BRUSSELS, Belgium - That 2024 was a challenging year for European e-bike markets is no secret. How bad though, is now revealed in the latest EU e-bike import statistics published by Eurostat. The volume of e-bikes imports dropped 27% year-on-year to 642,000 units, slipping below the pre-covid level of 705,000 units in 2019. The import value fared even worse, with a 33% drop year-on-year.

ZEIST, The Netherlands - Imports of e-bikes into the EU reached almost 200,000 units in Q3 of 2024, almost matching the same volume of Q3 in 2023. Although there were signs of market recovery with an increase in e-bikes entering EU shores in Q2, the overall year-on-year decrease in the first nine months of 2024 is 28% compared to 2023. Perhaps more important, this is not counteracted by a higher import value.

ZEIST, The Netherlands - Between April and June this year, the number of e-bikes imported into the EU rose to 223,000 units almost matching the same period last year. Significantly, this figure is almost double the amount imported in the first quarter of the year. All top 3 importing countries, Taiwan, Vietnam and China significantly increased the number of units entering the EU during this time period. However, at what cost?

FRANKFURT, Germany - The fact that the US e-bike market is lagging behind European counterparts is well-known within the industry. A forecast based on a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30% over the next 7 years could see the US e-bike market reach 6.7 million units and match regular bicycle sales in 2030. This data presented at Eurobike by eCycleElectric however, represented the most optimistic scenario.

ZEIST, The Netherlands - With 81,353 e-bike units imported into the EU-27 in the month of May, this almost matches the 83,000 units imported in the same period as last year, the latest Eurostat data shows. No doubt encouraging another sigh of relief for the bicycle market in Europe, e-bike imports per month have only continued to rise in 2024.

ZEIST, the Netherlands - With key markets reporting double-digit sales drops, inventories sky-high and heavy discounting attempting to rid the industry of burdening overstock, e-bike and bicycle imports into the EU nose-dived throughout 2023. With the first quarter of 2024 import data now available from Eurostat, a picture can be drawn of how this year's market might unfold… and there is a glimmer of hope.