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 ORV Cloud Network data, domestic sales of electric two-wheelers reached 32.325 million units in H1 2025, surging 29.5% year-over-year. Leading companies leveraged their channel, technology, and product advantages to further expand market share, with industry concentration continuing to rise.
During the reporting period, listed companies in the electric bicycle sector delivered impressive performance, with all six representative listed companies achieving double-digit growth in both revenue and profits. Among them, Yadea Holdings led the industry in revenue and net profit attributable to shareholders, recording revenue of 19.186 billion yuan (up 33.11% YoY) and net profit of 1.649 billion yuan (up 59.5% YoY). In terms of growth momentum, Ninebot Limited showed the fastest growth rate, with revenue increasing 76.14% YoY to 11.742 billion yuan and net profit attributable to shareholders surging 108.45% YoY to 1.242 billion yuan. In contrast, NIU Technologies, often called the "Hermès of electric scooters," ranked last in both revenue and profit scale. The company reported revenue of 1.938 billion yuan (up 34.1% YoY), while still posting losses with shareholders bearing a loss of 32.96 million yuan, though this represented an improvement from the 79.72 million yuan loss in the same period last year.
Let's focus on this period's growth champion - Ninebot Limited. What puzzles market investors is that after the company released its strong H1 2025 results, controlling shareholders Gao Lufeng and Wang Ye went against the trend by reducing their holdings by nearly 800 million yuan. Does this signal that the company's high growth following new national standard implementation may not be sustainable?
**Strong Performance and Rising Stock Price, Yet Controlling Shareholders Reduce Holdings by Nearly 800 Million Yuan**
In recent years, Ninebot Limited's performance has been exemplary for "high growth," achieving a milestone breakthrough in 2024 with annual revenue of 14.196 billion yuan (up 38.87% YoY) and net profit of 1.084 billion yuan (up 81.29% YoY). Smart electric two-wheeler sales reached 2.6 million units (up 70.38% YoY), making it the fastest brand to surpass 6 million cumulative shipments.
In H1 2025, the company's growth accelerated further, with revenue of 11.742 billion yuan (up 76.14% YoY) and net profit attributable to shareholders of 1.242 billion yuan (up 108.45% YoY), with half-year profits exceeding the full-year 2024 figure. Electric two-wheeler sales reached 2.39 million units (+99.5%), adding one million units in just 64 days and surpassing 8 million cumulative units.
The company's stock performance was equally impressive, rising from around 22 yuan per share at the beginning of 2024 to as high as 77 yuan per share, representing gains of over 200%.
However, after releasing the half-year report, when both business operations and secondary market performance were "excellent," the controlling shareholders conducted large-scale share reductions. On August 5 and 8, Ninebot Limited issued two consecutive announcements regarding share reductions: five foreign shareholders holding the company's depositary receipts planned to transfer 14.3889 million depositary receipts due to their own funding needs, representing 2.00% of total depositary receipts, at a transfer price of 54.79 yuan per receipt with a six-month lock-up period. Notably, these five foreign entities are all controlled by Ninebot Limited's actual controllers Gao Lufeng and Wang Ye, while the buyers were 13 domestic private funds and securities firms.
Based on the transfer price of 54.79 yuan per receipt, approximately 788 million yuan would flow into the pockets of controlling shareholders Gao Lufeng and Wang Ye upon successful completion. Given the timing of the reduction during the company's performance peak, many investors interpreted this move as a lack of confidence in future growth by the controlling shareholders. Particularly with the reduction occurring at the sensitive juncture of new national standard policy dividend recession and intensifying industry competition, does this suggest that the company's high growth may not be sustainable?
**Ninebot Electric Vehicles Face Serious Modification Issues and Official Monitoring; Can High Growth Continue Under New Standards Restricting Modifications?**
Starting September 1, 2025, the "Safety Technical Specifications for Electric Bicycles" (GB 17761—2024) came into effect. The new national standard implementation improves electric vehicle safety and performance in three main areas: (1) Enhanced safety performance: mandatory speed limiting and power cutoff when exceeding speed limits, maximum design speed ≤25km/h, automatic motor power cutoff when speeding, tamper-proof speed limiter design, prohibition of speed increases through hardware/software hacking; (2) Configuration and specification adjustments, including weight and battery flexibility, pedal removal, mandatory Beidou positioning module installation; (3) Certification and traceability management, requiring vehicles to pass 3C certification and implementing "one vehicle, one battery, one charger, one code" traceability system to ensure component consistency.
The new standard implementation has two critical time points: from September 1, 2025, complete cessation of old standard vehicle production with 100% new standard compliance for new vehicles; from December 1, 2025, complete prohibition of old standard vehicle sales.
Unexpectedly, at this critical juncture of old and new standard transition, old standard electric vehicles became highly sought after. The most discussed aspect of the new standard is the automatic power cutoff when electric vehicle speed exceeds 25km/h and the inclusion of anti-tampering technology to restrict modifications. To completely block "speed unlocking" loopholes, the new regulations provide triple protection from hardware to system settings: first, introducing over-speed power cutoff mechanism with automatic power loss when exceeding 25km/h; second, prohibiting reserved battery interfaces and wiring, rendering traditional wire-cutting and jumping methods ineffective; third, controllers adopting "overvoltage lockout" mode to eliminate voltage modification possibilities.
In recent years, Ninebot electric vehicles have been embroiled in controversies over illegal modifications and racing stunts, with some Ninebot enthusiast communities even saying "buying a Ninebot without modifications is pointless." Cool lighting, roaring sound effects, and extreme speeds have made modified Ninebot electric vehicles a social media traffic magnet, promoting the spread of "Ghost Fire Youth 2.0" subculture. Some minors, seeking social group recognition, view illegal modifications as a "rite of passage," even forming offline racing groups.
According to media reports, Ninebot electric motorcycles can only reach about 50+ km/h in factory condition, but due to their huge modification potential, they are beloved by "Ghost Fire Youth." With simple modifications, speeds can exceed 100 km/h, creating significant traffic safety hazards when these vehicles enter the market. Some teenagers drive modified vehicles without licenses, remaining oblivious to the risks of speeding and loss of control, and insurance claim rejections in illegal modification accidents.
Under the old national standard, Ninebot electric vehicles, due to their strong modification capabilities and easily available modification parts, have formed a complete Ninebot modification industry chain, which is also why Ghost Fire Youth and racing groups favor Ninebot electric vehicles. From a product design perspective, Ninebot electric vehicles have high modularity, with key components like controllers, batteries, and motors all independently replaceable, creating an architecture like an open kitchen that facilitates "cooking up" modification solutions. However, it's worth noting that from December 1, 2025, old standard vehicles will be completely banned from sale, with stores only allowed to sell new standard electric vehicles that prevent modifications. Following factors such as subsidy withdrawal and reduced inventory clearance incentives, whether Ninebot's high growth performance can be sustained remains unknown.
Comments