Bicycle sales slowed sharply in Europe in 2022 after strong growth in the midst of the pandemic. But whilst traditional bicycles were less in demand electric bikes continued their explosion, the European Confederation of the Cycle Industry (Conebi) said on Tuesday.
14.7 million bicycles without electric assistance were sold in 2022 in the EU and the UK – down 9.1% on 2021.
But electric assist bicycles (EABs) reached a record 5.5 million units, a rise of 8.6%. In particular, Germany, France and the Netherlands saw marked increases in demand. This now means that one in four bicycles sold in Europe is electric.
This trend can also be seen in Belgium, where e-bikes are seeing a significant surge in sales. Last year, around 700,000 bicycles were sold in Belgium, a large part of them electric bikes. While the traditional bicycle market grew just 2.6%, e-bikes saw sales grow 50% last year.
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As EABs are considerably more expensive than “muscle” bikes but the decline in the number of bicycles sold has not prevented EU sales revenue from rising. In 2022 this reached €21.2 billion – a growth of 7.4% on the year previous.
