With the international e-bike market being driven by Europe, as demand for e-bikes among seniors in the EU market increases, the average unit price of e-bikes exported to the EU from Taiwan has also risen significantly by 36.7 percent, thus creating an increase in the overall export value of e-bikes. Taiwan's export structure, apart from Europe, is led by exports of e-bikes to North America and in 2019 reached 144 thousand units in volume, ranking first in terms of growth of export value among all regions.
Since the rise of the sharing economy, the Taiwanese bicycle industry was hit hard as the overall export value of Taiwanese bicycles slid downward. However, e-bikes have experienced "a rise in both volume and price" recently. According to data published by the Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance, Europe and North America accounted for over 90 percent of Taiwanese e-bikes exports, while the top three importing countries were the Netherlands, the US, and Germany.
However, the Taiwanese bicycle industry stresses quality over quantity as well as pursuing high-tech and high-value-added products, it has also greatly affected the development of the global bicycle technology.
Giant and Merida Tap Into the E-Bike MarketIn recent years, Taiwan's two major bicycle brands - Giant and Merida - have actively developed e-bike products, to satisfy the global demand. For example, Giant Group has invested EUR 15 million to set up a new plant in Hungary to get closer to the rapid rising of e-bike market in Europe by shortening the supply chain.
Giant bicycles are currently sold in over 50 countries worldwide with over 10,000 distributors around the world and has been developing power-assisted bicycles since 1999. And was also the first brand to bring power-assisted bicycles into the European market.
Founded in 1972, Merida Industry Co., Ltd. has also been targeting the trend of e-bikes. The launch of the e160, an electric mountain bicycle produced by Merida, caused a stir in the global market three years ago. The "e160 900E Electric Full-Suspension Cross-Country Mountain Bicycle," which flaunted that climbing uphill would no longer be a burden, has become a classic representation of sports and leisure e-bikes and has won the Taiwan Excellence Silver Quality Award 2017. In 2020, Merida has launched the eONE-SIXTY and has once more won the Taiwan Excellence Silver Quality Award, thanks to its variety of unique designs, including a new carbon fiber frame which is lighter and more rigid, as well as a heat-conducting device to prevent the battery overheating.
