What has happened since the bankruptcy?
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 5 August 2026 | Accell applies for a suspension of payments |
| 11 August 2026 | The Amsterdam District Court declares the Dutch companies bankrupt. That affects 344 employees in the Netherlands and almost 2,000 across fifteen countries |
| 19 August 2026 | Accell Nederland starts supplying dealers again, on stricter terms |
| 20 and 21 August 2026 | The trustees start an international sale process with M&A adviser FTI Consulting. Two routes stay open: the whole group in one go, or brands and divisions separately |
| Late August 2026 | The Irish investor Quanta Capital comes forward publicly as an interested party |
| September 2026 | Auction house Auctivo auctions the first assets from the estate: the contents of the experience center De Fietser in Ede |
| Early October 2026 | 12GO Biking takes over the remaining stock of bikes. The brand rights are not part of that deal, and no buyer for them is known yet |
So the factory in Heerenveen being closed does not mean everything has come to a standstill. Dealers can order again. Whether that lasts depends on who ends up signing.
Is your factory warranty still valid?
Because of the bankruptcy, Accell's factory warranty has become a claim against a bankrupt estate. Don't count on it for now. If you have a claim in progress, your bike shop is the first point of contact: they know what is happening with the cases already submitted. A dealer is not obliged to take over the factory warranty, even one who sold the brand for years.
Your rights against the shop where you bought the bike do still stand. In the Netherlands they come under the statutory conformity rules and are separate from Accell.
What we supply sits outside all of that. On a cell replacement we give a 2-year warranty on the replaced parts. That agreement does not change because of anything that happens in Heerenveen or Amsterdam.
Can you still get hold of an original battery?
As long as shops have stock, yes. For parts that only Accell itself made, such as battery covers and frame protectors, deliveries resumed on 19 August. If nobody restarts the business, that supply will dry up after all.
For a lot of older models this problem was there long before. A good share of the batteries that come in here belong to a bike whose manufacturer stopped supplying them years ago. The bankruptcy makes that group bigger. It did not create it.
What can you do with your battery now?
If your battery is losing capacity, you don't have to wait for anyone. In a cell replacement your own battery gets new A-grade cells, we measure the electronics and it goes back to you with a test report.
A cell replacement of a Sparta or Batavus battery starts at €300. Most cell replacements cost between €350 and €500. You also keep your own casing, so the lock and the contacts still fit.
If your type is not suitable for a cell replacement, we look at a refurbished battery or a suitable replacement. You get a proposal first. We don't start on anything until you have said yes.
In the Netherlands we collect your battery free of charge; from another country, contact us first. You can also drop it off in Beugen on working days. With the extra work the bankruptcy has brought in, it may take a little longer than usual; the current lead time is on our customer service page, and you can follow the status of your battery online.
What does this mean for each brand?
In June 2026, two months before the bankruptcy, Accell had already announced that Sparta would disappear as a brand and carry on under Batavus from mid-2028. Whether that plan survives, and who would then carry it out, is now uncertain. For battery owners it makes little difference, because the two brands shared the same battery technology for years. What it does tell you: waiting for a new original pack for a Sparta is no longer a plan.
| Brand | What we can do with it |
|---|---|
| Sparta | A cell replacement is the logical route for most types. We know the E-motion series inside out. We don't do ION batteries, whether in the frame or on the rear carrier: they are locked by software and the cells are encapsulated in potting compound, so we cannot guarantee the quality we want to deliver |
| Batavus | Shared a lot of technology with Sparta. Nearly all types are regulars in our workshop |
| Koga | Supply had been a problem here for years. For many models a new pack no longer existed, so a cell replacement had long been the usual solution |
| Babboe | Hit twice: after the recall of 22,000 cargo bikes in 2024 the brand barely came back in the Netherlands, and now the parent company is bankrupt. We re-cell cargo bike batteries as usual |
| Haibike, Winora, Ghost | Accell's German brands mostly run on Bosch, Yamaha or Shimano. We deal with those batteries separately from the bike brand |
| Lapierre, Raleigh, Carqon | Also welcome. All the brands under the umbrella are on the Accell Group page |
How did Accell get to this point?
The bankruptcy did not come out of the blue. In 2016 Accell reached a turnover of €1 billion for the first time, with a profit of more than €32 million. Ten years later nothing is left of it.
Michiel Hogerhuis, HR director at the head office in Heerenveen between 2018 and 2021, published a book on change management in September 2026 in which he gives his view of how it ended. The picture he paints: a group with eleven production sites in which each brand had its own rules and its own boss, and in which there was hardly any cooperation. Development took so long that models were already dated at launch. An approach with multidisciplinary teams cut that development time by 40 per cent, he says, but Covid brought the whole turnaround to a halt.
After that it went quickly. KKR bought Accell in 2022 for €1.6 billion and took it off the stock exchange. The bike market collapsed while the warehouses were full. The recall of the Babboe cargo bikes cost a fortune. In 2024 came a €600 million debt restructuring and mass redundancies in Heerenveen, in February 2026 KKR handed control to the creditors, and in August it was over.
One thing in that story is familiar to us from the workshop: manufacturers stop supplying long before they go bankrupt. That is why we build our own solutions for packs that officially no longer exist.
Frequently asked questions
That question lies with the bankruptcy trustees. In a bankruptcy you can usually no longer recover a warranty claim, unless a party that restarts the business takes over the obligations. For claims in progress, your dealer is the first point of contact. Your statutory rights against the shop where you bought the bike do still stand.
Yes. A cell replacement is done at KWS Seuren in Beugen and does not depend on the manufacturer. We have repaired or re-celled more than 45,000 batteries, many of them from brands that ceased to exist years ago.
No. ION batteries in the frame or on the rear carrier are locked by software and the cells are encapsulated in potting compound. In a cell replacement that means we cannot guarantee the quality we want to deliver. Other Sparta batteries, such as the E-motion series, can be re-celled.
A cell replacement starts at €300 and most cost between €350 and €500. You keep your own battery and casing, with new cells and a 2-year warranty on the replaced parts.
Not as of 8 October 2026. On 20 and 21 August the trustees started an international sale process through FTI Consulting, which leaves room both for a restart of the whole group and for the sale of individual brands. The Irish investor Quanta Capital has publicly shown interest, and about sixty parties made a non-binding offer. In early October 12GO Biking took over the remaining stock of bikes, but not the brand rights.
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