'Final nail in the coffin': British e-bike makers fear for the future after China tariff scrapped

The British government may have put the "final nail in the coffin" for numerous UK e-bike manufacturers when it decided to scrap anti-dumping tariffs on China earlier this month.

That is the view of Wisper Bikes CEO David Miall. Like others, he moved production out of China to combat the tariffs, but has now been left with 2,500 bikes that have all, he says, "been devalued dramatically" by the news.

It was announced that the anti-dumping tariffs – preventing China from selling e-bikes below market value – were to be lifted 10 days ago, on the recommendation of the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA). It would save consumers an average of £200 on each bike, says the government and, according to a TRA study done last year, could see 31,000 more people buying e-bikes per year.

Tariffs will only be lifted on non-folding bikes, which make up the vast majority of imports.

Miall's issue is not with the tariffs themselves being revoked – he believes in free trade, he says, and fought against their introduction five years ago – but rather the suddenness with which it has been done.

"I think it's appalling," he told Cycling Weekly. "At least give it five years to unravel what's gone on before, not three months. How on earth are we supposed to react in three months?

"There's no support," he adds. "Nobody's been on the phone to us saying, 'we know you've got a problem here. How can we help?' None of that.

"Quite frankly, it's tough enough anyway. This could be the final nail in the coffin for a lot of us."

Other manufacturers have reacted with similar dismay. Volt, for example, relocated its manufacturing all the way to the UK.

"It's a kick in the teeth for UK manufacturing," Volt co-owner James Metcalfe told the BBC.

"We brought our manufacturing here [to the UK] with assurances that this [tariffs on Chinese bikes] was a long term change. We've invested a lot in it. We're a small business, family-owned, and trying to do the right thing by building a quality product," he added, suggesting e-bikes in the UK should be subsidised here.

"Why not do what everyone else has done across Europe? Provide grants and invest in bike infrastructure in the UK," he said.

Opening the floodgates?

Also in favour of subsidies over scrapping the China tariffs are brothers Ollie and Alex Francis, who run British e-bike manufacturer Estarli.

"Like the government, we want more people on e-bikes and all the positives that come with it," said Ollie Francis.

"Unlike the government we feel the best way to make e-bike more affordable for the public would be to introduce European-esque subsidies and therefore keep the investment in the UK," he added.

Alex Francis also pointed out that lifting the tariffs could mean more bikes being bought direct from China that don't comply with UK regulations.

"Opening the floodgates in that kind of way is probably likely to lead to smaller container loads of unknown brands that could have stock that's unregulated," he told Cycling Weekly.

Miall of Wisper Bikes was in full agreement, pointing out that the UK would make the perfect place to offload China's post-Covid e-bike surplus, given that both the USA and EU have tariffs.

"There's a huge quantity of unsold electric bikes in China," he said. "So if you rule out America, and you rule out Europe, and all of a sudden you've got this wonderful possibility of dumping them into the UK with our 80 million people.

"There will be no back-up. There will be the possibility of dangerous goods coming into the country again, which we're all desperately trying to stop."

Those arguing for cheaper e-bikes as part of the solution to Britain's transport problems may well see this as a positive step.

A government spokesperson defended the decision to the BBC, saying: "Defending UK industry from unfair competition is important, which is why we've taken the decision to continue protecting UK folding e-bike producers based in the UK, whilst also lowering prices for consumers and importers of other products."

They added that the government continued "to take action on unsafe e-bikes" and had recently launched a campaign to raise awareness of the risks of dangerous e-bike batteries and scooters.