Saddletale: Is the stage set for electrified, two-wheeled commuting in the Philippines?

Heat stroke. It is quite the hot topic these days (excuse the pun). Summer time temperatures are indeed significantly more scorching of late, undeniably due to global warming.

But did you know that 34% of green house gasses come from the transportation sector?

As motorcycle riders, we could claim that we contribute the least carbon emissions despite our numbers because we choose to ride small, efficient machines as opposed to driving bigger, heavier vehicles (compensating much?).

However, we are also the ones who bear the brunt of global warming as we are exposed to the heat and exhaust fumes.

While It would be nice if everybody would just go electric, there are still huge challenges that deter the motoring public from abandoning the internal combustion engine (ICE) for EVs. However, recent developments that make the use of electric two-wheelers more feasible have come of late.

Roadworthiness

New industry players are beginning to introduce electric scooters with performance at par with gas-powered commuter bikes.

We now have Hatasu, Ecooter and Zeeho, just to name a few. Some of their electric scooters also rival the range of a conventional scooter on a full tank. Range anxiety is a thing of the past when it comes to electric scoots.

Moreover, LTO regulations are already well in place for two-wheeled EVs so they’re village scoots no more!

Infrastructure

Gogoro and SUN Mobility have just landed on our shores with their battery-swapping system for electric scooters. This negates the need for massive infrastructure for charging stations.

In their “swapping stations”, the rider would just roll-in and swap his depleted battery for a fresh one. The entire process takes about 6 seconds so there is literally no down time and there’s also no need for queueing space.

The so-called Big 4, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha, even jointly developed a similar system which is now being used in Japan. They have no plans of bringing it here yet but they might reconsider if there is a market for it.

Demand

I think a good number of commuter riders are open to the idea of shifting to EVs as this particular segment of the market has more practical considerations when it comes to their choice of vehicle, as opposed to the sentiments of leisure riders.

This is also especially true to delivery riders and moto taxi operators, those who use their scooters for their livelihood. Electric scooters are significantly cheaper to run and also cheaper to maintain.

Electric scooter manufacturers could initially target the commuter and commercial segment for their EVs then eventually expand to the leisure segment (which is comparatively small anyway) when the demand arises. I hear the Ayala Group is already manufacturing Zero electric motorcycles in their KTM plant in Laguna.

I’ve said it before. EVs, like Thanos, are inevitable. The EV market, at least for commuter scooters, is ripe for the picking. It’s just a question of which manufacturer will step up, pluck the low-lying fruit and take the first bite. We’ll see.