E-Bike Interest Is Exploding For Folks 50 and older

For folks 50 and older, increasing interest in pursuing new recreational activities is exploding. And e-bikes are front and center for many older people.

Maybe the ongoing restrictions related to Covid-19 is partly responsible. Clearly people are looking for outdoor activities that are safe, accessible, and enjoyable. These include cycling, hiking and walking. But the interest in e-biking has been growing over the past few years and has really taken a life of its own. It appears their time has come.

Or maybe I’m just talking to more people in their 50’s or older. They want to stay active despite having some new physical limitations like the recurring knee injury that is painful when overused. Or hips that don’t quite work like they used to. And of course, many of us carry a little more weight than we did in our youth..

You get it. It’s called getting older. But not being old.

Global e-bike sales exploding

Cycling remains exceptionally popular though the emergence of e-biking is rivalling traditional cycling. This shift is relatively new as more countries have adopted e-bikes in a big way. In the past two decades, global e-bike usage has increased significantly.

For example, in China a country with millions of traditional bicycles, e-bike usage was largely unheard of until the late 1990’s. In 1998, an estimated 30000 e-bikes were produced in the country. By 2010, 30 million e-bikes were being produced annually (Hua Zhang, 2013). There are an estimated 200 million e-bikes in use in China.

Then there is the Netherlands. If you have visited, you know the Dutch are bike crazy. They ride everywhere. According to the research produced in 2018 by the Netherlands Institute for Transport Policy Analysis, the 17 million inhabitants own 23 million bicycles!

Interest in e-bikes is skyrocketing in the Netherlands and regular bike sales are declining. As of 2016, 3 out of every 10 bikes purchased were e-bikes. This trend is also happening across Europe as e-bike recent sales data indicates growth in the number of e-bikes sold increased from 1.8 million in 2018 to 3 million in 2019.

Even in North America (NPD data) indicates rapid growth in interest in e-bikes. The following table shows US e-bike sales have grown 190% in 2020.

Even more compelling is Deloitte‘s projection for the next 3 years that global sales of e-bikes will surpass 40 million bikes.

E-bike interest continues to grow

I think it is safe to say, e-bikes time has come and are here to stay – Covid or no Covid.

In a future post, I’ll delve more into the factors contributing to the popularity of e-bikes at this time. Like so many inventions, timing is everything. As you will see, a number of factors have come together to make e-bikes a viable recreation and fitness option.

E-bikes not a new concept

I’m surprised to discover that the concept of the e-bike is not new. In fact, early designs date back over 120 years.

The first patent for a rear mounted electric motor bicycle was registered in 1895 by Ogden Bolton. Two years later, Hosea W. Libbey patented this mid-drive design.

From what I can tell, neither was actually built. Likely due to the lack of suitable technology for the motor and battery.

Since then numerous attempts to build the e-bike have been recorded. For more details on the history of the e-bike, I recommend you check out ElectricBike.com for detailed descriptions of past attempts to design and build e-bikes. There are some interesting images and photos covering multiple decades.

Some the past attempts in building an e-bike are highlighted below.

But real interest in developing a viable e-bike needed to wait for technology to develop more powerful motors and longer lasting batteries. The mid-1980’s was the beginning era for the modern e-bike.

One of the surprising participants in the e-bike market was Lee Iaccoca. You may remember him as inspiration for the 1964 Ford Mustang which helped save Ford. He later helped Chrysler avoid disappearing through the introduction of the economical K-car and the now famous mini-van.

His company, EV Global, developed a modern looking, reliable and affordable e-bike. Pricing was around $1000 USD. In many ways it was ahead of its time. The company eventually went out of business. If you are interested in learning more, here is a short YouTube video I discovered while researching for this post.

I hope you found this post of interest and has increased your interest in e-biking. If you are new to this recreational activity, there are additional posts available to help you buy an e-bike, ride it safely and maintain it.