The COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenging time period for many companies. However, history has shown that, especially in difficult times, businesses with the right strategy can make decisive steps for their future. The EBFEC Group is an excellent example of exactly that. After the firm had already been founded in Shenzhen in 2008, the founders decided in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, to once again accelerate their company's growth course of the previous years - and open a factory in Wroclaw, a city next to the Oder River in the Southwest of Poland.
More than just a classic assembler
"We chose the most challenging time to start this new business in Poland because we believe in the future of e-mobility," says Nico Law. He is one of three founders of EBFEC, an emerging enterprise specialising in research and development, design, manufacturing, sales and after-sales services of complete lithium battery electric bicycles. "From the very beginning, we wanted to establish EBFEC as a classical bike brand. However, we quickly realised that our real strength is versatility. That's why we wanted to support the entire e-mobility industry rather than just focusing on our own brand," Law explains.
EBFEC is short for "Electric bicycle for every customer", an abbreviation summarising the company's claim very well. "In the past 11 years, our company has accumulated high-quality and stable customers in more than 30 countries and regions such as Europe, America and Asia, etc. We insist on independent innovation and have dozens of new research and development products every year," Nico Law states. He refers here to the fact that EBFEC caters to both European and Chinese brands, supporting them with their R&D and assembly capacities. "We have already worked with well-known brands such as Ducati, Blaupunkt, Falcon, EGO movements, and many public sharing e-bike brands. Today, our products are visible in over 280 cities across Europe," Law says.
State-of-the-art e-bike production in Poland
The heart of EBFEC's mission of accelerating the pace of e-bike manufacturing in Europe is the factory in Wroclaw. Several factors drove the decision to establish a factory in Poland, as Law explains. "The country's potential in e-mobility and its location in the heart of Europe was one reason, and the high anti-dumping fees for exporting from China to Europe were another. Additionally, we also saw the increasing demand for e-mobility products. Therefore, it was a logical step to open a factory here," he says.
The production site covers an area of about 10,000 square meters and has two professional lithium battery electric bicycle production lines with an annual output of more than 200,000 units. In total, more than 120 people work here and manufacture e-bikes and similar e-mobility products such as e-scooters. "Our latest annual turnover was €40 million. This proves that the path we took was definitely the right one. And at the same time, it also shows how much demand there is for high-quality e-bike production facilities in Europe these days," Law states.
He emphasises the last sentence in particular because the topic of quality control is especially important to the EBFEC team. "From the initial raw materials to the final product, we follow strict inspection procedures in every single process. Thus, we guarantee that each EBFEC electric bicycle delivered to our customers is of the highest quality. The safety of our customers is our paramount responsibility," he explains.
Seeking new partnerships in Europe and Asia
EBFEC's goals for the future are ambitious. "We want to use our influence to attract Chinese or Taiwanese suppliers to Wroclaw to build our own bike industry supply chain in Poland," Nico Law shares. He further emphasises their intention to elevate their visibility among European companies, stating: "We also want European brands to recognise that despite its relatively brief history, our factory in Poland is on an exponential growth trajectory."
With an eye on further expansion, EBFEC is preparing for a significant presence at the forthcoming Eurobike show in Germany. The company plans not only to showcase EBFEC but also to introduce a new business model - a novel venture that provides rental e-bikes to the food delivery industry in Poland.
"EBFEC is not merely an e-bike assembly factory," Law says. "It's a company reshaping the e-mobility landscape in Europe. Our unwavering commitment to quality, innovative services, and strategic alliances ensure we remain at the forefront of this vibrant industry. And the establishment of our Poland site amid the COVID-19 pandemic has paved the way for these aspirations to become a reality."
This article is sponsored by EBFEC.