Greetings, this is your editor. You can view my LinkedIn profile here.
This was a special week as InsightEV went premium. Thank you for the generous response. The electric mobility industry needs research, analysis, and opinion, and we strive to be your leading source.
We now publish nearly every day with a mix of long-format analysis and news impact stories. Your constant feedback helps us improve.
The Importance of Honda ICON e: in Vietnam
On Monday, the team put together an analysis of the importance of Vietnam for electric mobility. It’s a growing market with E2W penetration levels at around 5.5%, roughly the same as India.
But talk to local analysts and consultants, and they point to the local underbelly of more than two million slow-speed electric two-wheelers. That’s an estimate – the actual numbers are unknown as these aren’t registered. Nearly all of them came from China in containers. Most of them have lead-acid batteries. A large share of them would be at the end of their life. That’s an opportunity.
Local laws stipulate that vehicles under 49kph can be used without any driving license, making this segment attractive for low quality, low price scooters.
But what if the increasingly affluent customer wants high quality at a modest price?
Enter the Vinfast Evo Lite and Motio, which have been in the market for some time. They are joined by Honda’s ICON e:, the first electric scooter from the company to be assembled locally (the CUV e: would come from Indonesia).
Read more in our analysis
InsightEV – Global Electric Mobility
India: March Registration Numbers
Then, on Tuesday, the team analysed the Indian E2W registration numbers, where Bajaj has taken a seemingly unassailable lead over TVS and Ola. However, as history shows, nothing and no one may be called unassailable when it comes to the Indian E2W market. Ola remained the leader most of the year but has been shaken by Bajaj. Before Ola was Hero Electric (don’t confuse with Hero MotoCorp; this is another branch of the same family), and that company is now insolvent.
On the subject of Ola, we tried to decipher the mystery of its February and March sales numbers and the gap between claims and actual registration numbers. We feel that the company misreported actual numbers OR is sitting on a pile of sold but unregistered vehicles.
Read our take
Auper Motorcycles Comes out of Stealth
Last week, I sat down with Silvio Rotilli of Auper Motorcycles. It’s a Brazil-Canada-based startup that has developed a mid-size street-naked motorcycle with 48 kW and 170 kph capabilities.
It looks swell!
While in conversation, I quickly started appreciating the high-quality leadership that Auper has. Silvio has a PhD in motor controllers, and the rest of the team is similarly impressive. One of the founders is Dr. Ali Emadi, Silvio’s professor and a faculty member of engineering at McMaster University.
Head to InsightEV for this deep exploration into Auper
InsightEV – Global Electric Mobility
TVS Divests ION and then Acquires Assets
TVS has been a strategic investor in Singapore-based ION Mobility, investing more than USD 24m in ION to date. The Singapore-based startup has been facing problems in industrializing the M1S maxi-commuter scooter.
Now TVS has taken the driver’s seat and acquired the assets of ION – IPs and the talent pool. That’s pretty much the entire company.
Damon hires Engines Engineering
Within the same news impact analysis, we also looked at what it means for Damon to hire Engines Engineering for USD 10m to further develop the Hypersport. Two questions remain – first, what does 10m get you, and second, what comes out of spending 10m when tooling costs would run into USD 25-30m?
While you are here, please also read Janaki Jitchotvisut’s post on the same, one of the most incisive posts in recent times.
USB-C Charging Comes to Mobility
Some things are so apparent that we act surprised when we realise they have been missing all this time. USB-C charging is one of them. We charge everything from phones and tablets to laptops with the same standard. Why not scooters? Obvious charging speeds are the bottleneck. USB-C can stretch up to 240W charging, says Apple. That’s theoretical speed, and even with that, the charger, even with GAN, would be substantial.
240W may not be good enough for a scooter with 3 kWh, but it’s good for regular city ride electric cycles. Estonian electric cycle startup Ampler thinks so. It has introduced the Nova and Nova Pro electric cycles. Both come with USB-C charging neatly integrated into the frame. With 336 Wh batteries, the USB-C charging works. Ampler offers a 140W USB-C charger (3.1 standard), so it should not be any larger than your regular Macbook charger.
With the 140W charger, the cycle is fully charged in three hours.
The best thing is that the USB-C port is two-way, so one can use the cycle as a power bank to charge other devices at up to 15W when needed.
That’s a wrap for today. This newsletter will be back next Saturday. The posts on the website are more frequent.
