E-bike presence continues to grow at Eurobike
Posted on in Business News , Cycles News
E-bikes are continuing to make their mark on the industry across Europe, with a greater presence at this year's Eurobike and reports suggesting sales and demand are booming.
Electric bikes - particularly the emerging e-MTB category - had a huge presence at last year's Eurobike show, and Stefan Reisinger, who heads the trade show as project director, expects that trend to continue this year, with models sporting greater sophistication.
"The whole electric segment is fast growing, and there are a huge number of models coming from e-mountain biking to city and trekking bikes. All the technical integration of the bikes and batteries is getting better and better. That's the area where you're seeing the most innovation right now, because it's still a young category for the bike industry and there's a lot to improve on and move forward on in the future," he said.
At an opening press conference for the show Tuesday at the Messe, Reisinger said the growing presence of e-bikes and other bikes for mobility complements Eurobike's roots as a "pure sports" trade show. "It makes a contribution toward a healthy lifestyle, a more positive lifestyle," he said.
2014 was a year that showed recovery for production, sales and employment in Europe, according to an economic study carried out by CONEBI, the Confederation of the European Bicycle Industry. The sale of new bicycles (including e-bikes) broke the important 20 million mark in 2014.
Within that study 2014 e-bike sale is estimated at a low 1,139,000 units. In an earlier published Market Report that focused on e-bikes Bike Europe concluded that the 2014 volume of this segment of the bike market including e-MTBs and speed e-bikes stood at 1,325,000 units. And is expected to go beyond and above in 2015 as pedal assisted bikes are appealing to more and more consumers.