For the development history of China's e-bikes, the industry generally agrees that there are three stages of development: the primary stage of e-bikes, the stage of the first production scale, and the stage of super-speed development.
The primary stage of e-bikes is also known as the early experimental production stage of e-bikes, which, in terms of time, is from 1995 to 1999. This stage is mainly about figuring out and researching the key technologies of the four major parts of e-bikes, motor, battery, charger and controller. In terms of R&D and production, it is mainly based on the spontaneous gathering of information, tracking technology, organizing market observation, and small-volume market trial placement by the production enterprises, which also makes the e-bike begin to enter into the consumer's field of vision, and be gradually recognized and accepted by them. From the technical level, the early e-bike, new battery charging once can only travel about 30 kilometers, short battery life, poor climbing ability, easy to wear and tear, and the motor are all brush toothless motor. But the accumulation of this period, only for today's scale of this industrialization in the talent, technology and product development and other aspects of a good foundation.
The second stage is known as the beginning of the production scale stage, is due to this time period there are several opportunities to promote the e-bike, so that in the primary stage of the struggling e-bike all of a sudden ushered in the spring, but also the development of the industry into the scale, and the most valuable of these opportunities for the cities of the “motorcycle ban! The most valuable of these opportunities are the “motorcycle ban” in various cities and the “SARS” in 2003.
This time period is generally recognized as in 2000 to 2004 this period of time, in this time period, with the key technology breakthroughs and e-bikes continue to improve the performance of e-bikes, so that the e-bike has become an alternative to motorcycles and bicycles, and it's fast, environmentally friendly, convenient and inexpensive, and at the same time, also inspired the market for the e-bicycle demand. In the growing market demand, the previous R&D and production enterprises rose rapidly, and some new enterprises also began to enter, and their investment in electric bicycles also increased, making the production capacity expand rapidly (see Exhibit 1.1 for details). Moreover, the enterprises that have risen rapidly in this time period are operating with large sums of money, and have already left behind those old generation of R&D and production enterprises. However, a number of well-known brands represented by the formation of large-scale enterprises, and in accordance with the differences between North and South, but also the formation of the industry's Jiangsu Wuxi, Zhejiang, Tianjin, represented by the three major industrial agglomerations.
The third stage is from 2005, this stage is China's rapid development of electric bicycles, the industry jokingly referred to as the “well stage”. In this time period, with the fierce competition between enterprises greatly stimulate technological progress and the proliferation of new technologies, the industry's technology level has increased dramatically, battery life and capacity increased by 35%, the motor from a single brush and tooth motor development into a brushless high-efficiency motors as the mainstream, the life expectancy increased by 5 times, the efficiency has increased by nearly 30%, climbing and load capacity increased by about 3.5 times. In the performance improvement at the same time, the manufacturing cost is also a substantial reduction in the price of power down to the original 21%; in the controller system and charging system, the level of technology is also greatly improved. Especially in battery technology and motor technology have made great progress, lead-acid batteries for electric vehicles in the technological breakthrough has led the international community, and the formation of Tianneng, Chaowei as the leader of the Zhejiang Changxing plate, Kang Lien, Shuangdeng as the representative of the Jiangsu plate and Ruida as the representative of the Guangdong plate. Batteries also have a single lead-acid batteries evolved out of multiple types of high-performance batteries, and the emergence of lithium batteries, more driven by the development of electric bicycles, especially the simple models. In terms of motors, the invention of permanent magnet brushless motors has significantly accelerated the pace of development of the industry. The key to the performance of the motor is the performance of strong magnetic materials, a variety of permanent magnetic materials, rare earth permanent magnetic materials have the most superior performance. China is recognized as the world's rare earth resources and rare earth products manufacturing powerhouse. Due to the good performance, low price and strong manufacturing capacity of rare earth permanent magnet materials, BLDC (brushless DC permanent magnet motor) systems, which are expensive in the international market, are widely used by Chinese enterprises, and the e-bike industry has thus gained a unique resource advantage. In terms of the total output and sales volume of the industry, in 2005, the total output of various light electric vehicles (including electric bicycles) from hundreds of enterprises across the country was estimated to have exceeded 9 million units, with exports of about 2-3 million units, realizing an industrial output value of 20 billion yuan, profits and taxes of about 6 billion yuan, and employment of nearly 1 million people in the related production and service areas. China's light electric vehicle production and sales volume has accounted for more than 90% of the world, China has become the world's largest light electric vehicle producer, consumer and exporter.