E-bikes gain popularity in Netherlands
Posted on in Cycles News
The Dutch industry-association RAI have announced the 2015 sales figures for bicycles and e-bikes.
The sale of electric bikes in the Netherlands has been rising steadily and one in five bikes now bought has an electric motor.
In 2015 alone, there was a 24% increase in sales to 276,000 units. In Germany e-bike sales showed a similar trend, with double-digit growth in 2015. The sales hike made the average sales price for a new bike sold via Dutch IBDs reach record levels of over one thousand euro.
According to the RAI figures some 53,000 more e-bikes were sold last year compared to 2014. In that year total sales stood at 223,000 units; in 2015 the total came in at 276,000 e-bikes; resulting in a 24% growth.
The 276,000 e-bikes sold is excluding speed e-bikes. Sales of this category upped with 43% to 3,571 units.
E-bike sales were the saving grace for the industry in 2015, with regular bike sales dipping. The total Dutch market saw sales drop by 6.4% to below the one million units level; to 983,000. The total turnover made with bicycle sales in Holland upped by 1.4% to 887 million euro.
The number of electric bikes sold in the Netherlands increased by about 52 percent to 276,000 between 2011 and 2015, while the number of manually powered bicycles fell by 33 percent in the same period.
As the e-bike market grows in Europe, bike shops not only need to consider stocking the products, but mechanics need to be prepared for a growing number of e-bike repairs coming into the workshop. From a mechanical perspective there is still a lot of hesitance towards working on an e-bike as although fundamentally it is the same as a regular bike, the motor and battery provide a new challenge.
To ensure bike mechanics stay up to date with all the new technologies in the market, Cytech aims to provide the skills needed to set up and repair a broad spectrum of electric bicycles along with an understanding of the specific standards and legal aspects that apply to them. In order to do this, the new Cytech technical e-bike course will start being delivered in summer 2016. To find out more click here.