AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands - The e-Bike was an excellent seller for the Dutch bike market in 2008. In the other main European bike market, Germany, electric bicycles also gained momentum. Many other European E-bike companies are gaining momentum as well.
According to the Dutch industry organizations RAI and BOVAG, the number of e-Bikes sold in 2008 rose to about 140,000 units. In Germany 2008 sales totalled at 100,000 units. For 2009 this number is expected to grow with about 25 to 30%, says the German ZIV association.
For the entire European Union with its current 27 member states 2008 sales are estimated by some industry associations at 300,000 units (which seems too low eying the fact that only in Holland and Germany sales stood last year already at about a quarter of a million units).
In the world biggest e-Bike market, China, the business remained strong last year. Total 2008 sales stood at 21 million electric bicycles. According to officials at the China Bicycle Association (CBA), the ebike business of China is strong, with only a modest 4% reduction in export of complete e-Bikes due to economic crises last year.
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.
Source: BikeEU.com
