Big firms such as Accell and Giant of Taiwan compete with sporty brands such as America’s Cannondale and affordable city rides from QWIC. Brompton, a British maker of fancy folding bikes, has been making 10% of its ￡42.5m ($56m) in annual sales from the electric sort, and hopes eventually to raise that figure to 40%.VanMoof, which raised $13.5m from investors in May, bills itself as the Tesla of e-bikes. Like the electric-car maker it designs its own parts, motors and software rather than relying on off-the-shelf bits and bobs. The result is a more seamless product, boasts Taco Carlier, a Dutch engineer who co-founded VanMoof with his brother in 2009.

Demand is growing faster than manufacturers can keep up, leading to long backlogs and premium prices, which start at around $1,000. Giant says that its gross margin on e-bikes is around 25%, above its average of 21%. VanMoof’s machines go for $2,000 a pop. Mr Carlier may, however, have to rethink his firm’s marketing strategy. Though its polemic against traffic jams evokes French nouvelle vague cinema, the ad was banned in June by French authorities, for trying to “discredit the automobile sector”.

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