Renowned for its bicycle-friendly culture, the Netherlands boasted a fleet of bicycles of around 23.4 million in 2021. The prevalence of high-quality bicycle infrastructure in many parts of the country makes cycling a convenient and safe transport option for many people. The bike is the most popular option among Dutch people for short journeys.
A country geared toward e-bikes
Electric and city bikes are the most popular categories of bicycle sales in the Netherlands. Recently, the city bike segment has lost ground to the e-bike segment. Recent sales figures have shown increasing interest in e-bikes within the Netherlands: national annual sales of new e-bikes reached a record 547,000 units in 2020, and another 480,000 units were sold in 2021. In 2021, e-bike sales overtook sales of non-motorized bicycles for the first time. High e-bike sales in the country have also increased the share of bikes that cost above 900 euros, now accounting for 60 percent of the market. Indeed, the electric bicycle trend has not just been observed in the Netherlands but across Europe: with the size of the European electric bike market expected to hit 32 billion U.S. dollars by 2027.Post-pandemic preferences
As commuters began avoiding public transport amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Finland, Italy, France, and the U.K. were among some European nations under pressure to cater to higher demand for bikes and, by extension, well-built cycle lanes. More than one billion euros have been spent on cycling infrastructure – for example, 2,300 kilometers’ worth of cycle lanes – across the European continent since the beginning of the global pandemic. Meanwhile, the Netherlands has been among the few European countries consistently investing in its cycling infrastructure in the past decades. It, therefore, already had a cycle path network of more than 273,000 kilometers before the beginning of the pandemic.The Covid-19 outbreak caused two-wheeler sales, including e-bikes, electric mopeds, motorcycles, and bicycles, to increase by up to 50 percent in the Netherlands alone. By contrast, the pandemic negatively impacted bicycle retailers. The total number of bike shops decreased to 3,079 in 2020, a 2.5 percent drop compared to 2019 due to the economic downturn brought on by the health crisis. However, retailer numbers began to recover again in 2021, increasing to 3,085 stores.
