Welcome back to the InsightEV Weekender, your repository of the weekly news and happenings in electric two-wheelers and mobility.
Are Investors Failing the Industry?
Continuing from last week in our deep dive analysis, Innovation and technology were strong drivers of success in the ICE industry. However, the E2W/E3W industry would be driven by distribution, reach, and scale in the future. As a result, investment focus would move from vehicles to deployment and core technology development.
In the second and concluding part of the analysis, we have a look at which geographies have received the most investments and why. What has made them attractive? What are the patterns when looking at investments within the same geography?
With the equalization in tech, the industry’s and investors’ focus is changing from technology and product development to deployment, asset management, and asset financing.
Finally, do significant investments in a few companies hurt the overall ecosystem?
InsightEV – Global Electric Mobility
Ather IPO: The Hits and the Misses
The other deep analysis (this one is free access) was our look into Ather Energy as the Indian startup heads to an IPO early next week.
We did not do much financial analysis but instead looked at Ather the way we would at any vehicle manufacturer – engineering capability, product development times, manufacturing, and what makes Ather work, and what does not.
Yadea Commits Heavy to Vietnam
Vietnam is one of the most exciting E2W markets, third only to India and China, and the mainstream brands are now making big moves. A couple of weeks back, Honda announced the start of production of the ICON e: in Vietnam. Now, Yadea has upped the ante by announcing a USD 100 million investment in the country. This would include a new facility and R&D unit in the Bac Giang Province.
InsightEV – Global Electric Mobility
KTM Stops Distributing CF Moto and Zeeho in Europe
This happened last week, and while the Austrian manufacturer would not say that it’s a result of the financial crisis it is going through or that the India-based Bajaj Auto has arm-twisted it into doing so, we cannot help but join the dots. KTM survives on Indian money right now, and we can only speculate on the behind-the-scenes events.
KTM was distributing CF Moto motorcycles in Europe, and it was always a questionable business. CF Moto slotted below KTM, but we know that the Chinese brand has been steadily moving upwards. Models like the 800MTX even share KTM family engines, so the closeness was even more discomforting.
Most importantly, the KTM 790/890 LC8 series engines, which started the domino effect that led to KTM’s eventual bankruptcy, are assembled in China by CF Moto.
However, the biggest loss here is for CF’s electric brand Zeeho. The brand has just started expanding aggressively, and KTM’s European distribution would have worked well for both the Chinese and the Austrian brands.
Hyundai to Research Batteries at IIT Delhi
One of the biggest gainers in the Ather IPO is the IIT Madras Incubation Centre. The Centre initially owned 5% of the company (Ather started life at IIT Madras), which was reduced to 0.5% as the company raised funds in successive rounds. The IIT is reportedly earning close to USD 6 million as Ather heads for an IPO.
This is one of the only good examples of industry-academia collaboration succeeding in the Indian automotive space that we know of (Please point us to more). But it does open doors to more, especially when it comes to electric mobility.
Now, Hyundai India has opened a Centre of Excellence (CoE) at IIT Delhi. The CoE would jointly research electrification and battery tech with the IIT. Hyundai has set up a long-term framework of research that would initially work on nine projects focused on Battery cells, Energy Density Enhancement, BMS, Safety, Durability, and Diagnostics.
Hyundai is committed to not only EV passenger vehicles but is also looking at electric L-category vehicles (quadricycles and three-wheelers). The Korean carmaker is exploring a JV with TVS for this foray.
What warmed us this week
Indonesia is still a fledgling when it comes to setting up its own electric scooter industry. Alva is the biggest electric scooter startup there, and they have just started delivering their N3 scooters. Even better, the CEO was spotted home-delivering the first few units himself.
Yamaha PHEV takes the Next Step
We recently wrote a long-form analysis on the Japanese working on multiple powertrains and not just herding behind electric. The most significant part of the analysis was Yamaha’s work on PHEV as a mainstream tech.
Now, Yamaha has gone further and revealed that it is fitting the tech in an MT-09-sized motorcycle.
Yamaha’s Disclaimer Transparency
We like Yamaha’s transparency and responsibility here. While scrolling through Yamaha’s media materials, it was good to see that the company includes a disclaimer:
The video and images (captured from the video) in this article include CG images.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with using CG images, especially when announcing a new tech that’s still under development. It is necessary. But with CG becoming advanced and terrifyingly realistic, a disclaimer shows that you are a responsible corporate citizen.
We wish that some of the most exciting and well-funded startups in electric mobility would take a leaf out of Yamaha’s corporate responsibility playbook.
That’s a wrap for today. This newsletter will be back next Saturday. The posts on the website are more frequent. This is your editor, and you may view my LinkedIn profile here.
