E-bike (Industry) Doldrums, CES, and Other Innovations

Back in 2023, the bike industry became aware that reducing the post-Covid stockpile of components was going to take a bit longer than expected.

Executives resigned themselves to a 2024 that was not going to produce the bounce back they were expecting.

And now we enter 2025—the year everyone was sure would see a return to normal two years back—the industry is still faced with the same problem. For this year, the industry will remain in recovery mode. 2026 now becomes the year of return to normalcy, although nobody is yet placing bets …

The Fate of the E-bike Industry

MacKenzie Roberts has written a frank appraisal of where the e-bike industry is at the end of 2024.

Quite predictably, the cost of living crisis means consumers have prioritized other spending, even while electric cargo bikes are gaining traction as a viable alternative to a family owning a second car, in urban areas anyway.

For the short term, consumer enthusiasm for e-bike purchases will remain subdued.

CES 2025

Every year opens on a bright note, in the form of the Consumer Electronics Show—a bright note insofar as we see future opportunities represented in the form of the latest technologies. 

Within every customer niche there are fanatics who geek out on tech just because the tech is what it is. But technology for its own sake is a distraction. In terms of the business case for tech, consumers pay for convenience, for products which save them time and money and allow them to focus what time they have on what they really want to do. The tech is incidental.

And going to the market with “sustainability” as an angle—particularly the only angle—to hook consumers is probably not a good move.

An OE supply side recent examples is the Taiwan-based medium sized electronics company that supplies Apple with the speakers for its iPhones. Management aspired to also get established in the bike industry. “Other electronics companies are doing it. Why not us?” was the thinking.

Their angle was 100% sustainability. ESG was the selling point, batteries the product, the constituents of which could mostly be recycled and reused due to a proprietary material they had developed. (Apple has demanded all its suppliers to be carbon neutral by 2030).

That’s great for conforming to EU standards and thus being able to import into the EU, a perhaps necessary yet by no means sufficient condition for widespread market acceptance and satisfactory financial success. After one showing at Taipei Cycle (2024) the company abandoned the effort and returned to focus on the niche they know best.

CES includes many examples of where brands expect the tech to speak for itself, to speak directly to the hearts and minds of consumers. Brands that understand the money is not in tech per se but in products that light up consumers’ brains, however, are most likely to see enthusiastic acceptance of the fruits of their often staggeringly expensive R&D expenditure.

The New Interbike?

The point has been made a few times over the years—the bike segment in CES will come to be seen as important for the industry as the now long defunct Interbike was.

CES may even be more so given that Taipei Cycle is not the place to to look at the cutting edge of e-bike tech. That leaves Eurobike although the Munich-based IAA Mobility (3rd edition due later this year) show is shaping up to be the venue for revealing what the future holds.

Clues to the Future?

A number of brand offerings attracted a lot of attention online during this year’s CES.

Segway . Most well-known for its iconic two-wheel personal transporter released more than two decades ago, the brand is drawing on that experience to deliver the kit that may well be not only as iconic as the original totally unique two-wheeler, but garner more commercial success.

In terms of appearance and spec, the Xyber succumbs to the ever present temptation to cross over into motorcycle territory—a heavy version of a Surron, you might say.

Powered by the 175Nm, 6,000 watt direct-drive motor, you’ll accelerate from 0 to 20 miles per hour in 2.7 seconds in Race Mode. There are 12-levels of pedal assistance and three throttle modes: Eco, Sport, Race. The juice comes from a 2,880Wh dual-battery system claimed to give riders a 112 mile range.

Segway’s Intelligent Ride System underscores the trend for brands to wrap e-bikes in an aura of smart systematization. This one offers a familiar group which includes automatic lights, bike locking, and adaptive pedal assist.

Given the power, though, riders will be restricted to off-road adventures, the Xyber being deemed too powerful for public roads. Segway plans to introduce a street legal although watered-down version later this year.

Urtopia are perhaps aiming for a coup by targeting a familiar soft spot with the market—lightweight kit. We’ve observed elsewhere in this series of articles covering e-bike developments the re-emergence of a preoccupation with weight. Here is what a $1 million R&D budget can deliver on this front.

The prototype Titanium Zero weighs a bit over 10kg, the frame and the motor constituting the bulk of the weight savings. The frame is 3D printed as well, with carbon wheels and forks.

The tiny mid-drive motor, the proprietary Quark DM 1.2, which includes reducer and clutch, high-precision torque sensors and high-dynamic-response magnetic encoders, weighs an astonishing 1.2 kg. No word on the battery capacity though. Again, battery development is key with the trick being to balance capacity with heft, if you like. 

Note that the company says they do not plan to bring the Titanium Zero to production; the knowledge gained in the development of this unit will influence other designs in the future. 

Still, lightweight is a powerful attractor and the industry is certainly headed for the production of e-road models that weigh around the same as their non-electric antecedents in the late 2000s onwards. (More on 3D printed titanium below).

After attracting attention in 2024 for several notable model releases, particularly the L20 cargo bike with its emphasis on a low CoG, Engway launched their new Mapfour line focusing on “freedom and efficiency”. 

The underlying tech starts with Toray-sourced carbon fiber, Anada mid-drive motor, and a fast charge battery that they claim can go up to a week between charges. It also features an anti-theft system, which is beginning to become standard on mid- to high-end e-bikes. 

Innovation Not at CES

CES showcases a good selection of the avant garde, to be sure. Yet there’s plenty going on elsewhere around the world.

Braih, based in Spain, and created by engineer Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, produces customized “Super E-bikes” focused on “craftsmanship”.

There is always room for customization as a business model—as long as you simply get it right. Keeping costs down is one. These demand a premium, but, as long as the designs appeal to the niche that can afford them, should do well.

Advances in e-cargo designs have come thick and fast in a few short years along with the emergence of several subcategories: beefed up e-bikes for hauling extra stuff; family car replacement models; heavy-duty commercial delivery. 

Ultra-light 3D printed titanium continues to consolidate its position as a key manufacturing technology.

Möve Mobility has produced the Möve Avian in collaboration with Eplus3D. Their proprietary VER-TEC technology involves fusing 100% recyclable 3D printed titanium segments with hydroformed tubes. The resulting frame is 11.8kg. VER-TEC increases production efficiency especially in relation to mass production.

The Möve Avian is not cheap, though. As we often observe on this blog, great tech is one thing. Creating e-bikes that satisfy a critical mass of consumers’ mobility desires, at the right scale and the right price, is the trick.

E-Cargo’s Cutting Edge

Tarran has arguably advanced the family category with their new T1 Pro E-Cargo, which comes close to mini-van status on the replacement scale with its maximum limit of 220kg and dual battery giving a 200km range.

The intelligent safety system using cameras and radar add a pro-active safety feature that is generally gaining traction with a number of brands.

The ActiveGuard Pro Detection System has 3 cameras. A camera and radar monitors vehicles approaching from the rear. Handlebar vibration and video stream alert the rider to the presence of approaching hazards. A front-facing camera allows the rider to monitor the road even when it’s obscured. A head tube camera allows selfies and the mount has a 1/4 threaded recess for mounting third party cameras—not to be underestimated in the era of the creator economy.

A particularly innovative feature is the stabilizer ‘struts’—Dynamic Dualdrive—tucked up underneath into the cargo bin. Similar to aircraft landing gear that deploy on landing, the wheels descent onto the road to prevent the bike tipping over. Each operates independently with its own motor and suspension. 

Upon stopping the brackets become the bike’s stand, functioning to maintain stability while the bike is stationary allowing items to be loaded and unloaded.

The proprietary 100 Nm torque mid-drive motor is also impressive. 

Other functions and additions give a total package that sets the bar high in the family category. You would think the market would go for it. No price as yet though—and that will make all the difference.

Envision and Vvolt are working on a faster version of the Streek “double-decker” that appeared in 2022, to target the US market.

A trike rather than a bike, instead of a wide bin—which could be made wider—or a long-tail model—which could be made longer—storage capacity is stacked vertically not horizontally. Making it easier to move through high-traffic narrow city alleys with large loads is the goal.

Reuse. Recycle.

The bike industry entered the era of low carbon manufacturing a few years ago. Mid-decade, the trend is moving into top gear starting with Taipei Cycle’s 2025 theme of reuse and recycle.

You won’t see Gnargo Bike Co. at Taipei Cycle. But perhaps they should be there, even as far as having a shot at the d&i awards 

These bikes are all fashioned from discarded steel frames. The manufacturing process commences by burning off the existing surface down to the base metal followed by sandblasting. 

They then reshape the frames into the envisaged designs using their own molds. Frames are finished with powder coating paint jobs and clear coat like most other frames.

The circular supply chain business model is innovative. The company funds the restoration of two bikes from every bike purchased from them which are then donated to anyone needing a bike through community bike shops, and presumably without the means to pay standard retail prices.