Electric two-wheelers in Europe – the latest developments in 2023

With the change in the way people travel, the electric two-wheeler market has shown rapid growth around the world in recent years, and Europe is no exception. This article will present the latest developments of the European electric two-wheeler market in 2023, represented by Belgium, which is the country with fastest growing speed.

Europe electric bicycle market status

Europe bicycle market growth generally slowed down in 2022, but the total market was still huge. In 2022, European bicycle market sales increased to 22 million, the market size also reached 9.681.99 million US dollars. Some kinds of electric bicycles maintained a high market growth rate, such as electric transport bicycles, electric mountain bikes and so on. This year, the European bicycle market growth has maintained an upward trend.

With the development and popularization of the industry, the market growth situation dominated by Germany, France and Italy in the past has changed, among which Belgium has jumped to become the fastest growing electric bicycle market with an increase of 47%.

Compared with neighboring markets such as Germany and the Netherlands, in the past, Belgium’s electric bicycle market share did not grow fast, until last year, the lifting of supply chain restrictions prompted a sharp rebound in the electric bicycle and bicycle overall market, and like many other EU countries, electric bicycles are the main thrust of sales growth in Belgium’s bicycle market. The overall market size increased from 584,913 units in 2021 to 685,871 units last year, a 19% increase.

The Belgian bicycle market sold 569,112 units in 2019, and 592,107 units in 2020, 584,913 units in 2021, and 685,871 units in 2022, of which the sales of electric bicycles was 193,626 units in 2019 and 228,400 units in 2020. 226,294 units in 2021, and 2022 is the year of the Belgian bicycle market’s highest growth, with sales of 328,080 units, and the growth reached a high of 47%.

Electric bicycle penetration and price in Europe

According to forecasts, the European electric bicycle market is expected to reach 50% penetration in 2025, and sales will exceed 12 million.

From 2019 to 2021, the electric bicycle market share in Belgium was about one-third, and the growth rate wasn’t big, but last year electric bicycles accounted for 91.7% of the entire market growth. Within four years, the market share of electric bicycles has developed from one-third to nearly half, and the Belgian electric bicycle market has accounted for more than 47%. In IBD sales accounted for 53%.

If classify the Belgian bicycle market, the highest sales are electric transport bicycles, with 150,000 units sold, accounting for 21.57% of the market. The other top five categories were variable speed electric bikes (117,675), mountain bikes (88,943), variable speed metropolitan/recreational/dirt bikes (76,151), and road bikes (67,220).

Belgium has always been one of the most important markets for high-speed electric assisted bicycles in Europe, with the market in this category growing by 42.1% to 17,711 units, up from 134.17 million units in 2019. Multi-channel (including online sales) electric bicycle sales have increased, but the growth rate is much lower than the professional trade, where traditional mechanical bikes still maintain a dominant position, but the replacement rate of electric bicycles to the bicycle market will be increasingly high in the future.

With the increasing market share of electric bicycles, the position of wheel gears also follows the rising tide of electric bicycles, surpassing the bicycles loaded with variable speed drive systems, and this trend also echoes the increasing price of bicycles.

The average price of an electric bicycle in Belgium increased by 4% in 2021 compared to 2020, from €2,191 to €2,283, and the average selling price of a bike increased by more than 8% from €2,031 to €2,197. The high-end market in Belgium is more favored by consumers, and electric bicycles priced above 3,000 euros have also seen significant growth.

Reasons for the growth of the Europe electric bicycle market

Policy incentive
In order to practice the development trend of green environmental protection and low-carbon travel, countries have introduced subsidy policies and carbon neutrality policies to reduce the cost of purchasing short-distance travel vehicles, and Europe is no exception. For example, France has a maximum subsidy of 500 euros for citizens who buy electric bicycles. The German government has a maximum subsidy of 1,000 euros for new energy trucks and 500 euros for electric bicycles. The Swedish government subsidizes 25% of the sale price of each power-assisted electric bicycle sold, up to 1,000 euros.

Travel mode stimulation
With the popularity of the concept of environmental protection and the trend of replace oil with electricity, electric bicycles have become a choice for more people to travel. In addition, in Europe and the United States, their public transport routes are also conducive to the use of products like electric bicycles. Coupled with the rise of riding culture in Europe and the United States, electric bicycles have a wider range of users.

Corona-virus pandemic
In the three years since the corona-virus pandemic spread, whether it is a requirement of public policy or the need for personal travel, reducing the use of public transport has become the consensus of overseas people. Especially in short trips, such as commuting to work or daily life, they will be more inclined to use convenient and fast electric two-wheelers to reduce the risk of infection and improve travel efficiency.

Chinese manufacturers entering the Europe market

Statistics from the General Administration of Customs of China show that from 2019 to 2021, the import and export scale of China’s electric bicycles has been growing, mainly the export trade. In 2021, China exported 22.9 million electric bicycles, which was an increase of 27.7%. And the exports reached 5.29 billion US dollars, up to a growth rate of 50.8% year on year. At the same time, data from the European Union’s statistical office show that the market share of Chinese electric bicycles in Europe is steadily climbing, which means a good opportunity for Chinese electric bicycle manufacturers to go overseas.

Due to the increasing demand in the international market, the electric two-wheeler industry is going further overseas, accelerating the road of internationalization of the industry. Based on this, the future electric two-wheeler industry will show the trend of alienation, high-end, intelligent and international. In the future, not only the top 10 electric motorcycle manufacturers in the world, China’s electric two-wheeler manufacturers will also change from mainly relying on local to both local and overseas markets.

In this background, at present, many local electric bicycle manufacturers in China are laying out overseas markets, or opening overseas flagship stores, or entering offline stores, and many manufacturers have successfully opened sales channels to sell electric bicycles to the world.

Aima
Aima is a leading electric two-wheeler manufacturer in China, who not only have high sales of electric series of riding products in China, but also opened up overseas markets and achieved good results. Aima products are mainly exported to North America, Europe, Southeast Asia and other regions.

According to Aima’s report for the first half of 2022, its international business revenue was 117 million RMB, with a year-on-year increase of 111.69%. In terms of international channels, Aima has set up several marketing teams according to the current international product categories, and implemented channel expansion plans tailored to local conditions according to the regional characteristics and consumption habits of their major markets, which is conducive to the increase of sales in the international market.

Yadea Group
As the largest electric two-wheeler manufacturer in China, Yadea said that with the entry of Chinese companies into the European market and the acceleration of the penetration of electric two-wheelers in Southeast Asia, the overseas market is an attractive opportunity for the group. In view of this, Yadea will accelerate its globalization strategy by establishing global R&D centers, factories and distribution networks, as well as through potential mergers and acquisitions.

Niu Technologies
Earlier, Niu Technologies released the latest electric bicycle BQi, and is continuing to make efforts to layout the global market. At present, Niu Electric has 153 flagship stores, specialty stores, and more than 1,000 authorized dealers, and has cooperated with e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and AliExpress, and has entered consumer electronics stores across Europe and the United States.

According to its financial report, the total global sales of Niu Technologies in 2021 reached 1,037,914 units, an increase of 72.5%. Among which the global market performed especially well in the fourth quarter, with sales reaching 32,949 units, a year-on-year increase of 155.8%.