OPINION The E-Bike Opportunity By Matt Dowler, CMO - BatteryIQ & Boost Bikes I
’ll start with some good news: there is a real opportunity in the UK for micromobility to grow rapidly, and there’s a strong appetite to swap four wheels for two in urban settings.
BatteryIQ recently commissioned a
survey of 2000 UK adults to understand attitudes to e-bikes. We were amazed at the strength of positive intent. Unfortunately, the survey also identified some significant barriers to e-bike adoption, which the industry must address if we want to see European-style mass adoption of e-mobility in the UK. The stats showed that 22% of people were “somewhat
interested” in owning an e-bike, and 16% were “very interested”. Even more surprising was how many people hope to swap the car for a bike around town. Of those interested in e-bike ownership, 56% said it could replace all car journeys under five miles, with a further 28% indicating they would replace some short journeys. I’m particularly excited about the potential for e-bikes to take a significant share of urban journeys, given the public health benefits of active travel.
Only 5.5% suggested an e-bike would be used solely for
leisure riding, meaning the industry’s focus on E-MTB reaches only a small portion of the potential market – what an opportunity! All very positive so far, but this is where the story changes, with two main barriers to e-bike ownership clearly coming through: battery safety and cost.
Battery Safety There’s a prevailing narrative in the bike industry that battery fires are not caused by good-quality products from known brands. The statistics from fire brigades generally support this view, and it has been recognised by government
in the APPGCW’s inquiry on “The Threat of Illegal E-Bikes”. However, this is not the message reaching the general public.
Whether you agree with it or not, e-mobility batteries
have a bad reputation, and potential customers are being put off because of perceived risks. We’ve all seen headlines reporting “e-bikes” causing fires, and so has the general public. 75% of people had some awareness that e-bike batteries can cause fires. Depressingly, 48% said they would be put off e-bike ownership “significantly” by such headlines. A further 33% would be put off “a bit”, meaning 81% of the public are put off buying an e-bike by battery fire reporting.
Those who do invest in good-quality e-mobility are finding increasing restrictions on where they can use and charge their products. Because it’s not possible to prove any battery is safe, the easiest response to reduce risk is an outright ban. Just buying a “known” brand is not enough – you can’t expect a building manager or a TfL employee to identify a safe battery with no detailed bike knowledge. This affects legitimate e-bike owners just as much as those
www.bikebiz.com June 2026 | 53
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