Electric Scooters/mopeds

[Lebowski]

What would be anybodys opinion on whether the Thai market (either Expat or Thai) would take to electric mopeds/scooters?

Cheers.

[pumpuiman]

They are very popular in my wife's village in Isaan.....seems everyone wants one. The sister in law was hinting for me to buy her one, but as I've already purchased a gas powered moto for her, I didn't take the hint.

Perhaps it's the novelty of it, but it seems to be well received.

[Lebowski]

that was a blinding bit of info pumpuiman. just the sort of inside viewpoint i'm after really.

thanks mate.

[Lebowski]

Pumpuiman - what village? and have you seen them in other villages or cities?

cheers

[jdinasia]

They are available all over

even Robinson's sells them

[Lebowski]

thanks chaps, appreciated.

[Lebowski]

sorry, but can you tell me exactly where - i.e robinsons in which town. I've never seen anyone riding one in bangkok.

Cheers.

[monty]

They are actually produced in Thailand bothy for local sales and export.

They make a big selection of bikes, scooters, mobility vehicles for the elderly etc..

Google ecobrand and you'll finde them!

[jdinasia]

sorry, but can you tell me exactly where - i.e robinsons in which town. I've never seen anyone riding one in bangkok.

Cheers.

All over ... including BKK.

[Lebowski]

so they sell them at robinsons by sukhumvit 19 then??

[Lebowski]

thanks monty, i'll google them

cheers.

JD

I export bikes, I ride a bike in central bangkok. i've never seen an electric bike here, and only come across one company making them here and quite expensively too. where have you seen them?

[Vato]

theres basicly 3 types of electrics in thailand right now that i know of...

1.offroad, which are sold at some robinsons, which are mainly geared towards children...i saw a mini electric dirtbike for like 5000 baht, but its kiddy size - very bad profit margin if you plan to sell them.

2.ecobrand - ive never seen one.

3.some brand that starts with a 'VXXXX'...supposedly only available in the outer provinces.....'vestex' maybe?...i dont know about the price but these are from china and i think would sell somewhere in the 20-30k baht area...parts would be a pain.

i suspect the peak of interest will end when batteries start dying...do to mischarging, then as usual thais will have preconceived notions about a product and start bad mouthing it...even when they do not know how to operate it correctly, batteries have to be maintained to last a long time and to be dependable...with the majority of buyers living in apartment complexes with no convenient electrical outlet, battery maintenance will be very bad.

if they live in a house however and are fastidious about charging, they may last.

the average batt voltage for these vehicles is a 36 volt 14-18 ah SLA system, very heavy and i dont see people lugging them into their apartment everynight to charge them, they could however hang an extnesion cord out the window if it was convenient, but more than likely wont...

when the 3 batteries which are connected in series die...it will cost around 4000-5000 baht retail to replace them with top notch SLA batts....

im debating whether or not to do an electric bike that can go 80kph....but the selling price would prohibit sales...to being a niche item, the motor and controller alone would cost 6000 baht for a topnotch setup....i could make one much weaker like most in thailand...but thats no fun !!!

[jdinasia]

I have seen them for sale at almost every Robinson's etc I have been to.

but here's another company

http://www.sebbike.com/main/

[BSJ]

In Australia there is the Vectrix. At 414.000baht plus on road I can see why they aren't moving out the showrooms!

And for the cheaper Chinese models it's the replacement batteries that will be the deal breaker!

[Vato]

good lord ....414,000 baht? i wont be on the waiting list to buy one....

[JonnyF]

I've been working in China the last couple of weeks and saw loads of them. The first thing I thought was what a great idea it would be for Thailand, especially Bangkok with the pollution problems. Didn't consider the problems of charging them if you're living in a condo.

I also saw loads of push bike frames with little (50cc?) engines in them. Perfect for making your way around the soi's, but again I've not seen them here. I guess the Honda Wave is so economical to run now that there's no need to take the risk on one. I can't imagine they'd cost more than 10,000 baht if they were on the market, but I've seen half decent second hand Waves/Dreams for not much more than that.

[apetley]

Nice looking electric bikes in Chongchom market on the border south of Surin for 13k bht.

Was told they are Chinese imports and appear very popular with the locals.

[wrathfultalon]

I think part of the reason you wont see these take off in sales here is the fact so much of thai society is based on percieved image.

I know thais that would not use a bicycle if their life depended on it. Many thais want the image of the nice scooter/motobike/car. Very similar to the american SUV craze.

Personally i enjoy going for walks to the store and around and my landlady thinks i am crazy! i have literally seen her ride her scooter 30 ft rather than walk...

Now you get affordable electric scooters that look like a gas scooter and sell the greener is better.. they will sell like hotcakes, well until the batt's die from misuse.

until they look like the photo, I highly doubt helping the enviroment we push too many thais towards electric scooters.. then again you have to ask yourself how green ARE these machines? Coal spewing plants are powering them and every year or two you are dumping lead batteries into land fills.

untitled.bmp

Edited October 20, 2008 by wrathfultalon

[umurali2000]

Hi ... It seems there is a large scope of electric bikes over here/.. pls let me know if any companies who are making e-bikes in thailand .. if possible websites