The corona crisis is leading to a real run on mopeds as an alternative to public transport. Up to and including August, 41.627 new copies were already registered this year, which is now more than the more than 39.000 units in the whole of 2019. Figures from BOVAG, RAI Association and RDC show that not only do consumers purchase much more moped bicycles themselves, but that the providers of scooter sharing also realize a big plus.
In August 7.330 new mopeds were registered; a plus of 74 percent compared to August 2019 and the third month in a row that more than 7.000 new units left the showrooms. July saw an increase of 61 percent and in June the increase was 83 percent. Since the beginning of this year, the industry has recorded a plus of 48 percent compared to the first eight months of 2019. Almost 55 percent of the complete moped sales this year were realized in the last three months. In March, sales fell by almost a fifth as a result of the corona measures, but after that, it turned out that many public transport travelers were looking for alternative transport.
Corona and helmet duty
BOVAG and the RAI Association applaud the popularity of the moped, as a large proportion of the new vehicles are electrically powered and thus make an important contribution to greening. The light moped contributes to the need for individual transport and better accessibility to and in urban areas. To emphasize this, the RAI Association recently started the 'Unlock Your Freedom' campaign. Whether the sales increase will continue in the rest of the year will depend on the one hand on the developments surrounding the corona virus and on the other hand there is still a national helmet requirement for moped riders over the market. This measure will have a major negative impact on the popularity of the vehicle category and thus also on the upcoming mandatory electrification of mopeds by 2025 in the Netherlands.
Electric scooter sharing popular
With 5.117 units, more than 1 in 8 new moped bicycles was registered this year up to and including August in the name of a business customer. In the same period last year, there were only 1.880, or 6,7 percent. In addition, 21,3 percent of the new mopeds are electrically powered and of these nearly 9.000 copies, half of them appear to be registered as business. This illustrates the great popularity of providers of scooter sharing, who almost only use electric mopeds for their services. Scooters are being used in more and more cities and due to the restrictions in public transport, this service is proving to be very popular with the public. A possible helmet requirement is practically impracticable in the case of shared scooters, unhygienic and also unsafe, since a partial helmet can never be made to measure.
Mopeds in the min
The increase in sales of new mopeds (excluding speed pedelecs) in August was less spectacular and amounted to 13,4 percent to 2.081 units. Up to and including August, this concerned 14.186 new moped scooters, 95 units less than in the same period last year. The category of fast electric bicycles that offer support up to 45 kilometers per hour, with a yellow moped mark and better known as speed pedelecs, benefited from the corona measures and public transport restrictions, unlike the moped scooters. Up to and including August, 3.381 copies were registered, which was 37,5 percent more than in the first eight months of 2019.
photo right: Bovag image bank
