It’s all over the industry news–the e-bike market is booming and the sales growth of e-bikes is accelerating at a rapid speed. According to Forbes, the industry is predicted to sell 17 million units by the year 2030. But there are some warning signs to consider, the leading experts say. Even if the market could meet the fast-growing demand, there are other aspects to consider, such as the worldwide component shortage. 

Where did it come from, how to overcome it and scale up your business according to the market situation?

E-bike market boom and a global component shortage 

As COVID-19 spread rapidly during March 2020, people across the globe started to rethink the way they commute on a daily basis. In order to avoid contact, cycling and especially e-bikes and e-scooters started to replace public transport. According to BBC News Brussels, many countries in Europe experienced rapid growth in micro-mobility. In some cases for cycling industries, the goals set for the next 10 years, were already reached within the last few months. 

Although the pandemic created a demand for light electric vehicles, such as e-bikes and scooters, it simultaneously caused a significantly decreased volume in production. Due to economic experts’ predictions, it was thought that there will be a slump in consumer spending and therefore, the manufacturers slimmed down the orders for tech products. When the opposite happened and the spending on electronics and vehicles (cars, e-bikes, e-scooters) grew, it was too late to get their hands on the right electronic components and the race for outsourcing began.  

The rising demand in consumer electronics is now taking its toll on the availability of standard electronic components, affecting not only our IoT supply chains but also the larger mobility sector as a whole. Experts are warning that even the biggest automakers will suffer from electronics component shortages during 2021 with no quick fix in sight. As expected, the volumes and bargaining power of tech giants and automakers have given them the upper hand. As a result, we are observing that:

• Lead times for standard electronic components have increased up to 52 weeks

• Prices for these components are increasing 10% on average 

In-house production site helps to soften the blow

Although all of the micro mobility industry (Comodule included) is affected by the worldwide component shortage, our in-house production site allows us to react quickly to the turbulent changes. We’ve adapted our current products to cover the needs for our OEM clients. For example, due to the fact that our in-house produced Bonnie & Clyde module is more easily integrated in different parts of the bike, it can be the universal solution for connecting all mid-motor e-bike fleets.

In addition, we handle different parts of the production processes from one place, dividing them into 3 categories: SMA assembly, electronics assembly, and LEV assembly. We’re able to improve the quality and the completion speed of the products, holding complete control over our production operations. It also enables us to secure the IP of our hardware. In other words, holding most of the production operations in our own hands, we’re able to react quickly to the fast-changing (and growing) mobility industry.

The Co-Factory (our production site) handles these steps in parallel, creating a multidimensional production process. We take care of the design of the product, design of the manufacturing, procurement, and quality control, before moving to SMA production and product assembly.

Long lead times give no room for mishaps, which is why we make quality our priority. We are ISO certified with ISO 9001 (Quality Management System), ISO 45001 (Employee Safety), and ISO 14001 (Environmental Management System), proving our management system, manufacturing process, service, and documentation procedures have all the requirements for standardization and quality assurance. 

We are working tirelessly on alternatives to ensure our deliveries are less affected by the situation. If you find that Comodule can be of help to your micro-mobility business, don’t hesitate to contact us: sales@comodule.com