The price of e-bikes has risen rapidly in recent years. This is the result of a recent analysis by online price comparison site guenstiger.de, which analysed the price development of several thousand bikes with electric drive systems [*1]. According to the analysis, an electric bike cost an annual average of around €2,590 on the portal in 2019, compared to €2,980 in 2020. The average asking price for 2021 was then around €3,680, which corresponds to a price increase of 42 per cent compared to 2019.
Costs for e-bikes will continue to rise in 2022
According to the comparison portal, the price increase of recent years will continue in 2022. According to the analysis, the average price for an e-bike this February was around €3,640, which is 8 per cent more than in February 2021 (around €3,360). Due to the seasonal increase in demand in the coming months, the experts assume that the annual average price of e-bikes this year could be even higher than last year.
Bicycles without electric drive also affected
guenstiger.de also noticed a price increase for normal bikes without an electric motor. In 2021, the average annual price rose by 15 per cent compared to 2019, from around €530 to €610. At around €660, the average for February 2022 was higher than the average for February 2021 of around €610, which could indicate another price increase this year.
High demand, supply problems and lack of raw materials as reasons
Rising demand coupled with a simultaneous shortage generally leads to an increase in retail prices, which is also reflected in bicycles and their pandemic-related hype. On the comparison portal, demand in 2021 was more than twice as high as in 2019 [*2]. During this period, however, there were also bottlenecks on the markets due to supply difficulties, higher transport costs and a shortage of raw materials, which also appeared to have an impact on pricing.
*1: guenstiger.de analysed the price development of over 4,300 bicycles, including around 3,500 e-bikes, from January 2019 to February 2022.
*2: Increase in demand on guenstiger.de of 101 per cent in the overall bicycle category compared to 2019/2021.
