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| Electric bikes are popular with more than just pensioners. Photo: DutchNews.nl |
The Dutch spent a record €1.2bn buying new bikes in 2018 and the
sale of electric bikes overtook those of traditional city bikes for the first
time, according to new figures from the RAI association and Bovag.
In total,
the Dutch bought one million new bikes last year, a rise of 5.7% on 2017. The
increase is partly due to the long, hot summer which encouraged more people to
cycle, officials say.
The sale of electric bikes rose a whopping 40% to
409,400, accounting for €823m of the total bill or an average of over €2,000
per bike. City bikes without electricity accounted for one third of the number
of bikes sold, down from 42% in 2017.
‘Electric bikes are becoming the new
normal,’ the organisations said in a statement. ‘You can find electric bikes
for all sorts of different target groups, from young to old. There are electric
mountain bikes, transport bikes and cargo bikes so parents can move children
around.’
Figures from research institute TNO show that people who buy a new
bike tend to cycle more.
Bovag and RAI expect that new rules for company bikes
which are due to come into effect next year will boost bike sales by a further
150,000 a year.
The rules involve encouraging more employers to pay their staff
19 cents a kilometre in travelling expenses if they use their own bike to get
to work. The payment is part of the Dutch tax system but few employers use it.
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