e-Bike Trend Hits Eurobike

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany – The e-bike trend which already has a huge impact on the bike market in The Netherlands and is now starting in other European countries, will also hit this year’s Eurobike. The exhibition area that Eurobike organizers have allocated for e-Bike makers and suppliers is twice as big as it was in previous years.

“More than 50 top brands will be exhibited at Eurobike; all leading e-bike makers will be in Friedrichshafen,” says Stefan Reisinger, Project Manager. Visitors will be able to test drive new models in the Zeppelinhalle and at the new area near the East Entrance.

“E-bikes are hot right now,” says Siegfried Neuberger, General Manager of Germany's bicycle industry association (ZIV), summing up the mood in the market. In the last few years the e-Bike market grew with amazing speed. 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.

For the whole of Europe e-Bikes sales in 2008 are estimated at about 500,000 units. For this year at least a 650,000 – 700,000 unit sales is expected. Because of its high average retail price which stands at about € 1,500 for the whole of Europe, e-Bikes are becoming a real money maker for the industry.

For the long term e-Bikes experts expect the same as what happened with Mountain Bikes which has since the early nineties a huge impact on the market. Gianni Mazzeo, export manager at Biketec; the Swiss manufacturer that became one of leaders on the e-bike market with their Flyer brand, says: “E-bikes have currently reached a market share of around 2 percent of the European bicycle market. We anticipate the same sharp increase we experienced with the mountain bike.”

The market is also expected to gain momentum with the new “high-speed e-bike class”. These are built with more powerful motors which bring a top speed of 45 kilometers p/h. In contrast to other e-bikes, these models are legally viewed as mopeds requiring European type approval.

Eurobike 2009 takes place from Wednesday through Saturday, 2-5 September. 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 the Eurobike Demo Day will take place for retailers and journalists close by at Argenbühl.