51 Official Ebike Statistics & Facts

TheRoundup is delighted to present the most comprehensive and up-to-date source of ebike statistics on the web.

If you are researching an article or paper about anything to do with electric bicycles, or are just curious to find out more, you will find the information you need here.

Our researchers reveal the latest 2024 data organized into several categories, including the global electric bike market, usage and consumer sentiment, environment and emissions, safety, and energy efficiency.

E-Bike Sales Statistics

We begin by analyzing the size of the global electric bicycle market (Updated June 2024).

These statistics reveal the market's predicted growth, sales figures, which regions are most valuable, and which companies are most prominent.

How big is the e-bike market?

• According to the latest data, in 2021 the e-bike market was valued at 27.22 billion USD.
• Projections indicate that the market value will grow to $54.48 billion by 2027, and $118.6 billion by 2030.
• The global e-bike will enjoy a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of between 10.5% and 12.26% throughout this period.

(Mordor Intelligence / Allied Market Research)

Where are the most valuable e-bike markets?

The most lucrative electric bike market is in the Asia Pacific region.

However, the European market is the fastest growing, especially in countries where dedicated urban cycle lanes are being installed.

(Mordor Intelligence)

How many e-bikes have been sold?

• 3.7 million e-bikes were sold in 2019.
• It is estimated that there will be 300 million e-bikes in use around the world by 2023.
• By 2024 that could rise to 10 million annual sales, and by 2030 it could reach 17 million.

(ECF / Conebi)

What is the most popular e-bike brand?

Giant Bicycles, Trek Bikes, Jiangsu Xinri E-Vehicles, Tianjin Golden Wheel, Derby Cycle, BMW, and Yamaha are among the major players in the global electric bike market.

Rad Power Bikes and Trek Bikes are rated among the best eco-friendly electric bicycles by our independent reviewers.

Are e-bikes getting cheaper?

Yes, as lithium-ion batteries, which power e-bikes, are getting more efficient, smaller, and cheaper, so the price of the bikes themselves is reducing.

• In 2022 the average price of e-bikes sold in the US was $1,825.
• This was 10% cheaper than the average e-bike price in 2021.

Although the cost of high-end models is increasing, the fall in cost of cheaper bikes is bringing the average price down.

(NPD Group)

Are electric bikes profitable?

Making and selling e-bikes is profitable for manufacturers, but the markups are not as high as on some other physical goods.

Whilst production costs represent only around 42% of sales price, other costs mean that typically there is around a 10% net profit margin on each electric bicycle sold.

(Evelo)

E-Bike Usage and Popularity Statistics

Are e-bikes becoming more popular?

The statistics show that e-bikes are becoming increasingly popular when compared to both the traditional bike market and other electric vehicles.

• Annual electric bicycle sales were boosted by 240% between 2019 and 2021, during what became known as the COVID "bike boom". This was four times the rate of increase in sales of traditional bikes. (NPD Group)
• Sales of electric bicycles outnumbered those of electric vehicles in 2020 by a ratio of around 2:1. (Pew Research Center)

Who is the target market for e-bikes?

E-bikes are used by a broad demographic and can appeal to all age groups. Up until 2024, statistics show that most riders were aged between 40 and 70 years.

(TREC)

How many people use electric bikes?

In addition to the electric bicycle market statistics above, when trying to gauge electric bike usage, we also need to consider data from cycle sharing schemes.

All of the available statistics point toward the fact that most users will choose e-bikes over traditional pedal cycles wherever a choice is available.

• Currently, more than 50 cities in the US have e-bikes as part of their bike-sharing scheme fleet.
• In New York, pedal-assisted electric bicycles accounted for 35% of all citi bike rides, although they make up just 20% of the fleet.
• On average, a Citi bike e-bike is ridden 9 times daily, while a pedal bike is only ridden 3.5 times.
• In Madison, Wisconsin, usage of the city BCycle fleet more than doubled after it went electric in 2019.
• Chinese bike-sharing giant Hellobike states that its electric bike-sharing business is its most profitable.

(Citi Bike / BCyle / Hellobike)

Why do people use electric bicycles?

A number of consumer surveys have been carried out to establish the various reasons why people ride e-bikes, and how satisfied they are with the experience.

• The most common reason people gave for buying an e-bike (28%) was to reduce the number of car journeys made.
• 59% of people said they use e-bikes because their journey is hilly and their electric bicycles make it easier.
• 44% said that they use an electric bicycle for environmental reasons, and a further 44% stated that it is cheaper than driving.
• E-Bikes are the fastest way to get around in some urban areas, including Manhattan and central London.
• 96.4% of e-bike riders say they enjoy the experience.
• 75% say they prefer riding e-bikes to driving their car.

• (TREC / T&F Online / Deloitte)

Which country uses electric bikes the most?

Perhaps unsurprisingly given the size of its population, China is the country where e-bikes are most frequently used.

Aside from China, Germans ride electric bicycles most often. Spain, Denmark, France, and Italy are the next most frequent users, reflecting the relative strength of the European market.

(INSG)

Electric Bikes and the Environment

Many e-bike riders say that they want to reduce car usage and help the environment.

But are e-bikes actually better for the environment, and if so, to what extent do they help?

The statistics actually show a substantial environmental benefit of electric bicycles as compared to other motorized forms of transport.

Are e-bikes good for the environment?

E-bikes are potentially far better for the environment than driving a car, and case studies have shown the positive impact of replacing short car trips with electric cargo bikes in urban areas.

But there are still potential environmental downsides.

The electricity needed to run an electric bicycle has to be generated, so much depends on where the power comes from.

If the power is generated from fossil fuels rather than renewables, then e-bikes still have a substantial carbon footprint. If it comes from renewables then the footprint is as close to zero as is currently possible.

A lithium-ion battery-powered electric bicycle is better for the environment than one that runs on older lead acid batteries. The older batteries are larger, heavier, don't last as long, and may leach lead into the ground if not correctly disposed of.

Do electric bikes reduce carbon footprint?

Yes - in a study based in Portland, Oregon it was found that e-bikes do significantly reduce CO2 emissions compared to cars.

It found that if 15% of daily trips in the city were taken using e-bikes instead of cars, it would achieve an 11% reduction in carbon emissions, amounting to around 900 metric tons per day.

(McQueen et al)

How much CO2 do electric bikes produce?

In the Portland study, it was found that e-bikes emit 4.9g of CO2 per person mile, taking into account the carbon cost of the electricity generated in the region.

This compares extremely favorably with the 140g of CO2 per person mile from public transport, and a massive 274g emitted by cars.

(McQueen et al)

E-Bike Safety Statistics

Are Ebikes safer than cars?

There are far more accidents involving cars than involving e-bikes, but that's because there are far more cars on the road.

At this time it is impossible to say which is safer as there are too many variables in play. However, as e-bike usage increases, so does the number of accidents involving them.

• Injuries involving e-bikes and e-scooters increased by 70% in the 4 years up to 2021.
• During a similar period, passenger car accident injury rates remained broadly the same, and even reduced in 2020, likely due to fewer car journeys being made during the pandemic.

(NHTSA / CPSC)

Are Ebikes safer than regular bikes?

The statistics show that as a rule, e-bikes are broadly the same as regular bikes in terms of safety, when you account for the fact that e-bikes can (and generally do) go faster.

• 78.3% of e-bike users feel safe riding their electric bicycles on public roads, compared to 63.7% who feel safe riding pedal cycles. Many cited their ability to use extra speed to get out of tricky situations on the road.
• On the road, the average speed of an e-bike (13.3kph) is higher than that of a regular bike (10.4kph).
• When accidents do occur, injury patterns for e-bike riders are similar to those of regular cyclists.
• However, e-bike riders tend to suffer more severe injuries than regular cyclists, and hospitalization rates are higher.
• 35.7% of e-bike users often (“often” and “all the time”) feel in conflict with cars.

(TREC / Langford et al / Biomed Central)

Why do e-bikes catch fire?

Because e-bikes contain batteries that store a large amount of energy, they can on rare occasions catch fire if they are not properly charged or stored.

• The New York fire department says that there were 104 fires in 2021 for which an electric bike battery has been at least partly responsible.
• Electric bike batteries were blamed for more than 10,000 fires across China between 2013 and 2017, according to Chinese government data.
• In 2021, the London fire brigade reported over 100 fires caused by various lithium-ion batteries.

Fires can happen with any device that is powered by a lithium-ion battery, so it is not a problem exclusive to the electric bike industry.

But the size of the battery needed to power the double electric motor in an e-bike means that any fire can potentially be more severe.

E-Bike Efficiency Statistics

How efficient are electric bikes?

• E-bikes are much more energy efficient than either traditional or electric cars. (Efficiency Vermont)
• Based on the manufacturer's stated maximum and minimum ranges, an electric bike has an efficiency of between 0.94 kWh and 1.9 kWh per 100 miles. (Efficiency Vermont)
• The efficiency of a typical e-bike's transmission system (the ratio of the power output to the electric power consumed) is 80.28%. (Zhang / Tak)
• Many of the top e-bikes can provide between 25 and 60 miles of pedal assistance on a full charge. (TheRoundup)

How long does it take to go 10 miles on an electric bike?

The maximum speed of an e-bike is 28mph, which means that, if you could travel at top speed for the entire journey, it would take just over 21 minutes to travel 10 miles.

This might be possible in a rural environment with no hills or obstacles, but in an urban environment, you would need to factor in traffic congestion, road signals, and pedestrians, meaning that the journey would almost certainly take a lot longer.

How much faster is an electric bike than a regular bike?

Studies have shown that on average, e-bike journeys are 21% faster than the equivalent journey on a pedal bike. (BioMed Central)

Professional cyclists can go faster than 40mph, but that is unlikely to be achievable for beginner or even intermediate riders.

You would also need to consider factors such as the terrain, weather, other traffic, type of bike, age, and fitness level of the cyclist.

Most intermediate cyclists will achieve an average speed of around 15mph, which means that electric bikes, which can reach up to 28mph, are potentially a lot faster than pedal bikes.

E-Bike Fun Facts

• Electric bicycles were "invented" back in 1895 when Ogden Bolton Jr was granted the first US patent for a battery-powered cycle. (Google Patents)
• John Schnepf was then granted the patent for a "a rear-wheel friction roller-wheel style drive electric bicycle" in 1899.
• Later in 1899, Yamaha built the first working electric bike prototype.
• UPS is trialing the use of electric tricycles to deliver parcels in Pittsburgh and Seattle.
• The US Government's Bicycle Subsidy Benefit Program offers a tax-free incentive to people who use an electric bike to commute to work instead of a single-occupancy car.
• A study published in the Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives journal concluded that electric bike riders ended up getting more exercise than conventional cyclists, simply because they took more frequent and longer trips.

(Google Patents / Yamaha Cycles / UPS / US Dept of Interior / TRIP Journal)

Summary

The e-bike market has enjoyed substantial growth already and will continue to do so. E-bike sales are increasing globally, although uptake has been quicker in some regions than others.

Consumers are attracted to electric bicycles for a variety of reasons, with a desire to reduce car journeys and help the environment being particularly strong drivers.

Electric bikes are an efficient, clean, and eco-friendly transportation method that is particularly beneficial in urban environments. They do not have a zero carbon footprint, but it is lower than that of any other motorized transport solution.

There are some concerns surrounding safety, which could be improved by better urban planning and greater awareness among both riders and other road users. There have also been incidents of fires involving e-bike batteries, which indicates that better education regarding the correct way to charge and store these is needed.

Overall, it seems that e-bikes are here to stay, and are likely to become an increasing presence in our towns and cities over the years to come.

Use of Infographics

If you would like to use an infographic from this article, they are licensed under Creative Commons CC BY which means they can be used or distributed as long as they are accompanied by an attribution link back to this page.

Sources

AMR https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/electric-bikes-market

BioMed Central https://pssjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13037-022-00318-9

Citi Bike NYC https://www.citibikenyc.com/how-it-works/electric

Conebi https://www.conebi.eu/industry-market-reports/

CPSC https://www.cpsc.gov/Newsroom/News-Releases/2021/Injuries-Using-E-Scooters-E-Bikes-and-Hoverboards-Jump-70-During-the-Past-Four-Years

Deloitte https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/us/articles/722835_tmt-predictions-2020/DI_TMT-Prediction-2020.pdf

ECF https://www.ecf.com/resources/library

Efficiency Vermont https://www.efficiencyvermont.com/news-blog/whitepapers/electric-bikes-survey-and-energy-efficiency-analysis

Evelo https://evelo.com/blogs/learn/transparent-pricing-where-does-your-money-go-when-you-buy-an-electric-bike

INSG http://insg.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/INSG_Insight_23_Global_Ebike_Market.pdf

Langford BC, Chen J, Cherry C (2015) Risky riding: Naturalistic methods comparing safety behavior from conventional bicycle riders and electric bike riders

Madison BCycle https://madison.bcycle.com/

McQueen M, MacArthur J, Cherry C (2019) The E-Bike Potential: Estimating the Effect of E-bikes On Person Miles Travelled and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Mordor https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/e-bike-market

NHTSA https://cdan.nhtsa.gov/query

NPD https://www.npd.com/news/

Pew Research https://www.pewresearch.org/

Science Direct https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1361920922000050#s0125

Transportation Research & Education Center https://trec.pdx.edu/

TRIP https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259019821930017X

US DOI https://www.doi.gov/employees/messages/all-doi-employees-bicycle-subsidy-annual-recertification-and-reimbursement

Zhang SP, Tak TO (2021) Efficiency Evaluation of Electric Bicycle Power Transmission Systems