On 9 April, lawmakers in the French National Assembly voted in favour of introducing a new measure to include both electric and cargo bicycles in a national car scrappage scheme. After lobbying by the Fédération Française des Usagers De La Bicyclette (FUB) and other actors, the Assembly passed an amendment to a draft climate bill which aims to reduce greenhouse emissions by 40% in 2030 from 1990 levels.

The details of the scheme remain to be specified, but it is likely that a purchase premium of up to €2,500 for electric bicycles and cargo bikes will be granted to car owners when a polluting vehicle is scrapped.

In a first reaction, French Minister of the Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili called the adoption of the amendment a “cultural turning point”, emphasising the significance of providing financial aid for the acquisition of e-bikes in particular. At the moment, e-bike sales in France continue to grow, with an estimated one in five bicycles sold being electric or electric assisted.

Olivier Schneider, President of FUB, said that “for the first time, it is recognised that the solution is not to make cars greener, but simply to reduce their number”.

Speaking to Libération, Schneider emphasised the symbolic significance of the amendment. “We are in a country with a strong automobile industry. Often the purpose of bonuses is to get rid of your old car and buy a new one”, he said, suggesting that  the acknowledgement of a solution for households to have one less car is a turning point for the French transport sector.

France has already had positive experiences with similar measures in the past:

• In 2017, a general purchase subsidy for electric bikes almost doubled sales numbers, acting as an important catalyst for market uptake. A survey among the recipients of the subsidy also showed that 61% of the trips made by e-bike replaced trips with conventionally fuelled vehicles. These results clearly illustrate the potential of electric bicycles to make the mobility system as a whole more sustainable.

• In 2020, in the framework of mobility measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the French government introduced a €50 subsidy for bike repair. This scheme was prolonged after a few months because of huge demand, allowing more than 2 million inhabitants to get a sizable reduction on their bike repair bill.

Photo courtesy of Jan And via Unsplash

The positive reception of these measures has been reflected in bicycle market statistics. According to Union Sport and Cycle, more than 510,000 electric or electric-assisted bicycles were sold in 2020, a growth of 29% from 2019. This growth was also accompanied by an increase in the average price of 21% per e-bike, bringing the average total figure to approximately €2,100. E-bikes now represent an astonishing 56% of the market in value.

With the introduction of this scheme, France is following other countries like Lithuania or Finland, which introduced similar incentives last year, albeit with lower premium amounts of €1,000. The inclusion of cycling in scrappage and other incentive schemes was one of the central demands of the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) and other cycling associations for a Green Recovery in the European Union. At the moment, together with ECF’s partners in the cycling industry, we are supporting our members and other stakeholders to advocate for the introduction of these and other cycling-related measures in the National Recovery and Resilience Plans under NextGenerationEU, the EU’s €750 billion COVID-19 recovery instrument. 

Cover photo courtesy of Megan Markham via Unsplash