Chinese e-bikes power worldwide shift in urban mobility

"The best thing about having an electric bike is that you just go past people," said a reviewer of DYU, an e-bike brand based in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, in an Instagram video. "Put it on high assist, and it helps with the pedaling. You can take the hills, miss all the crowds. It's a dream ride."

That feeling of effortless mobility is one reason why e-bikes are reshaping urban transportation and why Chinese manufacturers are rapidly expanding overseas.

China was once known as the "bicycle kingdom", when bikes were used by Chinese residents as the most common means of transportation. Today, it is becoming the world's e-bike powerhouse.

Walk along the canals of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, through the streets of Munich in Germany or on the greenways of Portland, Oregon, in the United States, and bikes are hard to miss.

In 2025, Chinese manufacturers exported 26.7 million electric two-wheelers worth a total of $6.829 billion.

At the center of that growth was the electric bicycle — a machine that looks much like a traditional bicycle but pairs pedals with sensors, a battery and a quiet electric motor, transforming steep bridges and long commutes into manageable rides.

For many riders, the appeal goes beyond convenience. Studies show that e-bikes encourage more people to cycle regularly, particularly older adults and those with limited mobility or knee pain.

"This isn't just a bike with a battery," said Lu Jinlong, honorary chairman of the Jiangsu Bicycle and Electric Vehicle Association. "It's a response to how people want to live — healthier, greener and less dependent on cars."

The market reflects that shift. The number of e-bike brands in the US doubled from about 100 in 2021 to roughly 200 by 2022, with most of the new entrants being Chinese companies. In Southeast Asia, rising fuel prices and worsening traffic congestion are also accelerating demand for electric two-wheelers.

According to the US-based business consulting company Frost & Sullivan, Europe's e-bike market was worth 15 billion euros ($17.3 billion) in 2024 and is projected to grow to 21.2 billion euros by 2029. Globally, Fortune Business Insights expects the market to grow from $50.14 billion in 2024 to $148.7 billion by 2032.

While Chinese consumers have largely embraced low-cost electric scooters for short-distance travel, European cities offer something different: extensive cycling infrastructure, government subsidies and a deeply rooted cycling culture. The region thus became an ideal testing ground for premium electric bicycles.

That opportunity drew Shenzhen entrepreneur Liang Xiaoling into the European market.

In 2021, Liang founded TENWAYS with a simple idea: combining China's manufacturing efficiency with European design and software-driven intelligence.

Backed by investors including Hillhouse, Tencent and L Catterton, TENWAYS now sells more than 96 percent of its e-bikes to Europe and is gearing up for what could become Hong Kong's first public listing by a pure-play e-bike company.

Its flagship commuter model has sold more than 50,000 units in just four years. Between 2022 and 2024, TENWAYS became the fastest-growing e-bike brand in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, capturing 5.9 percent of the urban commuting segment. Its e-bikes retail for between 1,299 and 4,999 euros, positioning the company firmly in the premium e-bike market.

Behind that premium branding lies China's greatest competitive advantage: its manufacturing ecosystem.

Industrial clusters across the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta produce nearly every major component — from frames and motors to batteries, sensors and electronic control systems — allowing companies to shorten development cycles while controlling costs.

In November, Chinese e-bike maker Urtopia acquired the US heritage e-bike brand Pedego — a sign that Chinese companies are also using acquisitions to secure brand equity in Western markets.

For Chinese companies, the challenge is no longer proving that Chinese brands can build premium e-bikes, but sustaining innovation in a fast-growing market where technology, design and brand recognition are becoming just as important as manufacturing scale.