In the first half of 2025, the electric bicycle industry experienced rapid growth driven by the dual stimulus of the end of the new national standard transition period and nationwide trade-in subsidy policies. According to AVC data, domestic sales of electric two-wheelers reached 32.325 million units in the first half of 2025, surging 29.5% year-over-year. Leading companies leveraged their advantages in channels, technology, and products to further expand market share, with market concentration continuing to rise.

During the reporting period, electric bicycle industry listed companies delivered impressive performance, with all six representative listed companies achieving double-digit growth in both revenue and profits. For YADEA, the company achieved remarkable growth in the first half of 2025, with revenue increasing 33.11% year-over-year to 19.186 billion yuan and net profit attributable to shareholders rising 59.5% to 1.649 billion yuan.

Despite YADEA's solid performance growth, its offline stores are facing challenging times this year. "Everyone is engaged in price wars, making money this year is harder than last year," a Beijing dealer told us.

**Performance Recovery or Volume for Price Strategy? YADEA Shows Strong Earnings Growth While Dealers Struggle**

YADEA is a leader in China's electric bicycle industry, established in 2001 with headquarters in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. Since its founding, YADEA has achieved rapid growth through technological innovation, brand building, and channel network expansion, becoming a industry leader and successfully listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in May 2016.

From a performance perspective, benefiting from the 2019 new national standard and short-distance travel demand, the company maintained growth from 2020-2023. However, revenue and net profit growth rates declined in 2023, and 2024 saw further pressure due to national standard transitions and inventory digestion. YADEA's total sales volume in 2024 dropped sharply by 3.5 million units compared to the previous year, declining 21.18% to 13.0205 million units. Electric bicycle sales fell 21.4% to 9.089 million units, while electric scooter sales decreased 20.7% to 3.931 million units. Company revenue was 28.236 billion yuan, down 18.8% year-over-year, with net profit attributable to shareholders at 1.272 billion yuan, down 51.8%.

Against the backdrop of 2024's significant performance decline creating a low base, combined with price reductions to clear inventory and nationwide trade-in subsidy policies, the company's revenue in the first half of 2025 increased 33.11% year-over-year to 19.186 billion yuan, with net profit attributable to shareholders rising 59.5% to 1.649 billion yuan. However, this may be driven by national subsidies during the old and new standard transition period and corporate price reductions to clear inventory.

Since 2025, multiple YADEA old-standard models have joined the price reduction campaign. The nationwide trade-in policies have added fuel to this price reduction wave, with some models effectively offering 30% discounts when combined with local subsidies. Taking Beijing as an example, YADEA's "Modern Light Chaser 70L" model has been reduced to 2,900 yuan per unit, a cumulative price reduction of nearly 600 yuan. Additionally, consumers with registered old electric two-wheelers can enjoy a 500 yuan subsidy, and old vehicles can be traded in for 300 yuan credit. Under various preferential policies, the "Modern Light Chaser 70L," originally priced over 3,000 yuan, can be purchased for around 2,100 yuan at minimum, representing discount levels comparable to 30% off, making old-standard models highly cost-effective.

New standard vehicles show significant improvements in safety performance, including fire-resistant materials, Beidou positioning, and anti-tampering designs. These improvements also lead to increased production costs, with new model prices expected to rise.

The surge in electric bicycle numbers in 2025 is largely driven by strong policy incentives and concentrated short-term demand release. By 2026, these driving forces will weaken, and the market will enter a new development phase, with slower growth likely. Whether YADEA can maintain this performance growth rate next year after national subsidies recede and corporate inventory clearance ends remains uncertain.

**Over 42,000 Offline Stores with Slowing Growth Rate - Store Oversaturation Intensifies Competition, Management Difficulties and Service Issues Emerge**

As mentioned in the previous section, to clear inventory that doesn't meet new national standards, YADEA conducted "bone-breaking" clearance sales of old models. However, the harsher reality is that after product price reductions, dealers earn less, and to compete for limited customers, they must also provide complimentary helmets, raincoats, phone holders, and other gifts at their own expense, resulting in net profits of less than 100 yuan for some special-priced vehicles.

A sales representative at a YADEA offline dealer store in Beijing told us: "This year (2025) hasn't been as good as last year. This year there are price wars, inventory clearances, and with so many YADEA offline stores creating intense competition, sometimes selling an old-standard electric vehicle generates no profit."

The implementation of the new national standard for electric two-wheelers in 2019 triggered replacement demand that unleashed enormous market potential. YADEA quickly began aggressive territorial expansion, rapidly capturing market share through aggressive offline channel expansion. According to media reports, YADEA's sales outlets numbered 12,000, 17,000, 28,000, 32,000, 40,000, and 42,000 from 2019 to 2024 respectively. The growth rate of store numbers has significantly slowed.

Among all electric vehicle brands, YADEA has the largest number of offline physical stores, currently exceeding 42,000 nationwide, earning it the nickname "the Mixue Bingcheng of the electric bicycle industry." Currently, YADEA officially claims to achieve "three stores per county, one store per town" density, providing convenience for consumers purchasing electric vehicles. However, the reality may be far from this. According to media reports, YADEA's once-proud channel network has now become a heavy burden. In a certain township in Henan Province, 8 YADEA stores appeared within 500 meters, even creating "multiple stores per street" phenomena.

Through map searches, we also found some YADEA electric vehicle sales stores located less than 100 meters apart, such as the YADEA Xiaojiahe store and the Agricultural University West Gate store, which are only 39 meters walking distance apart.

However, this dense channel layout is exposing problems. When YADEA signs can be seen everywhere in bustling cities and remote villages, it also indicates there isn't much incremental market left. Currently, YADEA's sales outlets have penetrated into lower-tier markets. Several YADEA stores can be found on one street, and even less prosperous townships have multiple stores. Channel oversupply directly leads to intensified dealer competition. To complete manufacturer inventory pressure targets, dealers compete by reducing prices and adding gifts or services, resulting in declining profits that reduce dealer confidence to freezing point, weakening their willingness to stock and reorder.

YADEA's high-density store strategy originally aimed to maximize market coverage and build competitive barriers. However, as the industry shifts from incremental to stock competition, the drawbacks of this strategy are gradually emerging. After national subsidies and price reduction waves recede, whether YADEA can stabilize its current market share and maintain high performance growth remains uncertain.

Additionally, YADEA's massive terminal sales network presents significant management challenges, mainly reflected in after-sales service and compliance aspects. Regarding after-sales service, the complaint platform shows over 4,500 complaints containing YADEA search terms, with most complaints targeting YADEA electric vehicles and many pointing to after-sales service issues. For example, some consumers stated "YADEA's after-sales service is poor; when replacing brake pads, they didn't protect the tires, causing serious corrosion to the vehicle's front wheel."

Regarding compliance, both old and new national standards set 25km/h speed limits for electric bicycles. When we inquired as consumers at multiple YADEA stores whether speed limits could be removed, sales staff gave affirmative answers, all stating "get your license plate first, then we can remove the speed limit after registration."