Amsterdam, the Netherlands — Bike Europe reported recently on the success that ebike manufacturers are finding.
Germany is still the largest bicycle-producer in Europe, but it is currently being outnumbered in terms of value by the Netherlands. The vast difference in price between a regular bicycle and an e-Bike is the reason behind this ranking change.
The Dutch statistics agency (CBS) reported that the bikes produced in Europe last year were valued € 1.9 billion, of which 30% came from the Netherlands. The second in ranking is Germany with € 340 billion (18% of the total market) and third is France with € 170 billion (8% of the total market).
In 2008 the total Dutch bike production output was valued at € 577 million, a rise of 20% related to 2007. The Netherlands owes this leading position to a high average value per unit, boosted in the past years by the rising popularity of e-Bikes. Due to the advanced technology the average value of an e-Bike is far above that of a standard bike.
Last year the Dutch bought approximately 125,000 e-Bikes, approximately 10% of the market in volume. It is expected that this will rise to 25-30% in five years time.
See the original article at: E-Bikes Turns Bike Bizz into Big Billion Business.
