Electric Bike Statistics & Data in 2026

Electric Bike Statistics & Data in 2026

Electric bike statistics tell a clear story about how quickly this category has matured. Electric bicycles moved from niche gadget to mainstream transportation in less than a decade. Sales have multiplied, regulators have written new rules, and emergency rooms, fire departments, and city planners have all started tracking the impact. The numbers tell that story better than the headlines do.

This page collects 40 verified statistics on the electric bike industry, pulled from the U.S. Department of Energy, peer-reviewed medical journals, federal injury surveillance data, university transportation research centers, and PeopleForBikes. Every figure links to the original source. The categories below cover U.S. and global sales, who actually rides, what trips e-bikes replace, environmental impact, public health outcomes, incentive program performance, and the growing concern around battery safety.

Use the headings to jump to the data that matters most for your work.

U.S. Electric Bike Sales and Market Size

Americans bought roughly 1.1 million electric bikes in 2022, almost four times the volume sold three years earlier [1]. The U.S. Department of Energy logged the figure as part of its Fact of the Week series, citing Light Electric Vehicle Association data.

Back in 2019, U.S. e-bike sales sat at just 287,000 units. Pandemic-era demand pushed the category into seven-figure territory soon after [1].

That trajectory kept going long after the pandemic faded. An analysis of more than 9,000 customs records estimated 1.7 million e-bikes were imported into the United States in 2024 [2].

Imports grew 72% year over year, from roughly 990,000 units in 2023 to 1.7 million in 2024 [2].

The total U.S. bicycle market was worth roughly $5.1 billion in 2024, down 9% from the prior year [3]. Electric bikes accounted for about $1.63 billion of that total, or roughly 30% of the entire U.S. bike market by dollar value [3].

PeopleForBikes counted 920,000 e-bikes sold across all retail channels in the United States in 2024 [3].

Electric bikes made up just 4% of unit sales in 2023, but they drove 63% of all U.S. bicycle dollar-sales growth between 2019 and 2023 [4].

Specialty bike shops sold e-bikes at an average price of $3,055 in 2024. Mass-market channels averaged $669 [4]. Two completely different shoppers, same category.

Direct-to-consumer channels accounted for 70% of e-bike sales revenue in 2024, totaling roughly $850 million across approximately 450,000 units sold on brand websites [3].

The electric cargo bike segment alone hit nearly $100 million in 2024 sales, on roughly 38,500 units [3].

Global Electric Bike Market

European riders bought roughly 6.68 million new e-bikes in 2024, the largest single-year volume the continent has recorded [5].

Germany alone accounted for about 2.1 million of those European e-bike sales in 2024 [5].

The average e-bike price in Europe sits at roughly €2,242. The global average is €711, and Asia averages just €373 [5]. Different national markets split between commuter, recreational, and last-mile riders, and the price gap shows it.

European e-bike sales grew at roughly 30% per year between 2006 and 2017, setting the baseline that current sales now build on [5].

Electric Bike Rider Demographics and Adoption

The Physical Activity Council found that 19.4% of Americans who rode a bike at least once in 2023 used an e-bike, up from 7.8% in 2021 [4]. The share of riders touching an e-bike more than doubled in two years.

PeopleForBikes counted 112 million Americans age three and up who rode a bike at least once in 2024, equal to 35% of the population [3].

Among U.S. e-bike owners, 59% are male and 41% are female, according to YouGov polling [6].

86% of U.S. e-bike owners fall between the ages of 18 and 44 [6].

30% of e-bike owners live in households earning more than $100,000 a year, versus 17% of non-owners [6].

62% of e-bike owners live in cities, compared with 33% of Americans who do not own an e-bike [6]. That fits where urban e-bikes do their best work, like short trips, congested streets, and steep grades.

Commuting and Car Trip Replacement

A North American survey of nearly 1,800 e-bike owners by Portland State University's Transportation Research and Education Center found e-bike trips averaged 9.3 miles. Respondents reported that recent rides had replaced 1,778 motor vehicle miles overall [7].

Participants in Denver's 2022 e-bike incentive program replaced an average of 3.4 round-trip car trips per week and 26 miles per week that would otherwise have been driven [8].

65% of Denver e-bike rebate recipients reported riding their new bike at least once per day [8].

Across multiple academic reviews of e-bike trip data, 35% to 50% of e-bike journeys substitute for a car trip [8]. The exact share depends on what kinds of trips a rider usually takes, with commuter e-bikes doing most of the heavy lifting in metro areas, but the floor holds steady.

Environmental Impact and Emissions Reduction

A 15% e-bike mode share in Portland, Oregon could cut daily transportation CO2 emissions by more than 900 metric tons, according to modeling from Portland State University and the University of Tennessee [10].

The same line of research estimated that an individual e-bike could replace enough car trips to save roughly 225 kg of CO2 per year [8].

A national modeling study in England estimated that broader e-bike adoption could cut transportation CO2 emissions by up to 24.4 million metric tons per year [5].

One NHS-affiliated study of staff who switched to e-bike commuting recorded a 34.3% decrease in commute CO2 emissions and a 35% reduction in commute energy use per person annually [5].

Researchers calculate that switching from a car to a bicycle or e-bike for daily transport cuts roughly 3.2 kg of CO2 per person per day [5].

Health and Physical Activity Benefits

Electric bikes still put riders in the moderate-intensity physical activity range, registering 4.1 to 6.1 METs versus 6.4 to 8.2 METs for conventional cycling [5]. The motor takes the edge off, but riders are still working.

A Norwegian study found that switching to an e-bike increased daily bike trips to 1.4 per day and average distance to 10.3 km, both substantially higher than what conventional cyclists in the same comparison group logged [5].

Dutch employees who commute by bike take 1.3 fewer sick days per year, on average, than colleagues who do not [5].

Cycling researchers note that more than 50% of car trips in U.S. metro areas are under 3 km and 75% are under 5 km, well within the range an average e-bike rider can cover comfortably [5].

Public Incentive Program Results

Minnesota's first-year e-bike rebate program drew applications from more than 14,600 residents, with average applicant age of 49 [11]. State lawmakers reauthorized the program at the same $2 million funding level after the first round closed.

The California rebate study estimated participants reduced personal transportation emissions by 12 to 44 kg of CO2 per month after receiving their e-bike [9].

Electric Bike Safety and Injury Statistics

From 2017 through 2022, U.S. emergency departments treated an estimated 45,586 e-bike-related injuries and 5,462 hospitalizations, according to a national surveillance analysis published in JAMA Surgery [12].

The annual e-bike injury count rose roughly 30-fold over that period, from 751 cases in 2017 to 23,493 in 2022 [12].

Head injuries grew 49-fold over the same window, climbing from about 163 cases in 2017 to 7,922 in 2022 [12]. By 2022, they accounted for 34% of all e-bike injuries, up from 22% five years earlier [12].

Only 44% of injured e-bike riders had worn a helmet at the time of their crash, and helmet use has been declining by about 5.6% per year [12].

Helmets were associated with 1.9 times lower odds of head injury in the same dataset [12].

A separate Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health analysis documented a 293% increase in e-bike-related injuries between 2019 and 2022, paired with 269% growth in U.S. e-bike sales over the same window [13].

Lithium-Ion Battery Fire Statistics

New York City logged 30 lithium-ion battery fires in 2019, climbing to 268 in 2023, the vast majority involving e-bikes or e-scooters [14].

Battery fires killed 18 New Yorkers in 2023 alone, and reported injuries from those fires climbed from 13 in 2019 to 150 in 2023, a more than tenfold increase [14].

NYC saw 277 lithium-ion battery fires in 2024, with deaths falling to six, a 67% drop the FDNY attributed to charging education campaigns and stepped-up shop enforcement [15].

The FDNY inspected 585 e-bike shops in 2024, a 25% increase over the prior year, and issued 426 summonses tied to unsafe battery practices [15].

Together, these electric bike statistics capture where the U.S. and global e-bike industry stand today. This page is refreshed as new federal reports, peer-reviewed studies, and industry surveys publish.

Sources

  1. [1] U.S. Department of Energy. "FOTW #1321, December 18, 2023: E-Bike Sales in the United States Exceeded One Million in 2022." Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, 18 Dec. 2023, https://www.energy.gov/cmei/vehicles/articles/fotw-1321-december-18-2023-e-bike-sales-united-states-exceeded-one-million.

  2. [2] Benjamin, Edward. "How Big is the USA E-bike Market in 2024-25?" eCycleElectric, 12 Feb. 2025, http://www.ecycleelectric.com/blog/2025/2/12/how-big-is-the-usa-e-bike-market-in-2024-25.

  3. [3] "US Cycling Participation Up & eBikes at 30% of Market Share Say People for Bikes Reports." eBikes International, 2025, https://ebikes-international.com/us-cycling-participation-up-ebikes-around-30-of-market-share-say-people-for-bikes-reports/.

  4. [4] PeopleForBikes. "Electric Bicycle Market Insights From Industry Experts." PeopleForBikes, 2024, https://www.peopleforbikes.org/news/electric-bicycle-market-insights-2024.

  5. [5] "Incorporating Active Commuting Into Daily Life: A Narrative Review of E-Bikes' Impact on Health and Urban Air Quality." PMC, National Library of Medicine, 2025, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12641026/.

  6. [6] Sanders, Linley. "Tracing the Demographics of E-Bike Owners in the US." YouGov, 2024, https://yougov.com/articles/44110-tracing-demographics-e-bike-owners-us.

  7. [7] PeopleForBikes. "Electric Bikes Statistics." PeopleForBikes, n.d., https://www.peopleforbikes.org/statistics/electric-bikes.

  8. [8] ClimateAction Center. "E-Bike Studies." ClimateAction Center, n.d., https://www.climateaction.center/e-bike-studies.

  9. [9] Johnson, Nicholas, et al. "Impacts of E-bike Ownership on Travel Behavior: Evidence from Three Northern California Rebate Programs." Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, ScienceDirect, 2023, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X23001725.

  10. [10] Transportation Research and Education Center. "The E-Bike Potential: Addressing Our Climate Crisis by Incentivizing Active Transportation." Portland State University, n.d., https://trec.pdx.edu/news/e-bike-potential-addressing-our-climate-crisis-incentivizing-active-transportation.

  11. [11] Center for Transportation Studies. "Minnesotans Geared Up for E-Bike Rebates. Now Data Reveals More About Them." University of Minnesota, Oct. 2025, https://www.cts.umn.edu/news-pubs/news/2025/october/ebikes.

  12. [12] Fernandez, Manuel M., et al. "Electric Bicycle Injuries and Hospitalizations." JAMA Surgery, 21 Feb. 2024, https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10882498/.

  13. [13] Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. "E-Bike, Powered Scooter Injuries Spike." Columbia University, 24 Sept. 2024, https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/e-bike-powered-scooter-injuries-spike.

  14. [14] DePillis, Lydia, and Jeff Coltin. "Why E-Bike Batteries Are Becoming the Most Dangerous Object in New York." City & State New York, 12 Apr. 2024, https://www.cityandstateny.com/policy/2024/04/why-e-bike-batteries-are-becoming-most-dangerous-object-new-york/395538/.

  15. [15] FDNY. "FDNY Commissioner Announces Significant Progress in the Battle Against Lithium-Ion Battery Fires." City of New York, 2025, https://www.nyc.gov/site/fdny/news/03-25/fdny-commissioner-robert-s-tucker-significant-progress-the-battle-against-lithium-ion.

Back to blog