E-bike sales are on the rise across Europe, although positive HMRC figures on the UK's e-bike market growth appear to be incorrect, according to the Confederation of the European Bicycle Industry (CONEBI).
Figures revealed in the 2016 Industry and Market Profile of the European Bicycle Market, show that e-bike sales boomed, as a proportion of total bike sales and as market in their own right; in the Netherlands, one in three bikes sold was an e-bike.
The UK, on the other hand, which relies on questionable data published by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC), appears to be a bit behind the European e-bike revolution.
According to data from HMRC, the UK's 120,000 e-bike imports would put the country on par with the rest of Europe in terms of e-bike market growth.
CONEBI, however, question the legitimacy of that data set, calling the estimate "universally regarded as incorrect/miscategorised," instsead stipulating that the electrically assisted pedal cycles only accounted for 30-35,000 of imported cycles in 2015; just 1% of the UK's imported bicycles.
Across Europe's other main markets, e-bike import figures from 2014-2015 account for 50% of total bicycle import growth.
As part of the report CONEBI also commented on the state of the e-mobility market as a whole, indicating it believes that e-bikes should be the first step in a "bottom-up" process of the e-mobility revolution.
"The e-mobility revolution in the next 10 years should be a "bottom-up" process, focusing first on EPACs (Electric Power-Assisted Cycles) which already developed well in the past decade," the report reads.
"Next should be the more powerful two-wheelers such as e-bikes, e-mopeds and e-scooters and only much later (10 to 20 years from now) attention should go to electric cars."
The other major European markets that showed growth in the e-bike or EPAC sector are as follows:
In 2015 The Netherlands saw a jump of almost a quarter in its e-bike sales. A total of 983,000 bicycles were sold in the Netherlands, of which a huge 28%, or 276,000 were e-bikes - a 23.6% rise on 2014.
Germany benefited from a mild winter and good cycling weather in 2015 as it saw its bike sales increase by 6.6% to 4.35 million in the year. Of that number, e-bikes accounted for 535,000 units (12.5%); a 11.5% growth on 2014.
Spain saw a huge growth in its e-bike market in 2015. A 39% growth in units however did little to change the relatively small market share of e-bikes. in 2015 24,604 e-bikes were sold, which only made up for 2.2% of the country's 1,103,839 bikes sold.
France saw their e-bike sales breach the 100,000 unit mark for the first time. E-bikes accounted for 3.5% (102,000) of their 2,996,000 bicycle sales.
Italy's bicycles sales in 2015 reached 1,653,709. Italy's e-bike production exploded in the year, up 90% on 2014, while their sales also went up 9.8%. In total 56,189 e-bikes were sold in 2015, a 3.4% share of the bicycle market.
