E-bikes are making serious inroads across Europe, thanks to a well-established bike culture and boosted by government initiatives that help people pay for them.
“Battery-boosted models now comprise a majority of bike sales in several European countries, including Austria, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands, and they’re rapidly gaining share in others such as France and Switzerland,” reports Bloomberg.
That e-bikes are overtaking pedal ones in the marketplace and on the street owes in part to national, regional, and municipal government policies that support their use or purchase, and often both.
• Many regions in France offer long-term lease programs that allow residents to use an e-bike for months at a time for a nominal fee. Île-de-France, for example, provides e-bikes at US$43 per month, insurance and maintenance included. A “significant” number of participants in such lease programs then go on to purchase their own e-bikes outright, reports Bloomberg.
• Austria’s Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology is offering financial support through the end of February, 2025, for “the purchase and operational use of electric bicycles, electric cargo bikes, and cargo bikes as well as electric folding bikes and folding bikes that are operated exclusively with electricity from renewable energy sources.”
• In Belgium, e-bike support is available at the regional and municipal level. The Brussels-Capital Region, for example, offers residents up to US$550 to buy a new or used e-bike or accessories, while Wallonia has an e-bike incentive of up to US$1,350, writes Electric Bike Report.
• Flanders does not offer purchase incentives, but supports a program that allows employers to pay employees roughly US30¢ for every kilometre they ride to and from work.
From Pedal to Electric
E-bikes are doing so well in Europe because many Europeans already use bikes for everyday travel. Many are simply embracing a technology that allows them to continue to move on two wheels, but faster and with less effort, Philippe Crist, micromobility research lead at the Paris-based International Transport Forum, told Bloomberg.
“I’d also note that many people who are buying e-bikes in Europe are older,” he added. “E-bikes can allow them to keep biking as they age, when before they would have stopped.”
That so many Europeans are switching out bikes for e-bikes, rather than bikes for cars, may mean policymakers’ hopes that e-bike popularity will help cut emissions are misplaced.
Asked by Bloomberg whether e-bike adoption in Europe has “demonstrably reduced emissions from transportation,” Crist replied, “I don’t know for sure, but I suspect it has not. Again, most e-bike buyers—not all, but most of them—are replacing a bicycle, so they were biking already.”
Hazard Signs Ahead
Traditional e-bikes, with their speeds capped at 25 kilometres per hour, have so far posed few problems for European policymakers. But the same cannot be said for speed pedelecs, which can travel as fast as 45 kilometres per hour and represent a “big no-no for safety” in a traditional bike lane, said Crist.
Jurisdictions are only now beginning to tackle the pedelec problem. “I don’t have a specific best practice to point to, but I wouldn’t be surprised if in the future, speed pedelecs are excluded from certain types of bike infrastructure,” such as inner city bike lanes, Crist said.
The concomitant rise of the cargo e-bike across Europe will force communities to rethink bike lanes, he added. “In my view, any urban planner right now should take the official guidance for bike lane width and double it.”
“At a higher level, we’re getting to the point where we need to start thinking about an entirely separate network for electric micromobility—not just lanes. You can set aside entire streets dedicated to vehicles that are lighter and slower than a car. I’m not yet aware of any city or country doing that.”
The Best Route for Car-Centric North America
Many North Americans who purchase an e-bike for the first time have never before used a bike for everyday travel and chores like grocery shopping. So an e-bike revolution may bring bigger benefits, including emission reductions, on the car-centric continent.
But Crist warned North American cities against going all out on promoting e-bike use until serious, dedicated infrastructure is securely in place.
“Quality infrastructure, connected networks, and vehicle speed management are all things that enable people to feel more comfortable biking,” he said. What’s good for bikes will be good for e-bikes, and cities should start there.
