29 Oct 2021

The European CityChangerCargoBike project (CCCB) invited cargo bike manufacturers to take part in the anonymous online survey in May / June 2021. cargobike.jetzt is a partner of the CCCP project and was in charge of the survey

In addition to cargobike.jetzt, the following other CCCB partners took part in the survey: The European Cyclists's Federation (ECF), Cycling Industries Europe (CIE), the European Cycle Logistics Federation (ECLF) and the Krakow University of Technology.

The survey was a great success with 38 cargo bike manufacturers taking part in the second European Cargo Bike Industry Survey 

Understanding the survey

The European Cargo Bike Industry Survey is not a representative survey and does not claim to capture the absolute size of the European cargo bike market. It is about the growth expectations of the participating manufacturers. For private and commercial as well as motorized and non-motorized cargo bikes together.

Growth of the manufacturers involved

With a Europe-wide growth of 38.4 percent in 2020, the survey results of the 38 participating manufacturers correspond to the market data of the Zweirad-Industrie-Verband (ZIV) for Germany. The ZIV indicates a market growth of all motorized and non-motorized cargo bikes of 40 percent for 2020 (-> ZIV market data 2020: over 100,000 cargo bike sales in Germany ).

For 2021, the manufacturers involved expect growth of around 66 percent based on their sales up to and including April 2021. Some manufacturers confirmed this growth expectation in discussions with cargobike.jetzt at EUROBIKE. Others were skeptical about the general delivery problems for bicyclecomponents and other challenges as a result of the Corona crisis.

Belgium is an important market

Belgium was named most frequently by the participating manufacturers as their top European market - well ahead of Germany. Although 14 German and no Belgian manufacturers took part in the survey. The particular dynamism of the Belgian market is the result of a series of effective funding prgrams for e-bikes and the bike-friendly redesign of many Belgian cities.

High proportion with electric drive

With 92 percent motorized models in their sales in Europe, the participating manufacturers were well above the e-share of cargo bikes in the market data of the Zweirad-Industrie-Verband (ZIV) for Germany. Here the ratio with / without electric drive was 75.5 to 24.4 percent in 2020.

Whether this difference is due to a non-representative composition of the survey participants, a different understanding of the minimum size of a cargo bike or an actually lower proportion of motorized cargo bikes in Germany cannot be answered here. One thing is certain: the electric drive is essential for the growth of the cargo bike market in Europe. E-drives other than the Pedelec25 drive do not (so far?) Play a relevant role.

Great interest in security standards

Safety is an important issue for the cargo bike industry. The participating manufacturers confirm the industry's high level of interest in the emerging European EN standard for cargo bikes. All manufacturers can participate in the cargo bike working group at the European Institute for Standardization (-> European standard for cargo bikes - why and when? ).

Limits of the survey

To avoid misunderstandings, reference is made again to the limits of an anonymous survey among manufacturers. It is neither a representative survey nor a statement about the absolute size of the European cargo bike market. However, the study does provide a plausible spotlight on trends and growth expectations in the industry.

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