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Norway's e-bikes sale in 2016 expected to quadruple from in 2014

Xinhua, June 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

It is possible that 40,000 electric bicycles will be sold this year in Norway, which is four times more than in 2014, daily newspaper Aftenposten reported on Friday.

Bicycle importer Stian Steen-Olsen expressed belief that this is only the beginning of a good sales period for e-bikes in the Nordic country.

"For the time being, we are mostly impressed by the percentage in the sales increase," Steen-Olsen told Aftenposten, adding that he had sold more bicycles than before, but many buyers had still not tried electric bicycles.

"They have not experienced the way an electric bicycle could change the way of our transportation," he said.

The importer said there is no crisis for the bicycle industry as sales turnover is increasing.

"There have been 400,000 bicycles sold annually on Norwegian bicycle market. I expect that it would go a little bit down this year and end up somewhere between 370,000 and 380,000 bicycles, but there is no crisis for the industry," Steen-Olsen said. "There is an increase in turnover, because people buy more expensive bicycles and use more money on bicycles than ever before."

According to Steen-Olsen, Norwegians are today more quality aware and not so many people would be satisfied with cheap bicycles from a nearby store.

"Today we have an online market that offers everything one bicycle enthusiast dreams about. There are 30,000 bicycles sold annually in Sweden via internet abroad. This is because the buyers do not find what they need in the shops. I do not have the numbers from Norway, but there are most certainly a few thousands bicycles that are bought in the same way here," Steen-Olsen said.

Eystein T. Stokstad, procurer for XXL, one of the biggest bicycle sellers in Norway, told Aftenposten that the company sold more than expected number of electric bicycles last year and that it has been extremely good this year as well.

"Electric bicycles take a great share of the total sale, but we count on that the number of sold bicycles in general will increase this year as well," he said. Endit