While I don't think that the GM bike will get much traction - unless they piggyback onto an existing distribution network - the market for e-bikes is starting to explode. The following is from a business plan currently sitting on my desk:
The U.S. is at least two to three years behind Europe in the adoption of e-bikes, although demand for the bikes has been accelerating. In 2017, approximately 266,000 e-bikes were sold in the U.S., an increase of 62% from 2016. This still represents less than 2% of the 15 million bikes that were sold in the U.S. in 2017.
In contrast, 720,000 e-bikes were sold in Germany in 2017, an increase of 19% from the prior year. Remarkably, this is equal to 19% of the total number of bikes sold in that country during the year. In France, the market for e-bikes grew by 30% in 2016 to 134,000 units, and then followed that performance by growing 50% in 2017 to over 200,000 units. In Italy, the e-bike market grew by 25% in 2017, from 124,000 units in 2016 to 155,000 units. In the Netherlands, the European market where the e-bike trend started, the number of e-bikes sold in the country increased by 9% in 2017 to 294,000 units. In 2017, approximately 80,000 e-bikes were sold in the United Kingdom, a significant increase for 2015 when less than 10,000 were sold. In Sweden, e-bikes commanded a 10% market share in 2017. In 2016, the sale of e-bikes doubled to 40,000 units, though this increase was partially fueled by a 25% governmental subsidy.
These numbers pale in comparison to the 35 million e-bikes that were sold in the Asia-Pacific region in 2017.
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