Leisure time
Germany stronghold at e -bikes in Europe – prices decrease
Nowhere in Europe is made as much money with e-bikes as in Germany. There was recently a damper in lucrative business. But in the long term there should be no way past the electric wheel.
Germany is a stronghold in Europe at the trend towards the electric bike. With e-bikes in Germany in 2024, sales of almost 5.4 billion euros were achieved-almost half of the turnover with electrical bikes across Europe (EUR 12 billion). This is shown by a study by the consulting company EY.
Accordingly, e -bikes in Germany control 86 percent of total sales with bicycles – more than in Austria (77), the Netherlands (72) and France (58). In Spain, e-bikes only stood for 39 percent of sales. There were 18 percent of the sold bicycles e-bikes, but more than every second in Germany (54 percent). In Germany, almost all types of bikes are electrified – from the cargo bike to mountain bike.
Turnover with e-bikes is falling for the first time
At the same time, the lucrative business with e-bikes declined in 2024 and tightened the crisis in the bicycle industry, which meets Eurobike in Frankfurt these days. According to EY, the number of electric bikes sold shrank by two percent to two million, sales fell by 12 percent to 5.4 billion euros. Sales of mechanical bicycles also dropped – by five percent in the previous year to 1.8 million.
“The German bicycle industry had to accept painful loss of sales again last year,” says Ey partner Stefan Mohr.
However, the decline follows a boom in corona pandemic. In 2024, the turnover of the bicycle industry fell by ten percent to around 6.3 billion euros, but it was still 58 percent higher than in the pre-corona year 2019.
What is still full of the boom are still quite full of camps that are slowly emptying. The result: Last year, the average price for an e-wheel fell by ten percent to 2,650 euros according to the two-wheeler industry. However, they still cost a good five times as much as a normal wheel (500 euros).
Classic bicycles played a subordinate role in sales in the industry, says Mohr. However, the demand for gravel bikes and racing bikes increases what drives prices there.
Agency for children’s wheels
In contrast, the sales of children’s and youth bikes shrank significantly in 2024: by 17 percent to 145,000 pieces. The growing used market can be a reason, says Mohr, but also the trend towards less movement in children and adolescents.
Overall, however, the authors expect a recovery of the bicycle market – not least because of the e -bikes. After the boom in the past few years, there will be replacement needs, says Constantin Gall, Managing Partner at EY. “The interest in e-bikes remains high.”
dpa
Source: Stern
