Guest post by: Ed Benjamin, chairman of the Light Electric Vehicle Association This post was previously published on LEVA’s website and is being reposted here for our audience.
The United States tends to make changes slowly until a tipping point is reached. And then, change can be startlingly fast.
That tipping point has occurred with electric bikes in the last two years. We are on our way to becoming the most profitable and largest western market for electric bikes.
For nearly 23 years, the U.S. electric bike market was tiny compared to the Asian and even the European electric bike market. For each of those years, I would assure my clients, readers, and peers that the U.S. will — eventually — be one of the largest markets for e-bikes and pedelecs.
Growth was slow, partly because the bicycle industry of the U.S. is focused on sport, fitness and recreation, and for years the electric bike has been regarded as primarily a transportation tool. Two wheelers as transportation has been a very small business.
Read more: Bike Mechanics Should Become LEVA Tech Certified, Or Risk Being ‘Left Behind’
But now… the limit on the U.S. market is the performance of the supply chain. U.S. brands will take almost any electric bike they can get and sell it almost as soon as it is received. Unfortunate lead times — as much as two years — are the problem.
[Read more…] about LEVA: U.S. e-bike sales should top 1 million in 2021, 3 million in coming years
