2016 E-Bike Expo Celebrates Exciting Legislative Win in California
Inspired by impressive sales growth across the U.S., and a key legislative win in California led by the California Bicycle Coalition (AB 1096 clarifying and legalizing E-Bikes effective January 1st 2016), the North American E-Bike industry is celebrating with the traveling 2016 E-Bike Expo beginning in January and touring to six different bike-friendly cities over the next five months.
From: Melissa Balmer – Media Director California Bicycle Coalition
Melissa@Calbike.org Cell 562.221.9672
Re: 2016 E-Bike Expo Celebrates Exciting Legislative Win in California and Growing Array of E-Bike Choices for U.S. Consumer
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Sacramento CA – Inspired by impressive sales growth across the U.S., and a key legislative win in California led by the California Bicycle Coalition (AB 1096 clarifying and legalizing E-Bikes effective January 1st 2016), the North American E-Bike industry is celebrating with the traveling 2016 E-Bike Expo beginning in January and touring to six different bike-friendly cities over the next five months:
January 15-17, 2016 – Tempe, AZ – Diablo Stadium
February 26-28, 2016 – San Diego, CA – Liberty Station, Point Loma
March 11-13, 2016 – Houston, TX – Rice University
April 22-24, 2016 – Palo Alto, California – The Stanford Mall
May 20-22, 2016 – Portland, Oregon (location to be determined)
June 2016 – Denver, Colorado (date and location to be determined)
Hosted by Extra Energy Services North America, Inc., this fun, free to the public, “hands on” series will give members of the public, the media, and bike shop retailers the opportunity to test ride over 80 different bikes from the top 17 North American e-Bike lines. This eye opening experiential opportunity is made possible with technology courtesy of global leader Bosch (which demonstrated its belief in the U.S. e-Bike market by opening a location in Newport Beach CA last year), and a special enclosed outdoor track courtesy of Trek. Find out more and register in advance for your special VIP attendance at: electricbike-expo.com.
“The best way for people to truly understand what an electric bike is all about is to provide them with the ride experience. That’s why we are taking electric bikes to the people.” Ray Verhelst, President of ExtraEnergy.
E-Bikes are one of the fastest growing segments of the $6.1 billion annual U.S. bike industry sales (total from 2014 reported by the National Bicycle Dealers Association), with industry experts predicting unit sales to reach 300,000 in 2016.
“We chose assisted bikes for all of the reasons suggested: hills, heavy loads, time savings, sweat reduction (with our loads, sweat prevention is a pipe dream), and to ride at speeds closer to those of solo bike commuters. We rode unassisted bikes for a while but as the kids got heavier, the steep San Francisco hill we lived on grew increasingly daunting, to the point that the choice eventually became either get assisted bikes or drive everywhere. Having these bikes has dramatically increased our biking range; there are places we ride now that we never would have attempted before.” Dorie Apollonio San Francisco.
Two key U.S. generations offer exponential growth opportunities for e-Bikes: Millennials and Baby Boomers. According to the October 2014 PIRG report, Millennials are driving less for a myriad of reasons, often because the bike is simply a better mobility fit for their preference of living in urban environments. Further, a November 2015 article by Laura Johannes in the Wall Street Journal reported some 20{850a63fa8a72bae4d6bfa3f1eda9f619cddace10f9053ede128e2914f9ca5a15} of people age 50+ say they’ve ridden a bike in the past year, up from 16{850a63fa8a72bae4d6bfa3f1eda9f619cddace10f9053ede128e2914f9ca5a15} in 2011, according to AARP. As Baby Boomers retire they have more time to spend on their health and leisure activities and e-Bikes offer an attractive solution for both.
More About the 2016 E-Bike Expo
At each city the public is invited to enjoy a 25,000 square foot self contained venue which includes the specially designed outdoor test track. This track will allow thousands of locals, from avid daily commuters and recreational riders, to those who may not have ridden a bike in years, to test ride the very latest e-bikes from top North American brands including city bikes, commuting bikes, hybrid bikes, mountain bikes, fat tire bikes, compact bikes and yes even cargo bikes and more!
Because of the emerging growth of the market in North America, these events will also serve as market research test beds where through the use of advanced RFID technology, riders and the bikes they try will be tracked. Everything from the order of choice, to the number of laps will be recorded and paired with their original registration data. The participating manufacturers will get to follow along on a secured live dashboard, as well as see detailed reports and layered demographic mapping technology provided by Google. Matched with census data, these extensive results will tell participating companies what attracted the most interest and where the potential customer base is concentrated.
The Opportunity of E-Bikes for California and Beyond
In the US market, riding a bike is typically considered a pure recreational sport and only recently have a dozen or so major cities embraced them as an alternative inner city commuter option. In October of 2015 in California, the California Bicycle Coalition led the passing of AB 1096 to allow low-speed E-Bikes to ride on the same traditional bike lanes and paths. This gives E-Bike riders access to thousands of miles of routes to ride throughout the state and went into effect on January 1, 2016.
AB 1096 clarifies the definition of electric motor-assisted bicycles further for California by defining three specific classes of e-bikes: bikes with a top assisted speed of 20 mph that must be pedaled to operate; those with a top assisted speed of 20 mph that can be operated without pedaling; and bikes with a top assisted speed of 28 mph. By regulating these bikes differently than mopeds, AB 1096 enables a reexamination of the access restrictions imposed on users of these bikes in order to permit more access to bicycle paths, where appropriate and safe.
“E-bikes are an important part of our transportation solution. Like all bikes, they make our communities healthier, safer, and more prosperous. But outdated regulations treated them like mopeds. We’re proud to have convinced the Legislature that these devices deserve to be treated like regular bikes for most purposes, and grateful that the Bicycle Product Suppliers Association supported the classification of electric bikes so that government agencies can easily continue to update the regulations in the future. This is truly model legislation that other states should follow.” Dave Snyder, Executive Director California Bicycle Coalition.
Media interested in speaking with Extra Energy about the tour series should contact Pete Prebus/Chief Marketing Officer Pete.Prebus@ExtraEnergy.org Tel 702. 688. 5573 ext 700. Media interested in speaking to Dave Snyder and the California Bicycle Coalition about the passing of the new e-Bike law, or about the upcoming events in California should contact Melissa Balmer Melissa@CalBike.org or Cell 562.221.9672.
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E-Bike Lines Featured on the Tour A2B
A2B, Besv, Bulls, Easy Motion, Felt Electric, Focus, Gazelle, HaiBike, iZip, Kalkhoff, Polaris, Raleigh, Stromer, Tempo, Trek, Xtracycle and Yuba.
About Extra Energy
ExtraEnergy Services North America is comprised of a talented and experienced group of electric bike industry and event experts. The U.S. based organization is a subsidiary of ExtraEnergy of Tanna, Germany, which has been providing electric bike test and review services since 1992 and providing electric bike test ride experiences in Europe since 1997 with their mobile Test IT Tracks. Prior to the E-Bike Expo, ExtraEnergy hosted the “The Circuit presented by Shimano” at Interbike in 2015. Interbike is the largest bicycle tradeshow in the U.S. and is held at Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas Nevada. Find out more at electricbike-expo.com.
