Let’s not sugarcoat it: tariffs are wrecking the e-bike industry, and whether you realize it or not, you’re the one paying the price. What started as a political tool has snowballed into a massive burden on businesses, consumers, and the future of clean mobility.
Right now, importing a Chinese-made e-bike into the US comes with a jaw-dropping 170% tariff. That’s a 145% penalty, stacked with a 25% Section 301 tariff. It’s not just painful, it’s completely unsustainable. That’s why brands like Aventon have pulled out of China and shifted their production to Southeast Asia.
But the move doesn’t come without problems of its own.
Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia aren’t exactly plug-and-play manufacturing hubs. The infrastructure just isn’t as mature as China’s. So while final assembly happens in Southeast Asia, most critical components—motors, batteries, and control systems—still come from China. That means parts are shipped to Thailand, assembled into e-bikes, then shipped again to the US.
It’s slower, costlier, and a whole lot more complicated. The added logistics alone tack on over 50 days compared to a straight China-to-US supply chain. And yes, that costs money. A lot of it.
Some companies try to get clever. They start production in countries like Vietnam or Cambodia, then quietly ship parts to China for final assembly, hoping to pass the bike off as Southeast Asian-made to avoid those massive tariffs. It’s not illegal, but it’s shady. Aventon refuses to play that game. Every Aventon e-bike is genuinely manufactured in Thailand or Taiwan, and they’ve even flown in their own quality control and engineering teams to make sure it’s done right. That level of investment doesn’t come cheap.
Their costs have gone up 10 to 15%, but instead of passing it all on to customers, they’ve chosen to absorb a big chunk of it.
Here’s what most people miss: tariffs don’t punish foreign governments. They punish the companies that import goods. And those companies? They turn around and charge you more to make up for it. That shiny new e-bike that costs more than it did last year? That’s tariff fallout. So when officials talk about protecting domestic industry, what they’re really doing is making it harder for average people to afford modern transportation.
Some say the solution is to just build e-bikes in the US. Sounds great in theory, but the reality is, the US doesn’t make e-bike components. Not at scale, not yet. Until the parts supply chain moves closer to home—and tariffs on imported components are lifted—stateside manufacturing is just wishful thinking.
E-bikes are supposed to be part of the solution. Affordable, efficient, clean transport. But thanks to clumsy trade policies, they’re getting harder to build, slower to ship, and more expensive to buy. That’s bad for business, bad for consumers, and bad for the future of mobility.
Source: Aventon
