Electric motorcycles and scooters are in Malaysian motorcycle maker Modenas plans for the near future, says Roslan Roskan, its chief executive officer. Speaking to assembled media during a factory visit, Roslan said Modenas cannot afford to be left behind in the push towards vehicle electrification worldwide.
“Honestly speaking, for Malaysia, we are a bit slow compared to other ASEAN countries (regarding adoption of electric vehicles),” said Roslan. “However, the Malaysian government has set a target at least 15% electric vehicles (EV) on Malaysian roads by 2030,” he added.
Saying there has been inroads into the Malaysia electric two-wheeler market in the last two years, Roslan pointed out those were mainly commercial and meant for B2B (business to business) use. “So, for Modenas, we will also be ready to participate in the EV market. If we don’t participate, at least by 2025, before 2030, we’ll be left behind,” he said.
Elaborating on Modenas EV activities, Roslan said a cautious approach is being taken at the moment. “We are doing something on EV at this moment. This requires a lot of investment, trials, battery stability,” said Roslan.
“Malaysia’s readiness for EV charging infrastructure is still poor. There was supposed to be a target of 10,000 charging points nationwide but we are very far behind,” Roslan said. “Plus, the motivation for Malaysians to participate in EV is lacking because we have the cheapest fuel prices in ASEAN,” he continued.
“But we will participate, very definitely. If we don’t participate, by 2025, we have nothing, we will be left behind,” said Roslan. Roslan also said Kawasaki, having developed the Endeavor EV as a prototype, will be taking steps to bring it to market in three to five years.
“Definitely, since we are partners, when the Malaysian market is ready, we will consider (bringing it in),” he said. Modenas had previously released the CTric electric underbone motorcycle, the first to be approved by JPJ for use on Malaysian roads.
The CTric was not a commercial success in Malaysia due to the use of lead-acid batteries, plus the long charging time and lack of range. However, with new developments in battery technology, such as lithium-ion batteries and fast charging, perhaps the time has come for the adoption of electric vehicles, especially in the urban environment, for Modenas to take the lead again.
What do you think? Should Modenas push strongly for the development of an electric motorcycle or scooter, and more importantly, would you buy it? Leave a comment with your thoughts and opinions below.
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Both my brother and I are in the market for motorycles. I am most definitely waiting for an affordable and viable electric motorcycle for commuting to work (short trips 5-10km per day), and I’m going to try to convince my brother to wait for an electric one too.
actually there is already few such motorcycle with almost 100km in range in the market
but price is the problem as you are saying
EV is a way to go no doubts but with Malaysia mentality as seen from history itself, it wont be a huge shift and shown results in years to come.
Bear in minds infrastructure obstacle such as those living in condominium/apartments where there is no ways they can charge their vehicles, those living in landed properties also have limited space for charging due to each household have more than 1 vehicle. All these will made the consumers think twice before changing to EV.
In order to achieve a good takeup rate of EV, rope in property developers to installed the requirement EV points for each units at the porch or garden area to facilitate charging instead of using the the internal socket points to charge.
Actually, why not do battery swap like gogoro? Just pay money per swap. Sure it may cost more than charging yourself, but you also do not own the expensive battery, meaning the scooter will be cheaper to buy initially.
Every petrol station can be a swapping station too so it can be everywhere.
Not really.. With Malaysian Style, all GOGORO power station battery will gone in few weeks time XD
i like your view
but we actually nearing of mass production of 2 important things that actually held back EV for many years;
1. Battery. recently few new advanced battery technology which promises 30-50% more capacity than current lithium, better battery safety and better fast charging rate. some like Solid State Battery already in limited run production like in Tesla
2. Fast charger. again we just saw afast charger that now reaching 100kw rate (in DC) which mean can charge even faster than previous gen charger which mostly at 20kw rate. meaning for example if usually take 8 hours to full charge the new charger can the time to half or even further to 3-4 hours
that’s for now. if what by i stand on Jeremy Clarkson says, by 5 years later all of these will be common and by 2030 those 2 above problem could be solved
Question is will Kawasaki be ready to give them an EV bike by 2025
50kW DC charging to a 4kWh Electric Scoot..
This might be a easy good 3mins charge to 80%.
Easy electorn refuel.
Price?
The price should be competitive like Indian made advanced Ola Scooter.
Top speed up to 115km/h,
Range up to 181km,
Or..
Indian’s hi tech Simple One EV Scooter also about same price, similar spec, but with 203km mileage, and better connectivity e.g. SOS functions.
https://paultan.org/2021/08/17/ola-electric-of-india-to-deliver-ola-s1-s1-pro-electric-scooter-in-october-2021-pricing-starts-from-rm4562/