China and the E-bike boom

An extensive report on the scale of the electric bike industry and the technology behind these vehicles has been produced by Argonne National Laboratory in the United States. Key findings:
In 2006, 20 million E-bikes were made in China.
China has 50 million battery-operated bicycles on the road, of which a very small percentage operate on Li-ion batteries. The rest of them use lead acid batteries.
About 2,500 companies produce electric two- or three-wheeled vehicles.
All of the large companies producing electric vehicles (EVs) have E-bike models that are powered by Li-ion batteries, but the performance-to-price ratio for those E-bikes is still not compatible with that for E-bikes powered by lead acid batteries.
The Energy Collective reports there are 10,000 enterprises, both large and small, involved in the Chinese national production of electric bikes.