BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The e-bicycle market is currently growing strongly in the Asia Pacific and European regions, while North America has underperformed expectations in the last few years. The result is that the market for e-bicycles is growing increasingly crowded, with a number of competitors in each region. One market remains dominant in e-bicycle sales: China, which accounts for 92% of the global market. According to a new Pike Pulse report published by Pike Research, two Chinese vendors, Luyuan Electric Vehicle and Jiangsu Xinri E-Vehicle are essentially competing head-to-head for the highest ranking, in terms of strategy and execution, in this emerging sector. They are closely followed by Dutch manufacturer Gazelle Bicycles.
“With China accounting for 92% of the global e-bicycle sales, it is not surprising that our leaders are companies with strength in this market,” says senior analyst Dave Hurst. “Outside China, the e-bicycle market is currently crowded and very fluid, with traditional bicycle manufacturers absorbing small, growing e-bicycle companies or adding new e-bicycle product lines thanks to strong electric component suppliers. Our European leader, Gazelle, has both strong strategy and strong execution, but there are a lot of new and not-so-new competitors that are chasing Gazelle’s position.”
Pike Research’s analysis shows a bifurcation in the e-bicycle market that could persist for some time. While Luayan and Xinri are both chasing a share of the huge Chinese market with low cost e-bicycles while building on their technology for export markets, companies like Gazelle and Sparta are players in the European market with more sophisticated and higher cost products. Each of these very different strategies comes with its own advantages and possible pitfalls.
Luyuan Electric Vehicle, the overall leader in this Pike Pulse, has built on its market success by fitting Asia Pacific consumer needs (including some questionable attributes like easily removable speed limiters), meeting mass market prices, and conducting R&D to improve battery and vehicle performance. Essentially in a dead heat with Luyuan is Xinri E-Vehicle, which has a strong focus on Asia Pacific markets and limited international export capability. Gazelle, the clear leader among European makers of e-bikes, has taken its expertise in building high-quality bicycles and e-bicycles for the large Dutch market and successfully exported it to other parts of Western Europe and North America.
The “Pike Pulse Report: Electric Bicycles” evaluates 15 e-bicycle companies that either have the largest market share or are growing very quickly. The companies are rated on 12 criteria for strategy and execution, including vision, go-to-market strategy, partnerships, product and production strategy, technology, geographic reach, sales and marketing, distribution maturity, product quality and reliability, product portfolio, pricing, and staying power. Using Pike Research’s proprietary Pike Pulse methodology, vendors are profiled, rated, and ranked with the goal of providing industry participants with an objective assessment of these companies’ relative strengths and weaknesses in the e-bicycle market. An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the firm’s website.
Pike Research is a market research and consulting firm that provides in-depth analysis of global clean technology markets. The company’s research methodology combines supply-side industry analysis, end-user primary research and demand assessment, and deep examination of technology trends to provide a comprehensive view of the Smart Energy, Smart Grid, Smart Transportation, Smart Industry, and Smart Buildings sectors. For more information, visit www.pikeresearch.com or call +1.303.997.7609.