eBikes in Italy: ten years of data, from boom to maturity

In 2017, Italians bought 56,200 eBikes. Ten years on, eBikes account for roughly one in five bikes sold in the country. Between those two points sits a decade that has repeatedly upended anyone trying to read the Italy eBike market: a sharp takeoff, an outsized pandemic boom, a harsh correction, and now a plateau that looks less like a downturn and more like a new baseline.

From +120% to the Covid boom

The first inflection came in 2017, when eBike sales jumped from 56,200 to 124,000 units in a single year — a 120% increase. That was the moment assisted pedaling stopped being a niche for older riders and started pulling in commuters, tourists and everyday users. Then came 2020, when the pandemic sent the entire Italian bicycle market into overdrive: 2.01 million units sold, up 17% year on year, helped along by a government mobility bonus that burned through 215 million euros in under a day, paying out more than 600,000 refunds averaging 332 euros each. It was the sector's historic peak, and for a while it looked like proof of a permanent shift.

It wasn't. From 2022 onward, the Italian bike market corrected hard: down 10% in 2022 (1.7 million units), down 23% in 2023 (1.36 million), and down another 4% in 2025 to 1.303 million units. Industry revenue tracked the same slide, from 3.2 billion euros in 2022 to roughly 2.5 billion in 2025, while margins were squeezed from 7.6% in 2021 to 3.2% in 2023. Anyone who built out production capacity or inventory based on 2020-2021 numbers ended up holding stock and cost structures sized for a market that no longer existed.

eBikes growing inside a shrinking market

The most telling number in the Italy eBike market right now is that it's moving against the grain of the broader trend. As total bike sales shrink, the eBike share of the pie keeps rising — from about 10% in 2017 to roughly 20% today. That's not growth in absolute volume comparable to 2017-2020; it's growth in relative weight inside a smaller market, evidence that assisted pedaling has carved out a structural place in buying habits rather than a cyclical one. Germany offers a useful reference point: eBikes there have already overtaken conventional bikes, reaching 53% of sales in 2024. Italy looks to be roughly halfway down a road other European markets have already traveled further.

That shift shows up on the workshop floor as much as on the sales floor. eBikes now account for roughly three-quarters of the bikes coming in for repair, and by 2026 eBike warranty management has become the single biggest operational headache for service departments. Motors, battery packs measured in Wh, and chainrings are the fastest-growing lines in the aftermarket, while the old reliables — inner tubes, tires, chains, brake pads — still anchor most of parts revenue.

Why service is holding up — and why that matters

The apparent paradox of this decade — sales contracting while parts and service hold steady — comes down to one figure: service now accounts for 60 to 90% of revenue at specialty bike shops, and roughly 70% of profit. Ninety-five percent of Italy's roughly 4,000 specialty retailers do repair work. In 2026, trade coverage has gone as far as saying many shops would be underwater without workshop revenue — which means reading the Italy eBike market by sales volume alone misses the point. The real story is the product lifecycle: warranties, parts availability, and lead times that hit 340 to 700 days in 2022, stretching to 24 months for some components.

Looking ahead, two structural forces will keep reshaping the picture. The EU's ESPR regulation makes a Digital Product Passport mandatory from 2027, turning traceability and repairability into a compliance requirement rather than a nice-to-have. And cycling tourism in Italy, worth up to 89 million visitor-nights and 9.8 billion euros in economic impact in 2024, is driving growing demand for technical assistance along cycling routes. Both point the same way: value in this sector keeps shifting from the sale of the bike to how it's managed over its lifetime.

For workshops that want to act on this data — eBike warranties, parts, repeat customers — CrankPal is built to put service, not just sales, at the center of day-to-day operations.