Industry
Chip shortage plagues bicycle manufacturers
Tourists ride electric bikes through the Baltic Sea resort on the island of Usedom. Photo: Stefan Sauer/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The corona pandemic and the war in Ukraine are leading to delivery bottlenecks worldwide. This also affects the production of electric bicycles.
The chip shortage in the industry has gripped the bicycle manufacturers. According to the two-wheeler industry association, there are now also delays in the production of electric bikes.
“With e-bikes, we have a chip problem similar to that in the car industry,” said Managing Director Burkhard Stork when asked. “It’s not the batteries that are missing, but the chips for controlling the battery charge and for the displays.”
That’s why there is currently a production backlog – “and many e-bikes cannot be delivered.” The supply chains in the bicycle industry have been disrupted since the beginning of the corona pandemic. “It jerked before the start of the Ukraine war, but it jerked together relatively well,” Stork said. “We actually assumed that the situation would normalize again within the next 18 months.” But since the beginning of the war, the delivery problems have worsened significantly. “This is also due to the fact that truck drivers are missing.”
A large number of bicycle parts are delivered to Europe from East and Southeast Asia – not only by Asian manufacturers, but also by German manufacturers who have plants there. “In countries with strict corona restrictions such as China, Malaysia, Singapore or Vietnam, many plants have been shut down at times in the past two years, so that components and parts are missing,” explained Stork. “The current lockdowns in China are again leading to delivery delays. Therefore, production plans have to be changed at short notice. That goes to the substance on both sides, »said the ZIV managing director on the situation among bicycle manufacturers and dealers.