Leading eBike retailer warns UK to fall further behind EU without tone change in the media

One of the UK’s largest electric bike retailers has today warned that Britain will fall further behind Europe’s progress on cycling for transport and e-mobility, if the industry does not stand up to the mass media’s abuse of cycling.

Fully Charged Founder Ben Jaconelli spoke to Cycling Industry News this week from his London showroom, where he illustrated, as one example, that he has up to 40 customers in a single major London building that now cannot cycle to work anymore as the building has flat our banned all eBikes in response to pressure from its insurer. This, it is widely believed, is down to misinformation in the press surrounding electric bikes, perhaps best encapsulated by this week’s Panorama TV show, which produced a 30-minute segment that has been widely complained about in view of its poor portrayal of eBikes, often conflating them with electric motorbikes and other unknown modified kit bikes.

This, he says, is having a pronounced impact on his business and many others like it. He told CIN: “2024 was already a tough year, with relentless negative press and misinformation about eBikes. Despite our hard work and the efforts of independent retailers, the industry is struggling—many bike shops have closed, and we can’t afford more undue criticism. The real issue is illegal motorbikes and unsafe aftermarket conversions being miss interpreted with genuine eBikes from top manufacturers using Bosch technology, who invest millions in R&D and work with authorised dealers.

“Despite our best efforts to promote safe, high-quality eBikes for businesses, families, and individuals, these false headlines and the stories the press have zoomed in on have already caused some commercial landlords and residential landlords to ban eBikes from their buildings, which has negatively affected the eBike market.

“If something is not done about this, we will continue to see the UK remain ten years behind the rest of Europe. Then the UK will not benefit from all the benefits of a futureproofed transport culture with more cycling in our cities. The electric bike improves so much for people and broader society, such as obesity, reduced urban congestion and pollution, the improvement of people’s mental health. The list is endless. On behalf of bike retailers, I can sadly say that more good people will leave the industry should this false news continue in 2025.”

The bicycle industry makes an approximately £5.4 billion economic contribution the UK each year, supporting nearly 65,000 jobs. Cycling Industry News is aware of businesses that cite increasing insurance costs, or an inability to get a renewal quote as a reason for winding up their trade.

It has been found that insurers are citing working with electric bikes as a reason to decline renewals or bump prices, however, specialist electric bike website Cycling Electric has investigated the data behind fires, a catalyst for the decision, and found that more than 95% of incidents do not in fact come from electric bikes, but from direct-market conversion kits that are lesser regulated. Very often these do not meet the same safety standards. They are not, in short, eBikes. However, the problem of no distinction being made, exacerbated by the media of late, is now causing real economic consequence.

As part of its work, Cycling Electric got the world’s largest bike maker by value, The Giant Group, on record as saying it has never experienced a single thermal incident globally with its eBikes.

This week’s Panorama television slot was, for many, a galvanising moment. Many in the bike industry have pledged to complain to the BBC in order to redress what is felt to have been an unfair and inaccurate portrayal.

The programme, it’s fair to say, was guilty of conflating eBikes and e-motorbikes with high regularity and didn’t really showcase anything legal outside of Lime’s bike share models. A segment purporting to draw on the knowledge of an ‘e-bike collector’ only included modified or high-powered vehicles that would fall outside of standard eBike regulation.

The show also called into question whether the Cycle to Work scheme was being used to enable purchases of electric vehicles above eBike power outputs and indeed it did find an example of a website attempting to do so. This is an abuse of the scheme and invalidates the terms of agreements. As such both the Cycle to Work Alliance and The Green Commute Initiative have rebutted the claim today.

The Cycle to Work Alliance said: “The Cycle to Work Alliance has long been fully committed to working with the Government to ensure that high-quality, road legal eBikes are accessible since 2019, when we successfully campaigned to open the Scheme to eBikes to reflect the changing needs of consumers, and to open up cycling to older people and those who have a longer commute.

“The Terms of the Scheme specify that only legal bikes can be obtained through the Scheme. We are firm that any retailers offering illegal bikes are in breach of provider rules and should not be offered by the Scheme. The Alliance is well aware of the safety concerns surrounding illegal eBikes. We continue to work with industry and political stakeholders to ensure that an appropriate level of safety is maintained by eBike users through promoting positive behavioural change among cyclists and advocating for better bike/e-bike storage infrastructure with employers.”

If you wish to complain to the BBC about this week’s Panorama depiction of e-bikes, you can do so here.