through Saturday, 2-5 September 2009. The first three days are reserved for trade visitors, but the event also opens its doors to interested consumers on Saturday, 5 September. Beyond that on Tuesday, 1 September EUROBIKE Demo Day will take place for retailers and journalists close by at Argenbühl in Allgäu.

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