Time.news – With the current energy crisis and gasoline prices skyrocketing, the need to move in an ecological way, by bike and e-bike, is increasingly urgent. So much so that just look around and observe how the sale of e-bikes has recorded double-digit increasessurpassing the sale of traditional ones.
The numbers and their progression speak for themselves: according to the data of the ANCMA, the trade union association that brings together the Italian manufacturers of 2 and 3 wheel vehicles (National Association of Cycle Motorcycle Accessories) in 2020 over 2 million bicycles, of which 280 thousand e-bikes (equal to 14% of the total, were just 3.5% in 2015), or 17% more than in 2019 (+ 14% traditional bikes, + 44% electric bikes). And in the first six months of 2021, 157,000 e-bikes have already been sold (+ 12% compared to the same period in 2020). A trend that, it is easy to predict, will continue to rise this year as well, precisely due to the worsening of fuel prices.
The bicycle market is therefore booming, so much so that the 18th Audimob Report on mobility highlights how people’s attitude to mobility has changed, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, a phenomenon that has affected the last two years. So much so that it can be safely said that for many the e-bikes in the city have become competitive, if not with the first car at least with the second, even if this can always be small, such as Smart or “machine”.
The bicycle market, on the other hand, had returned to growth already in 2018, so much so that Italian production registered a + 20%, driven by the phenomenon of the electric bicycle, in a supply chain that has about 2,900 companies, 17 thousand employees and produces revenues for 9 billion euros per year, as the latest Banca Ifis Market Watch Report revealed last September. And in 2021 the trend seems to continue: in fact, 295 thousand pedal assisted bicycles sold in 2021, + 5% on the previous year, while traditional bicycles, with 1,680,000 pieces sold, show a slight decrease (-3%), again according to the annual estimates released by Confindustria Ancma.
In short, the bike would seem to have come a long way and the electric one in particular if it has come to undermine the hegemony of the car (perhaps of the second car) becoming a possible as well as valid alternative. E-bikes have proved to all intents and purposes a truly revolutionary phenomenon because, at least, they have already made it possible to expand the range of users to people who otherwise would never have considered the use of a bike. A real cultural change that has begun to erode the concept that travel can only be done by car.
According to the online magazine “Qm Quotidiano Motori” there are even 10 valid reasons to buy an e-bike in the course of 2022: first of all, “you stay in good physical shape and make your training easier”, the wind that blows contrary and that discourages will no longer be a problem, the climbs become less demanding and easier to overcome, carbon emissions are reduced, e-bikes are cheaper than cars, you can cross the streets of the center in less time, you can do of the magnificent cycle tourism, pedaling becomes more fun and easier, finally: “there is an e-bike suitable for every need” and also for any eventuality.