In China, more than 300 million motorised two-wheelers are on the road, says Sinha; electric vehicles make up around ten per cent of sales in the category. Global sales of electric bikes last year reached 40m, according to a recent report – and China accounts for 90 per cent of this.
The two-wheeled electric revolution is now going beyond China. India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and other Asian markets are starting to embrace electric two wheelers at scale. Global e-bike revenue is estimated at US$1.4bn, of which US$830m is in Asia Pacific. While the rest of the world is just getting ready for an electric vehicle future, in Asia it’s already here – and it’s the electric motor scooters that are leading the way.
For governments, promoting electric two-wheelers helps address the issue of tailpipe emissions, especially in large markets such as China and India, where non-electric but extremely popular two wheeler scooters with their two-stroke engines often get blamed for high pollution levels.
China is not the only the world’s leading market for electric motor scooters and mopeds, but also the leading producer – by far. Manufacturers range from Sunra (producing up to four million a year) to Yadea, AIMA and Zhejiang Luyuan; and, on the more premium end, there is Niu. Also in the running are Taiwan-based Giant and Merida, both of which also have some of their manufacturing facilities located in China. In India, local companies like Hero and TVS have launched electric two-wheelers, alongside startups like Okinawa, Ather Energy and Twenty Two Motors. Japan’s dominant motorbike companies – Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki – have also started to sell electric scooters and bikes.
In a way, the wide adoption of electric motor scooters and bikes in Asia isn’t surprising; after all, sales of petrol-powered motorbikes were already huge. In India, every year consumers buy eight times more motorcycles and scooters than cars. It’s not just about cost or environmental considerations, but regulation: Depending on engine size, in many Asian countries it’s possible to drive a scooter without a driving license. In Vietnam, for example, only bikes with an engine larger than 50cc require a driving license.
Another reason is price. In China, production has reached such scale and efficiency that it’s possible to buy a new electric motor scooter for less than $100. Second-hand models are even cheaper, and users can also buy kits to convert normal bikes to e-bikes. In some parts of Asia, electricity grids are also better developed than fuel stations networks, meaning electricity is also often cheaper than petrol.
The rest of the world is slowly following suit. A recent European Union report estimated the number of e-bikes sold in the EU rose from 1.1m in 2014 to almost two million in 2017; Chinese companies manufactured the majority of them – just under 700,000. Uptake in Germany and the Netherlands has been particularly high.
It hasn’t been without a backlash, though. Heaps of small rental electric scooters from Lime, Bird and the like clutter city streets the world over (alongside the many abandoned dockless rental city bikes). Sales of larger electric scooters, meanwhile, are struggling after the cut of government subsidies; global trade wars are doing their part: US president Donald Trump pushed up tariffs on Chinese electric scooters, and in February the EU announced plans to impose import duties on cheap Chinese electric bicycles.
