Electric bikes are about to get more expensive, and the timing couldn’t be worse

Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced major new tariffs on Chinese imports, including electric vehicles, batteries, solar cells, and a range of other goods. The goal was to prevent China from flooding the market with cheap products that could endanger domestic manufacturers. But environmental groups warned it could hinder our efforts to meet our climate goals by making things like EVs and solar panels more expensive.

Caught up in all this are electric bikes, those big battery-sporting, sometimes goofy-looking but always fun to ride motorized two-wheelers. E-bikes aren’t just for delivery workers or beach town grannies. They’re important tools for fighting climate change, combating car culture, and improving mental and physical health.

And now, thanks to President Joe Biden’s tariffs, they’re about to get a whole lot more expensive. And the timing couldn’t be worse.

It’s no secret that China dominates bicycle manufacturing, with one report putting the figure at 86.3 percent of bikes purchased in the US. Many e-bike companies rely on China for most of their components, including frames, batteries, motors, and more. Some e-bike makers are unique, but many, especially at the low end, are little more than nameplates affixed to off-the-shelf Chinese e-bikes assembled from a catalog.

Last week, the Office of the United States Trade Representative said that e-bike batteries imported from China would be subject to 25 percent tariffs starting in 2026, up from 7.5 percent. E-bikes and their components imported from China have been subject to 25 percent tariffs since the Trump administration, but US trade officials have used exclusions to keep those levies from kicking in.

Now, those exclusions are set to expire on June 14th, according to Bicycle Retailer. Some products, like bike trailers and helmets that are made in China, will still be excluded. But e-bikes, some youth bikes, and other components will now be subject to the 25 percent levy. And that is going to have a major impact on the affordability of e-bikes in the US.

“The expiration of Section 301 tariffs will cause a further weeding out of underperforming e-bike companies and, unfortunately, consumers will most likely see prices rise across the industry,” said Levi Conlow, CEO of Lectric eBikes, in an email to The Verge.

Prices are set to increase right when e-bikes have officially entered the mainstream. In 2022, there were 1.1 million e-bikes sold in the United States, almost four times as many as were sold in 2019, according to the Department of Energy. A number of e-bike companies have emerged from the covid-19 pandemic with robust lineups and loyal fans. And states across the country are recognizing the potential of e-bikes to help reduce emissions and car trips by offering rebates and other incentives to make them more affordable for consumers.

The Biden administration, though, is more fixated on getting people to switch from gas to electric cars, through $7,500 tax credits and billions spent on EV charging infrastructure. Bikes are merely an afterthought, still viewed by the wider public as recreational rather than transformational. A national bill that would have applied a $1,500 discount on the purchase of an e-bike never made it out of committee. And the amount of federal money being spent on encouraging active transportation through street redesigns is dwarfed by the billions being pumped into EV incentives.

E-bike companies are also in the midst of making major investments to make their products safer. They’re introducing new safety measures in order to prevent deadly fires that have been mostly linked to poorly made Chinese batteries. Indeed, even China is finally waking up to the risks of fire-prone e-bike batteries. According to Electrek, the country just passed new safety standards for lithium-ion battery production.

A lot of e-bike companies saw the inherent risks of relying too heavily on Chinese-made parts for their products and have already set out to diversify their supply chain. Tern, for example, imports its e-bikes from Taiwan and Vietnam, spokesperson Arleigh Greenwald said. Trek also imports some of its parts from Taiwan but also relies on components from China. (A Trek spokesperson declined to comment.) Others are more exposed. Rad Power Bikes, the largest e-bike company in the US, operates two factories in China. (A spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment.)

Conlow, whose Lectric e-bikes are affordably priced, said consumers will now need to keep in mind the financial health of any e-bike company before making a purchase. If the company goes out of business, they could be stuck with a useless warranty and no access to new parts or maintenance for their e-bike.

As for Lectric? “We’ve been successful when there were tariffs,” he said, “and we’ve been successful when there have been tariff exclusions.”

Yes, some e-bike companies are likely to go out of business. And the ocean of cheap e-bikes — many of which are available on Amazon and other retailers that don’t necessarily check for quality — is likely to shrink considerably. And that’s probably going to hurt sales in the near term and slow e-bike adoption in the US, which isn’t great for the climate.

But US companies have an opportunity to step up and reshore their manufacturing operations or find new international suppliers that are located in countries that aren’t the target of our protectionist government. And states can help defray the costs by continuing to offer incentives to get more people in the saddle and riding. And needless to say, bike lanes, bike lanes, bike lanes.

It won’t be quick, and the clock is ticking.