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Once a neglected niche in the American market, e-bike sales have been steadily growing, with 2.2 million e-bikes imported into this country in 2025, a 29% increase over 2024, according to the Light Electric Vehicle Association.
Because the bikes appeal to casual hobbyists as well as experienced bikers, Off the Chain Bike Shop owner Brian Lucas said the upward sales trend seems destined to continue.
“As gas gets more expensive and people start looking for alternatives,” he said, e-bikes “will continue to increase in popularity. That makes a huge amount of sense, and for people who want to commute while living in a small area like this, it’s ideal.”
Electric bikes are nothing new: the first patent for one, which featured a 10-volt battery, was issued in 1895 to Ogden Bolton Jr., a resident of Ohio. In his patent, he wrote that he had “invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrical Bicycles,” suggesting other e-bikes preceded his.
Bolton’s design incorporated an engine in the rear wheel itself, a precursor of the modern hub-driven e-bike, which Lucas says is the most common and least expensive type of e-bike.
“All the power is coming from a large unit on that rear hub,” he said. “And when you turn the crank, there’s a sensor telling the rear wheel motor that it needs to be kicked in. An efficient one can usually go for about 40 miles.”
In 1897, Boston resident Hosea W. Libbey patented an e-bike with two electric motors that drove the crankset axle, foreshadowing the modern mid-drive motor, the second most common form of e-bikes. One motor would power the bike on flat surfaces; the second motor would join it for uphill climbs.
Though the two men provided the basics for e-bikes as currently manufactured, both inventions suffered from the same flaw: the batteries were too weak to cover much terrain, and their weight made the bikes cumbersome.
That changed in the 1990s with the development of lithium-ion batteries and more efficient motors, which Lucas said made the bikes lighter and more powerful.
A move from hub-driven to mid-drive systems also helped popularize e-bikes, allowing current models to significantly increase their range to 60 to 65 miles per charge, a 50% increase over hub-driven bikes.
With innovation came regulation. Under 2015’s Assembly Bill 1096, California instituted a three-tiered classification of e-bikes based on the amount of motorized assistance and top assisted speed.
The system was originally proposed by the PeopleForBikes Coalition, a grassroots network of 325 supplier members and 1.4 million supporters, and has also been accepted by 35 other states.
All three classes must have pedals to avoid being designated as motorcycles, but there are important distinctions between them.
Under this system, Class 1 e-bikes are pedal-assist, meaning the motor only contributes while the rider is pedaling. There is no throttle, and the bike cannot propel itself. Lucas describes it as “essentially a bicycle with somebody pushing you a little from behind.”
“They’re pretty straightforward,” he said. “You turn the power on. You choose the power range and how much assistance you want. And then you just pedal. A lot of middle-aged people are interested in them, while they would walk away from the more technical ones.”
BenitoLink photographer and reporter Adam Bell can often be seen riding his Class 1 Electra around Downtown Hollister and, on longer rides, as far away as Tres Pinos. Bell, who does not drive, said he replaced his standard bike with an e-bike in 2022 to help him reach his destinations quickly.
“With my other bike,” Bell said, “you were pretty much exercising. With the electric bike, you don’t even have to pedal that much. Of course, you still need to pedal, but the bike is actually helping you so you can ride longer and farther.”
Class 2 e-bikes can be pedal-assist or throttle-only, allowing them to be ridden without pedaling.
These bikes tend to be heavier, Lucas said, and can range up to around 50 pounds.
“When you throttle an e-bike,” he said, “it drains the battery much more quickly because you’re not relying on the power from your legs as much. To overcome that, you need a bigger motor and bigger batteries. So now the whole bike becomes extremely heavy.”
With both of these classes, the top allowed motor-assisted speed is 20 mph, and speedometers are not mandatory. There is no age, insurance or license requirement, but riders under 18 must wear helmets.
Class 3 e-bikes carry many more restrictions in California; they must be pedal-assist only, with a top motor-assisted speed of 28 mph. The motors cannot exceed 750 watts and must have speedometers. While a license or insurance is also not required, riders must be over 16, and helmets are mandatory for all ages.
Class 3 ebikes are prohibited on unpaved bike trails and shared or multi-use pathways used by runners and pedestrians. To keep from being designated as motorcycles, this and the other two classes must have pedals.
“They are just too fast for some paths and trails,” Lucas said. “They overlap closely with the motorcycles; they’re essentially mopeds. Can you imagine some kids riding two miles an hour and someone else is going 30? It could be disastrous.”
Innovations in the 1990s helped spark a revolution in e-bikes worldwide. The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy estimates there are more than 7 million e-bikes in service in Beijing alone.
E-bike adoption in the U.S. lagged significantly until COVID-19, which sparked a true boom, accounting for 63% of the dollar growth in bike sales between 2019 and 2023, according to PeopleForBikes. It was spurred on by social distancing and stay-at-home orders, which led people to seek ways to exercise and engage in communal activities without risking exposure to the virus.
In a 2020 interview with BenitoLink, Lucas said that, at that point, bike sales were at an unprecedented high.
“People are grabbing any of them,“ he said. “People are willing to take anything we have. They don’t care about style or color. They just want a bike. Sometimes I sell them before I can even get them out of the box. I have never seen anything like this before.”
After years of watching the technology evolve, Santa Cruz Bikes started making e-bikes in 2019, according to marketing representative Hannah Mirsepassi.
“We were actually a bit late to the game,” she said. “We knew we wanted to get into it, but we didn’t want to just jump on a bandwagon. Many people were uncertain about allowing e-bikes on trails. When we decided it was time, we came out with our first e-bike, the Heckler.”
Santa Cruz Bikes makes mountain bikes, and Mirsepassi said their e-bikes provide an entry point for people interested in the sport but who might not initially have the strength.
“Climbing a mountain on a bike is very difficult at first,” she said. “So it’s a great way to get into the sport without the pain and just learn how to ride a mountain bike.”
Mirsepassi said that the power of e-bikes makes it easier for those who might otherwise be unable to ride mountain bikes due to physical challenges.
“Now they’re able to ride again, which is so wonderful for them to be able to get back on the trail.”
Lucas, a longtime biker, can relate to the idea that getting a bit of assistance can help someone who is beginning to slow down with age. He said that when he bikes with his son, he cannot keep up unless he is on an e-bike rather than a conventional bike.
“As some of the older folks are getting older,” he said, “riding certain loops on the regular bike takes too long and can be a big chore. Put them on an e-bike, and that little bit of assistance is going to help you go up the hill without struggling.”
Mirsepassi said that Santa Cruz Bikes has been very successful with its four-bike line, and she sees nothing but growth for the industry.
“E-bikes will only keep getting better,” she said, “with lighter weights and hopefully less expensive as the tech keeps coming. And we are definitely investing in them as a wonderful way to get more people on bikes and make them more accessible.”
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