The Electric Conversion: France is Offering €4,000 to Those Who Trade Their Car For an E-Bike

In a continuation of a decade-long trend, the use of e-bikes surged in many parts of the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. This happened despite disruptions to supply chains that often resulted in delivery delays or price increases.

Governments have built on the recent rise in interest by offering incentives to consumers to replace gas- or diesel-powered motor vehicles, motorcycles, and scooters with e-bikes. These programs are motivated by the need to address air pollution levels, traffic issues, and climate change challenges. The incentives to switch from motor vehicles to greater use of e-bikes is also targeted to help meet future emissions reduction targets.

Most recently, in August 2022, France increased the subsidy offered to individuals that replace conventional motor vehicles with e-bikes to 4,000 euros as part of efforts to increase the sustainability of transportation. The subsidy – based on a program carried out in Lithuania – was initially adopted in 2021. It was subsequently increased in 2022 because levels of e-bike use in France on a per capita basis continued to lag behind that of neighboring countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

The French government hopes to see the number of people that switched to bicycles and e-bikes to reach 9% in 2024, compared to 3% in 2022. This policy will be complemented by an increase in the length of bike lanes in the country.

Freedonia analysts continue to watch factors such as the spread of incentives, expansions in production capacity, improvements in battery technology, related infrastructure development from bike lanes to charging stations, and consumer sentiment about sustainability issues for direct and indirect effects on the electric transportation industry.

For more information and discussion of opportunities, see The Freedonia Group’s extensive collection of off-the-shelf research, especially coverage in transportation-related industries with titles such as Global E-Bikes, Global Motorcycles, Global Hybrid & Electric Vehicles, and Bicycles: United States. Freedonia Custom Research is also available for questions requiring tailored market intelligence.