5 reasons why electric motorbikes haven’t caught on in Malaysia
There are a lot of cars in Malaysia and EVs are starting to gain popularity right now. But a look at our roads and you’ll see just as many if not more motorcycles zooming around, revving their engines or parked on the roadside. But why are there so few electric motorbikes, considering they’re smaller and possibly easier and cheaper to produce? In this article, we will explore why electric motorcycles haven’t captured the hearts of Malaysians yet.
Disinterest from large manufacturers
You may have noticed an absence of any recognisable brands producing electric motorbikes. That’s because big-name motorcycle manufacturers like Harley-Davidson and Ducati generally cater to enthusiasts who buy performance models for their hums, purrs and revs. You can’t get that with an electric motorbike.
That said, Harley-Davison has founded LiveWire to sell e-motorcycles like the S2 Mulholland at $15,999 (RM69,880), or nearly as much as a Carro Certified Proton X50! This high price and the lack of enthusiast interest resulted in LiveWire operating at a loss of $115 to $125 million (RM502-RM546 million) in 2023. Another big name, Ducati, instead says the battery technology for e-motorbikes isn’t here yet. This leaves consumers with startups like Vietnam’s VinFast, China’s Niu or Blueshark as the only option for those with smaller budgets.
However, these startups have not gained much traction as these companies are largely unknown. This creates hesitancy as no one wants to be potentially saddled with an e-bike that does not work well. Until these companies can convince consumers that their bikes are safe and reliable, they’ll remain a novelty.
Limited range
Say you get yourself one of these startup electric bikes, you’ll quickly find you won’t be able to get far, literally. Lithium-ion batteries are heavy and are not nearly as energy-dense as petrol. The Blueshark R-series’ battery packs weigh 12kg and provide a range of only 110 km. In comparison, a Yamaha Lagenda EZ115 has a 3.9 L petrol tank, with a range of 248 km on a single tank.
To get around this range limitation, some companies have set up battery swap stations so riders can simply swap the battery in a few minutes and be on their way. That still limits the range to where the battery swap stations are available, which is still largely in the Klang Valley.
That said, some apartment complexes and gated communities have found a use for these short-range electric motorbikes. Guards use them to conduct patrols of the grounds without disrupting the residents with the loud throttle and exhaust fumes of a regular motorbike. However, this is far from shaking up the motorbike industry.
Underdeveloped charging infrastructure
Blueshark’s R1 comes with a battery charger you can plug into any socket. While it sounds convenient to be able to plug your batteries into any socket, you will need to take the charger with you, but that takes up valuable storage space in the motorcycle. You could opt to swap batteries at a battery swap station, but as mentioned earlier, most stations are located in the Klang Valley.
Perhaps the biggest oversight is the inability to utilise Malaysia’s electric car charging infrastructure. Although Malaysia’s EV charging station coverage is far from total, these charging stations cover much of the Peninsula’s west coast and are found in nearly every major city. But that does not mean much to an e-bike user who cannot take advantage of pre-existing infrastructure to extend their range.
Few maintenance options
Just like electric cars 2 years ago, the expertise and parts needed to repair e-bikes are hard to find. This leaves e-bike owners with no choice but to service their e-bike with the manufacturer. This essentially ties one down to the location of the service centres, which is not a problem shared by petrol motorbikes. If something goes wrong with your petrol motorbike, you can easily find a nearby workshop to diagnose and fix the problem.
E-bike companies recognise this issue and provide cheap and even free servicing options to entice buyers. However, due to the limited coverage, the inconvenience may not be worth the lower price.
As a developing country, Malaysia has a large number of blue-collar workers who commute to work by motorbike. Others work for on-demand delivery providers to deliver food or goods. This means the budget of most motorbike buyers tends to be on the smaller side.
But if you take a look at these startup electric bikes, you will notice one thing: they’re expensive. Because electric motorbikes are new and few affordable models are available in the market, this disincentivises manufacturers from lowering prices.
Blueshark’s R1 lite, for example, comes in at RM7,190, higher than the Yamaha Lagenda EZ115’s RM5,598. And that is Blueshark’s cheapest electric motorbike! Motorcyclists even have much cheaper petrol options from RM2,600 like the WMoto RTR 50.
To reduce this price difference, the Malaysian government is offering an RM2,400 rebate on electric motorbike purchases. However, the buyer’s annual income must be RM120,000 or less (i.e., a monthly income of under RM10,000) to be eligible for the rebate, limiting the number of buyers. A buyer eligible for this subsidy will pay RM4,790 for a Blueshark’s R1 lite. While it is lower than the Yamaha Lagenda EZ115, the price is still nearly double that of the WMoto RTR 50.
That is before we even consider the vibrant second-hand motorbike market where you can find motorbikes sold at prices less than RM30! With more than 17 million motorbikes in the country, the second-hand market is full of bikes for buyers to choose from. Electric motorbikes don’t even enter the equation.
All in all, electric motorbikes run into many of the same issues as electric cars did before they gained widespread acceptance: a lack of charging infrastructure, high prices, and limited range. Until major changes can be made, such as making EV chargers compatible with both electric cars and motorbikes, we are unlikely to see a paradigm shift in electric motorcycle numbers and they will remain in niche applications.
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