Swapfiets Power 1 vs buying an e-bike
Swapfiets Power 1 vs buying an e-bike: the real 3-year cost breakdown
The short version
A Swapfiets Power 1 costs €64.90 a month in 2026, repairs included. A refurbished e-bike costs €1,200 upfront plus about €280 a year to insure, service and charge. Count resale value, and owning wins at every horizon we tested: €79 cheaper after 12 months, €398 after 24 and €776 after 36. But subscription needs no savings, caps your theft risk at €160, and ends with one tap in the app. We ran both routes below.
Every expat group chat in this country has the same argument once a month. Someone posts a photo of a blue-tyred Swapfiets, someone else replies with the price of a used Gazelle, and nobody ever does the actual maths. So we did. On one side: the Swapfiets Power 1, the cheapest e-bike in Swapfiets’ 2026 line-up at €64.90 a month. On the other: a €1,200 refurbished e-bike, the kind a specialist refurbisher sells with a 12-month warranty. Twelve, twenty-four and thirty-six months, every fee included.
What €64.90 a month actually gets you
The Power 1 sits at the bottom of the “€65 to €80 a month” range people quote for e-bike subscriptions. Swapfiets’ three e-bikes cost €64.90 (Power 1), €79.90 (Power 7) and €89.90 (Power Plus) in Amsterdam right now, and the Power 1 is the one that matters if you ride flat city kilometres. For that money you get the bike, unlimited repairs (if a fix takes longer than ten minutes, they swap the bike), two locks, and Basic Theft Coverage. You can cancel every month with one month’s notice, which is the whole point of the product.
On paper the Power 1 is a modest machine. It is also perfectly legal as a normal e-bike: like every bike in this comparison, assistance stops at 25 km/h, so under the Dutch government’s e-bike rules you need no licence, no plate and no helmet.
| Swapfiets Power 1 | Typical €1,200 refurbished e-bike | |
|---|---|---|
| Motor | Shimano Steps E5000, 250 W / 40 Nm | Often Bosch Active or Performance, 40–65 Nm |
| Battery | 418 Wh, removable, 6.5 h full charge | 400–500 Wh, aged; ask for a capacity test in writing |
| Claimed range | 55–120 km | 40–100 km in real life, depending on battery health |
| Gears | Single speed | Usually 7 to 11 |
| Brakes | Hand brake plus coaster brake | Roller or disc brakes |
| Weight | 25 kg including battery | Roughly 24–28 kg |
| Max rider + luggage | 95 kg | Often 100 kg or more; check the manual |
| Repairs | Included, forever | Yours, after the 12-month refurb warranty ends |
| Value at the end | €0, you hand it back | €480–€780 resale on our curve |
Two honest limits before the maths. Single speed is fine in Amsterdam and brutal on a Nijmegen hill or a 30 km/h headwind. And 95 kg including luggage rules out some riders and most grocery hauls. If either bites, you are comparing against the Power 7 at €79.90 instead, and we show that column too. Our full e-bike subscription guide has the deeper read on all three models.
The subscription maths: 12, 24 and 36 months
Subscription costing is almost boringly simple: multiply the monthly fee. There is no deposit on the standard plan, no service bill, no battery fund. The Flexible plan adds a one-off €80 joining fee, so we model the standard plan. Full Theft Coverage adds €3.90 a month and is worth thinking about before the bike spends its first night at a station.
| Plan | 12 months | 24 months | 36 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Power 1, Basic theft cover | €778.80 | €1,557.60 | €2,336.40 |
| Power 1 + Full Theft Coverage | €825.60 | €1,651.20 | €2,476.80 |
| Power 7, Basic (if you need gears) | €958.80 | €1,917.60 | €2,876.40 |
| Resale value at the end | €0 | €0 | €0 |
That last row is the price of all the convenience. €64.90 a month is about €2.13 a day, and at the end of year three you own nothing but a very tidy app history. What you do own is certainty: the worst-case extras are capped and published. A Power 1 stolen while double-locked costs €160 on Basic cover, €0 with Full Theft Coverage. Damage beyond normal wear tops out at €200 on this model. A lost key set is €40. Nothing on the subscription side can quietly cost you €800.
What €1,200 buys: the refurbished route
€1,200 is not a random number. It is exactly where the Dutch second-hand market gets interesting: roughly 40–50% of the new price, which buys a three-to-four-year-old mid-drive e-bike from a private seller, or a refurbished bike from a specialist like Upway with a 12-month warranty on battery, motor and frame. Our second-hand e-bike buying guide has the full depreciation table, and the headline is that a bike which cost €2,500 new is typically worth €1,000–€1,250 at this age.
For €1,200 you usually get more bicycle than the Power 1: real gears, a bigger motor, sometimes a bigger battery. What you also get is a battery with three or four years of charging cycles in it. Spend ten minutes on that battery before you pay. A capacity test costs €10–€35 at a dealer, and if the result is weak or the pack is over five years old, subtract the price of a new one from your offer. That is not haggling folklore; it is just arithmetic, because a new brand-name pack lists at €400–€900 in 2026.
If €1,200 of second-hand money feels like a stretch but subscription feels like a leak, glance at our list of the best budget e-bikes under €1,500 first. New budget bikes change this comparison slightly, mostly by losing less value in year one.
Running costs owners actually pay
Owning is where the costs stop being one line. We built a yearly budget from the prices Dutch workshops and insurers actually quote in 2026, and kept it deliberately middle-of-the-road.
| Cost line | Typical 2026 price | In our model, per year |
|---|---|---|
| Theft insurance (€6–€9 a month for a €1,200 e-bike) | €72–€108 | €90 |
| Annual service (€60–€135 across Dutch shops, €90 most common) | €60–€135 | €90 |
| Wear parts: brake pads, tyres, chain and cassette | €75–€170 | €85 |
| Charging (a full 500 Wh charge is about €0.15) | €10–€20 | €15 |
| Total running cost | €150–€300 | €280 |
Those bands come straight from our own cost research: what an e-bike service really costs (€100–€300 a year for workshop users), e-bike insurance premiums (theft-only cover on a €1,200 bike runs €6–€9 a month), and what charging costs, which is genuinely pocket change. Year one is softer than this table suggests, because a refurbisher’s 12-month warranty absorbs most non-wear repairs.
Then the number owners love and renters never see: resale. Using the depreciation curve we use site-wide (65% of value after one year, 50% after two, 40% after three), a €1,200 bike sells for about €780, €600 or €480 at those points. That money is real, but only when you actually sell.
Head to head: the full 3-year scoreboard
Here is everything above in one place. “Buying, net” means purchase price plus running costs, minus what you get back when you sell.
| Cost | 12 months | 24 months | 36 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swapfiets Power 1 subscription (cash out) | €778.80 | €1,557.60 | €2,336.40 |
| Buying: €1,200 bike + €280 a year running (cash out) | €1,480 | €1,760 | €2,040 |
| Buying: resale value you get back | −€780 | −€600 | −€480 |
| Buying: net cost | €700 | €1,160 | €1,560 |
| Buying saves vs subscription | €79 | €398 | €776 |
Swapfiets Power 1, net costBuying refurbished, net cost after resale
The break-even point, honestly explained
There are two break-evens, and mixing them up is why this debate never ends.
On net cost, buying wins almost immediately. A fairly priced used bike loses about €35 of value a month in year one and costs €23 a month to run, so €58 a month all-in against Swapfiets’ €64.90. After 12 months you are €79 ahead; after 36 months, €776 ahead.
On cash leaving your account, subscription wins for about two and a half years. You hand over €1,200 on day one of ownership. The subscription’s drip of €64.90 only overtakes that total cash outlay around month 29, before you count a single euro of resale money. If €1,200 is your entire buffer, that gap is the real product you are buying from Swapfiets.
Cumulative subscription paymentsPurchase + running costsCash-out crossover
For context, when we ran this same model for a Power 7 against a new €2,500 e-bike in our subscription guide, the crossover landed around month 19. Swapping in a used €1,200 bike pulls the net-cost advantage earlier and the cash-out crossover later, because a used bike depreciates more slowly in euro terms than a new one does.
- Swapfiets Amsterdam prices of 25/10/2026: €64.90 Power 1, €3.90 Full Theft Coverage, standard plan with no joining fee.
- Refurbished purchase €1,200 with a 12-month warranty; running costs €280 a year (insurance €90, service €90, wear parts €85, charging €15).
- Resale at 65% / 50% / 40% after 12 / 24 / 36 months, the curve we use across ebykes.nl.
- No employer contribution, no subsidy, no price rises on either side, and nobody crashes into anybody.
Where the money hides: theft, batteries and small print
The averages above assume an ordinary three years. Dutch bike theft is not ordinary, as our rundown of how common e-bike theft is makes depressingly clear. This is where the two routes behave completely differently.
| Event | Subscription (Power 1) | Owner of a €1,200 refurbished bike |
|---|---|---|
| Bike stolen, properly double-locked | €160 fee, replacement bike supplied; €0 with Full Theft Coverage | Insurer pays the day value; with theft-only cover at €6–€9 a month you are made whole, minus any excess |
| Bike stolen, not locked | €725 | Insurer can refuse; uninsured, you lose the whole day value (about €600–€780 in years 1–2) |
| Battery stolen or dead | €375 if you lose it; a worn-out pack is simply swapped | €400–€900 for a new brand pack, €200–€500 for a refurbished one |
| Crash damage beyond wear | Capped at €200 on the Power 1 | All-risk cover costs €8–€14 a month on pricier bikes; out of pocket otherwise |
Notice the shape of the risk. Subscription converts every disaster into a published fee, and the scary column (€725) is avoidable with a €3.90 add-on or, frankly, a habit of using both locks. Ownership converts disasters into insurance claims, and insurers pay the day value, which shrinks 10–15% a year on most policies. Some soften that: ANWB, for instance, pays the purchase price for the first three years. A cheap trick for a €1,200 bike is an expiring policy, around €200–€300 for three years of theft and damage cover, which beats monthly premiums if you are sure about the horizon.
The battery is the owner’s other wildcard. In our 36-month model it never dies, and on a refurbisher-tested pack that is the likely story. If it does die in year three, add €420–€830 for a new brand-name pack and the €776 three-year lead shrinks to somewhere between €356 and a coin flip. A refurbished pack at €200–€500 keeps you €276–€576 ahead. Our battery replacement price guide has every pack price we could find, and the negotiation trick that goes with it.
Work schemes and other middle paths
Before you pick a side, check whether your employer picks it for you. Under the Dutch company bike scheme, an e-bike from work carries a flat 7% bijtelling on the list price, so a €1,200 bike adds €84 a year to your taxable income and often costs you a few euros a month in total. Maintenance and insurance are usually bundled too. The Belastingdienst explains how a fietsplan works, and Ondernemersplein confirms the 7% rate. Our company e-bike scheme explainer and bijtelling calculator turn that into your personal number in two minutes. When a work bike is on the table, it beats both routes in this article, and it is not close.
Two more middle paths worth a look: leasing a refurbished e-bike privately (see our e-bike lease guide), and the reverse strategy of subscribing for six months first to prove your commute works on two wheels, then buying. If you are still weighing the bike against a train season ticket, our commute calculator settles that argument first.
Verdict: who should subscribe, who should buy
Subscribe to the Power 1 if you…
- Stay in the Netherlands for less than about two years, or genuinely do not know yet.
- Do not have €1,200 sitting idle without touching your buffer.
- Would rather pay €64.90 than argue with a workshop about a clicking bottom bracket.
- Park at a station daily and want theft priced at €160, or €0 with the add-on.
- Ride flat city kilometres under the 95 kg limit, without cargo ambitions.
Buy the €1,200 refurbished bike if you…
- Plan to ride for two years or more, where the saving grows from €398 to €776 and beyond.
- Can pay cash and keep the bike insured from day one, most theft claims happen in the first 72 hours.
- Want gears, a stronger motor or the option to sell and upgrade later.
- Live outside a Swapfiets service area, where doorstep swaps never reach you anyway.
- Checked the battery capacity in writing before paying, and kept the invoice.
On pure maths, a €1,200 refurbished e-bike beats the Power 1 at 12, 24 and 36 months once resale is counted. On cash flow and peace of mind, the subscription is a genuinely rational product for short-stayers and non-tinkerers. The mistake is paying €2,336 over three years for the privilege of never having decided.
FAQs
Is a Swapfiets Power 1 subscription cheaper than buying a used e-bike?
Not over the long run. Against a €1,200 refurbished e-bike with €280 a year of insurance, servicing and charging, buying comes out about €79 cheaper after 12 months, €398 after 24 and €776 after 36, once you count resale at 65%, 50% and 40% of value. Subscription is cheaper on cash flow for roughly the first 29 months, because ownership starts with a €1,200 payment, and it caps your downside if the bike is stolen or worn out.
What happens if my Swapfiets Power 1 is stolen?
With the included Basic Theft Coverage you pay a €160 replacement fee if the bike was double-locked with both supplied locks, and €725 if it was not. A lost or stolen battery costs €375 on this model. Adding Full Theft Coverage from €3.90 a month cuts the locked-theft fee to €0 and halves the battery surcharge. Report it through the app quickly and Swapfiets supplies a replacement bike, which is the part owners of a stolen e-bike often miss: no bike shop visit, no insurance wait.
When does buying a refurbished e-bike beat the Power 1 subscription?
On net cost, from about month 12 if you include resale value. On raw cash out of your account, around month 29, when cumulative subscription payments pass the €1,200 purchase plus running costs. The main swing factor is the battery: a replacement pack in year three costs €420–€830 new or €200–€500 refurbished, which can cut the three-year advantage from €776 to a few hundred euros. That is exactly why a refurbisher’s 12-month warranty and a written battery capacity test matter so much at purchase.
