SHANGHAI — China built the world’s biggest electric-bike industry on the back of crowded cities, booming delivery services and millions of commuters looking for a cheap way to beat traffic. Now, after dominating its home market, Chinese manufacturers are increasingly turning to the rest of the world for their next wave of growth.
Electric two-wheelers have become woven into daily life across many Chinese cities. From food couriers rushing between apartment blocks to commuters navigating Shanghai’s congested roads, e-bikes have become one of the country’s most accessible forms of urban transport.
That enormous domestic demand helped Chinese manufacturers achieve something few competitors elsewhere could match: massive production scale, sophisticated battery supply chains and intense price competition that forced companies to continually improve their products.
But the market that created those advantages is beginning to mature.
China Already Controls Much of the Global E-Bike Industry
Around 68 million electric bicycles were sold in China in 2025, according to market research cited by CNA, representing nearly 57% of estimated worldwide sales. Chinese industry estimates also suggest that at least two out of every three e-bikes produced globally are manufactured in China.
That dominance has created a powerful manufacturing ecosystem covering batteries, motors, electronic controllers, frames, components, servicing and quality control.
Chinese manufacturers increasingly argue that their advantage is no longer simply low-cost manufacturing. It is the ability to manufacture enormous volumes while drawing on a deeply established network of suppliers and technical expertise.
The challenge now is finding enough new customers.
Slower consumer spending and a mature domestic e-bike market mean replacement purchases are becoming increasingly important inside China. Manufacturers are therefore searching for fresh demand overseas.
Exports Are Already Surging
The overseas expansion is gaining momentum.
Chinese customs figures cited by CNA show that e-bike exports increased 31.5% from a year earlier during the first half of 2026, more than twice the pace of China’s overall export growth during the period.
Other Chinese customs reporting points in the same direction. Exports of electric motorcycles and mopeds by Chinese private companies rose about 30% year-on-year during the first quarter of 2026, while the combined export value of electric motorcycles and bicycles had already surpassed 40 billion yuan in 2024.
Major manufacturers are also becoming much more ambitious internationally.
Yadea, one of the world’s biggest electric two-wheeler manufacturers, has seen overseas sales rise sharply in 2026 as it targets Southeast Asia, South America and European cities. The company has been expanding its international retail network while pursuing manufacturing closer to overseas customers.
Southeast Asia Could Become One of the Biggest Battlegrounds
Asia may offer some of the largest opportunities.
Motorcycles remain one of the dominant forms of personal transport across countries including Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, meaning even a gradual shift from petrol-powered motorcycles toward electric alternatives could create an enormous market.
Higher fuel costs, government efforts to reduce urban pollution and national electrification programmes could all increase interest in battery-powered two-wheelers.
Recent disruptions to global energy markets have strengthened that argument. Chinese electric commercial-vehicle exporters have already experienced stronger interest across South and Southeast Asia as higher fuel costs improve the economics of electric transport.
For Chinese e-bike producers, the opportunity is obvious: take technology and manufacturing capacity perfected for hundreds of millions of Chinese commuters and redesign it for riders abroad.
But exporting an e-bike is considerably more complicated than simply putting one on a ship.
Every Country Has Different Rules
One of the industry’s biggest obstacles is regulation.
Unlike automobiles, electric bicycles do not operate under a single widely harmonised international framework.
Singapore, for example, does not permit throttle-operated power-assisted bicycles on public roads. Electric assistance must generally be activated through pedalling under its regulatory framework.
European countries impose their own technical and certification requirements, while markets including Japan and Brazil have different rules governing motor power, vehicle dimensions, controls and road use. Hong Kong, meanwhile, currently does not permit electric bicycles on public roads.
Chinese manufacturers are therefore redesigning products market by market.
At an industry exhibition in Yiwu in August, companies displayed electric two-wheelers configured for different overseas regulations, climates and terrain. Manufacturers described adjusting everything from motors and certification requirements to wheelbases, handlebars and control systems.
That localisation could determine which Chinese brands succeed globally.
Europe Is Attractive — But It Comes With Trade Barriers
Europe remains a valuable market, but manufacturers face another obstacle there: tariffs.
The European Commission extended anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on Chinese electric bicycles in January 2025 after concluding that Chinese producers continued benefiting from subsidies and that imports were being sold at dumped prices.
That means manufacturers looking to build long-term businesses in Europe increasingly have incentives to establish local manufacturing, assembly facilities or regional supply chains rather than relying entirely on exports from China.
The strategy mirrors what is already happening in China’s larger electric-vehicle industry, where manufacturers are establishing factories abroad to reduce tariff exposure and get closer to customers.
China’s Biggest Advantage May Be the Supply Chain
China’s enormous battery and component ecosystem could ultimately prove more important than the bicycles themselves.
Decades of investment in batteries, electric motors, electronics and manufacturing automation have created suppliers capable of producing components at massive scale.
That allows manufacturers to develop models quickly, reduce prices and customise vehicles for specific international markets.
The same industrial advantages helped Chinese electric-car companies become formidable competitors globally. Increasingly, the country’s two-wheeler manufacturers are trying to follow the same playbook.
The Next Stage of China’s Electric-Vehicle Expansion May Have Two Wheels
For years, global attention has concentrated on Chinese electric cars from companies such as BYD, Geely and SAIC.
But electric bicycles and scooters could become an equally important part of China’s transport export story.
They are significantly cheaper than cars, require less charging infrastructure and can be particularly attractive in densely populated cities where motorcycles already dominate daily transportation.
China has already demonstrated what happens when enormous domestic demand creates scale, lowers costs and accelerates technological improvement.
The question now is whether Chinese e-bike manufacturers can reproduce that success overseas — while navigating tariffs, safety regulations, certification rules and fierce competition from established motorcycle and bicycle brands.
If they succeed, the next major wave of Chinese electric vehicles spreading across global cities may not have four wheels at all.
It may have just two.
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