Shockwaves are reverberating through the e-bike industry in Canada and the United States after a year that saw several prominent brands declare bankruptcy or stop selling in the North American market, citing an inability to compete in an increasingly consolidated environment.
Experts say changes that followed the industry’s unprecedented pandemic boom – from a rise in factory direct sales to rapidly evolving technology – have been devastating for independent brands.
Vancouver-based DOST Bikes, California-based Juiced Bikes and iGO Electric of Montreal all declared bankruptcy or went into receivership within roughly the past year. Even global brands such as Japanese motor sports giant Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. and Swiss company Stromer recently announced they were pulling their e-bikes out of North America, citing a softened market.
The speed and comfort of e-bikes set them apart from traditional bicycles, opening up the age-old mode of transport to a wider range of users. From delivery people to commuters, the resounding sentiment from most e-bike fans is it’s fun to go fast and the power assist makes long trips so much easier. In Canada, the federal standard for an e-bike’s maximum speed is 32 km/h, and range varies from about 50 to 100 kilometres.
The pandemic saw e-bike sales soar, as consumers with extra time and pent-up energy splurged on devices to stay active outdoors. In 2022, the Canadian market was worth about $240-million, with about 70,000 e-bikes sold that year, according to Rize Bikes. By 2025, Rize estimates the market will reach $345-million, with more than 100,000 bikes sold annually. Prices range from $14,000 for a Stromer bike to $3,100 for an ENVO and just $600 on Amazon.com Inc. for a bike from an overseas manufacturer.
But makers and retailers say the domestic industry is flatlining. While it’s nowhere near taking its last breath, the changing landscape is forcing local brands to carve out a niche for themselves just to survive, in a market that has become dominated by cheap, direct-to-consumer sales.
Sam Atakhanov, the founder of multiple e-bike startups, launched DOST Bikes in 2019 – just before the industry took off.
“Things were going normal. Then there was that chain of events that happened over the last few years that really crippled our industry,” he said.
For Mr. Atakhanov, it all began with Apple’s release of the iOS 14 operating system in September, 2020. The update affected advertisers’ ability to reach their target audiences, which meant Mr. Atakhanov’s ads on Google weren’t working as well as they used to.
Then, pandemic supply-chain disruptions threw a wrench into his company’s cash flow, bumping manufacturing lead times from three months to a year, he said.
“We’re sitting here with no stock for nearly a year before the money comes in, so we’re living off of lines of credit, our own cash, investment capital. We’re digging ourselves a hole,” he said.
While supply chains improved by 2022, Mr. Atakhanov said rising interest rates and a receding customer base were some of the final blows dealt to his business. Retailers had rushed to double their stock during the pandemic, but the high demand disappeared almost as quickly as it came.
“Then it’s a vicious cycle, race to the bottom, everybody’s trying to offload,” Mr. Atakhanov said.
The last straw for DOST Bikes was when e-bike factories overseas began bypassing local companies, like DOST, to sell directly to North American consumers, Mr. Atakhanov said.
“When that happened, our value proposition for all that great design, branding, marketing, all that just went right out the window because a factory can sell for half the price.”
DOST Bikes filed for insolvency in December, 2023. “It was death by a thousand cuts,” Mr. Atakhanov said.
And it wasn’t unique to DOST, said Haseeb Javed, a member of the product and engineering team at electric mobility company ENVO Drive Systems in Vancouver. He conducts industry research to determine what causes companies to fail and said most of them have a story similar to DOST’s.
Based upon his research, Mr. Javed said ENVO has been very careful to diversify where its products are sold so it’s not reliant on a single revenue stream. For example, the company sells through Costco Wholesale Corp., storefronts and direct to consumers online. ENVO also sells more than just e-bikes, with e-scooters, water bikes with pontoons and snow bikes with skis also in its repertoire. Mr. Javed said this helps with the company’s brand awareness.
“Some business models are better for this market. But ultimately, I believe that anyone who survived, either you need to be a Chinese factory who is selling at very low margins or you need to have differentiation,” he said.
Kevin McLaughlin, the CEO of Zygg E-Bikes, which operates in Toronto and Vancouver, said 2024 has been a challenging year for his subscription-based company. At Zygg, customers can rent or buy new and used e-bikes, a model that sets the company apart from stores that only sell new bikes. He said Zygg is a popular choice with food delivery workers.
At the peak of the pandemic, Zygg did about $2.5-million a year in sales. This year, revenues will come in under $2-million.
Amid the technological evolution of e-bikes, Mr. McLaughlin said he’s scrambling to modernize his fleet. And bikes that he bought at $2,000 and once sold for $3,000 now have a markup of just $400. “There’s enormous downward pressure,” he said.
Mr. Atakhanov said his company has also had to compete with bigger brands that can afford to innovate – and market those innovations – at a much faster pace. For example, tech company DJI created an e-bike drive system that can connect to a user’s smartphone, allowing them to control things such as their bike’s lock status or power assist through an app.
“My product, all of a sudden, over the weekend, looks like it’s last year’s model,” he said.
While smaller companies may be struggling to keep up, the prevailing sentiment among industry players is that demand for such micromobility devices isn’t going away. Michael Pasquali, the founder of the Canadian Electric Bike Association, said people are going to continue to buy e-bikes even if the industry never again reaches the heights it did during the pandemic.
