E-bike expansion in Europe

[flecc]

Bike Europe report that the German Eurobike show has doubled the space allocated for e-bikes, reflecting the huge sales expansion of these throughout Europe. Full details in this story:

E-bikes sales in Europe
.

 

[CDinFrance]

They are everywhere

When I got my first ebike in 2001, I would perhaps see one per month on the street. Now I see them every day...

 

[flecc]

When I got my first ebike in 2001, I would perhaps see one per month on the street. Now I see them every day...

Not so in Britain yet, where with over 13% of the population of Europe we have less than 4% of the e-bike sales.

It is improving slowly, but at nothing like the rate of increase in the main European countries.
.

 

[frank9755]

Last week in the Loire in France we didn't see a single one (outside the shop we hired ours from), but in the Netherlands last month we were rarely out of sight of one!

 

[flecc]

Last week in the Loire in France we didn't see a single one (outside the shop we hired ours from), but in the Netherlands last month we were rarely out of sight of one!

I suppose they are going to be disproportionately evident in the Netherlands anyway, given the huge difference in size of France and Germany. Germany's 100,000 sold will soon disappear, spread over that very large country.
.

 

[frank9755]

When I got my first ebike in 2001, I would perhaps see one per month on the street. Now I see them every day...

Just re-read my post - I wasn't meaning to dispute what you said, just add another data point but apologise if it comes over like that!

Which area of France are you in?

 

[jac]

hi one big noticeable differece is they have 2 test tracks for e bikes, yet last year at the london bike show you could not test ride any e bikes there as there were no facilities

 

[Bigbee]

During the last year or so of staring at cyclists bikes looking for batteries or motors,Ive seen two electric bikes in the UK.

 

[CDinFrance]

Ebikes in France - and Switzerland

I actually live very close to the Swiss border near Geneva, so I cross over to the Geneva area on my commute every day. So perhaps I should correct my statement and say that I see Ebikes in the 'Geneva area' every day...

By the way, if anyone is in the area on holiday or otherwise, there is an excellent shop near here with a good selection of Ebikes on test, and the test ride area is in a beautiful area of vineyards in rolling hills near lake Geneva. Easycycle, le spécialiste suisse du vélo électrique (à Gilly, dans le canton de Vaud, entre Lausanne et Genève)

 

[lectureral]

You live within a mile or so of me CD - I did reply to your PM a while back - I had not noticed it for a while - I also often ebike over the border (never been asked for my passport yet). I bought my bike at easycycles and found them very good.

 

[frank9755]

That figures - when I was in Switzerland a couple of years ago, I saw quite a few e-bikes! Mostly they were Flyers. I think Berne in particular had a good few - probably saw half a dozen in an afternoon.

None in Brittany last year or the Loire this summer.

 

[poppy]

There are very very few e-bikes here in Spain. And here where I live I´m known as the guy who has one. I´ve seen another one. And that´s it. People find them too expensive and difficult to service as they an unknown element.

 

[AndyOfTheSouth]

Do you Geneva folks ever pop up to Chatel for a bit of skiing? Not necessarily by bike, of course... just wondering. It's a place I am rather fond of... sigh!

 

[Andy_82]

got to improve

Not so in Britain yet, where with over 13% of the population of Europe we have less than 4% of the e-bike sales.

It is improving slowly, but at nothing like the rate of increase in the main European countries.
.

This industry is still new despite it's few years old. The electric bikes will be more and more popular in the next few years and I think we will have a little china here in the UK in about 10 years time

 

[flecc]

This industry is still new despite it's few years old. The electric bikes will be more and more popular in the next few years and I think we will have a little china here in the UK in about 10 years time

I'd like to think that's true, but in the two decades of commercial e-bikes and my last six years of riding with power, I've yet to see another one being ridden, and I'm in a London borough!

They are doing well in the Netherlands and Germany in particular mainly because those are already cycling countries, and that's true of China as well. Britain hasn't been a cycling country since the end of the 1950s and the majority of our population seems determined to follow the example of the car mad USA.

It doesn't help that so many of our safety obsessed parents won't allow their kids to have bikes so they never learn to ride one.
.

 

[TwistNgo]

In Guernsey where I am I see an electric bike nearly every day. I work in the main town in Guernsey St Peter Port so alot of people E bike to work.

Yesterday I saw 2 bikes a Powacycle Salisbury and a Powacycle ladies windsor.

But by far the most common bike I see is Powabyke Euro/Commuter.

I guess on a small hilly island an E bike is the perfect mode of transport.

 

[frank9755]

I'd like to think that's true, but in the two decades of commercial e-bikes and my last six years of riding with power, I've yet to see another one being ridden, and I'm in a London borough!

They are doing well in the Netherlands and Germany in particular mainly because those are already cycling countries, and that's true of China as well...

...and Cambridge too. I was there yesterday and within a minute of coming out of the station i saw one - an old model Powabyke being ridden by an elderly lady. Saw a second five minutes later, parked outside a pub. It was an izip with the Currie motor mounted by the back wheel. First time I'd seen one of those and it looked slightly odd.

 

[flecc]

...and Cambridge too. I was there yesterday and within a minute of coming out of the station i saw one - an old model Powabyke being ridden by an elderly lady. Saw a second five minutes later, parked outside a pub. It was an izip with the Currie motor mounted by the back wheel. First time I'd seen one of those and it looked slightly odd.

I remember that when we discussed sightings a very long time ago it seemed that Grimsby was the e-bike capital of Britain, judging by the number and range of sightings reported there by member Electric Mike. There's certainly a huge range of geographical variation, neither of the two Croydon retailers selling them doing well at all, one of them hardly bothering any more, so it's little wonder I never see them.

The thread covering this was "How many Electric Bikes do you see on the roads"

from October 2006 onwards.
.