China sells 2 mln e-bikes a year, eclipsing car sales

Shanghai, December 16 (Gasgoo.com) While China is on target to sell more than 12 million cars this year, it is also on track to sell 20 million e-bikes, if trends hold from 2007 and 2008, when 20 million e-bikes were sold each year, the Washington Post reported yesterday.

The e-bike, or electric bicycle powered by a rechargeable battery, is proving most popular in big Chinese cities, where some commuters are realizing that owning a car may be a status symbol but also comes with fuel prices, parking fees, odd traffic tickets and frequent gridlock.

Besides the lower costs for parking, and the convenience of weaving through heavy traffic, far less money is spent on an e-bike's maintenance than on a car. The e-bike's rechargeable battery can last about a year before needing to be replaced.

They are also relatively inexpensive, from about $219 for the smallest models to about $366 for the largest, fastest variety. The prices of cars typically range from $800 to $12,000 in the Chinese market. Some premium cars are bought just because they bring a prestige as a sign of affluence.

The peak for traditional bicycle sales in China, once the "Kingdom of Bicycles," was in 1988, when 40 million bikes were sold. That number has steadily dropped and has stabilized has halved locally, with more Chinese bikes sold for export.

The nature of the bicycles being sold in China has changed. Urban Chinese are increasingly buying mountain bikes and multi-geared bikes, to be used for weekend recreation, instead of the old-fashioned commuter models.

There may be one unintended side effect of the explosion of e-bikes and fewer people going to work through pedal power: The Health Ministry said 22% of Chinese adults are overweight and 7.1% are obese.