Walton makes Bangladesh’s maiden electric bike

[Valar.]

When you import a bike for 1000 dollars, you give away thousand dollars to foreigners and no jobs for locals.

When you assemble a bike locally, you give 800 dollars to foreigners but also provide jobs to locals + learning experience.

Assembling is always better than outright importing finished products.

Everything starts from some small step.

Continue taking the steps.

Good luck.

 

[Bilal9]

Lol, Bangladeshis dream of taking on established players with superior product and better price with their kit assembled product.

Dada we are not here to glorify Indian e-bike industry, please don't hijack this thread, open a new one.

"Established players" in e-bikes don't mean $hit in this market segment.

It's about flexibility and what sells - trying to provided "value" to buyers, and looks/aesthetics to some degree.

Buyers in this segment and age group have no product or brand loyalty.

So assembling products in a nascent industrial stage like Bangladesh works well, it affords more time to sort out what the market wants.

This is why e-Bike segment in India so far is not a rip-roaring success.

But - we are not here to discuss Indian e-bike industry.

Here is one guy's take on why e-Bikes in China were a huge success while they were not in countries like India. We need to understand this in Bangladesh so we avoid the Indian approach and the mistakes they made.

Why the electric two wheeler (E2W) market grew so rapidly in China?
E2Ws have been successful in China for three principal reasons:

• gasoline-powered motorcycle bans in large city centers removed E2Ws strongest competitor;
• E2W technology, specifically motors and batteries, improved significantly during the late 1990’s; and
• due to improving economic conditions nationally, urban household incomes rose causing surging demand for inexpensive private transportation.

The history of E2Ws provides an important lesson on the powerful impact of regulatory policy when the evolution of technology produces a market acceptable product.

What factors are driving and resisting its growth?
Three factors are identified as driving growth:

• There were improvements in E2Ws and E2W batteries, both in terms of cost and performance, which can be partially attributed to the unique E2W product architecture and industry structure
• Growing air quality and traffic problems in cities in part due to rapid urbanization has led to strong political support for E2Ws at the local level in the form of motorcycle bans, and loose enforcement of E2W standards
• Public transit systems in cities have become strained from the effects of urbanization and motorization, which has stimulated greater demand for “low-end” private transport.

There are also formidable forces resisting E2W market growth.

• The superior performance of motorcycles is a powerful limiting factor, especially in areas where motorcycles are not banned and incomes are high.
• Bans on E2Ws, which have been enforced in a handful of cities already, could also limit their growth if they spread to more cities.

Overall, the driving forces appear to outweigh the resisting forces for future E2W market growth.

An in depth analysis of the above factors is needed to fully understand this but the reasons at the macro level on why electric technologies are not being promoted in India:

• Market: A market must be created for this by spreading more awareness and by more advertising. A lot of people are unaware about these technologies, their benefits and climate change issues. For example: A survey in Germany showed that approximately more than 60% people think that climate change is the biggest problem facing mankind. Wonder what this percentage will be in India.
• Industry: We need to support industry of these bikes by giving them sufficient incentives and also improve the industry consumer nexus to overcome the problems regularly faced by consumers exp with regards to service centers, direct company contacts, spare parts, poor dealer networks etc.
• Technology: They under perform in almost all parameters as compared to Internal Combustion engine cars: power, speed, durability, range, weight, luxury etc. Technology improvement will be the driving the future of e-bikes. The battery needs to replace every 2-3 years which adds to the maintenance expenditure. Also storage (and hence weight) is a big problem and the battery technology is at a significant disadvantage when compared to fossil fuels in terms of energy density. We can see that the fossil fuel is 40 times more efficient than the Li-ion battery in terms of energy density.

• Source: Nine Challenges Facing the Alternative Energy Industry
  
  
• Infrastructure: For the e-bikes to pick up, we need strong infrastructure ready before they are launched. This includes charging stations at regular distance, dedicated lanes etc.
• Economics: These technologies are invariably costlier and have not become commercial yet to compete with conventional fossil fuel driven cars/bikes.
• Consumer Behaviour: Indian consumers are most cost sensitive. So it is very difficult for these vehicles to sustain themselves solely based on the costs. Also Indian consumers who have the buying power will prefer luxury of fossil fuel cars rather than the discomforts of the e-bike at the same price.
• Policy: Currently no license or registration is required it you own an e-bike in India. If India has to get this right it has to craft out a smart policy catering to Indian citizens drawing from international experiences. India shall be coming up with National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 (NEMMP 2020) soon (Press Information Bureau English Releases).

• China has seen explosive growth in the sales of electric bikes since 1998. The boom was triggered by Chinese local governments' efforts to restrict motorcycles in city centers. However, many Chinese cities have started to extend the restriction to electric bikes. Whether China's electric bike economy will continue to develop is highly uncertain. The experience of China's electric bike boom suggests that limiting the fossil-fueled alternatives could be an effective policy tool in fostering the commercialization of electric vehicles. The failure of Taiwan's electric scooter policy, on the other hand, indicates that subsidies alone may not be a sufficient launching strategy. The policy approach of limiting the alternatives deserves serious consideration if policymakers wish to foster electric vehicles.(http://people.duke.edu/~cy42/EV.pdf).

• Therefore, experience in China and Taiwan dictates that it is necessary to complement subsidies with a ban on the motorbikes, else it leads to failures of the policy. Considering the huge middle class and lower middle class that use bikes for commute I think it is impractical in India to do so in the short run.
• Public transport: The better the public transport the lesser the incentive to shift to E-bikes. Therefore since it has a conflicting stance with public transport it is not an easy choice to make to promote e-bikes against them revamping the crumbling Public transport. But rather than compete with public transport it can complement it by being an alternate for other forms private transport.
• Environmental Concerns: Even though e bikes have no tail pipe emissions and much less noise, they are much better than almost all other forms of modes of travel (car, bikes) when lifecycle emissions are concerned.

• With regards to bus they are not as good in some factors. So it should be heavily mulled if a national policy is that has these as competing options. Also lead pollution is one of the major problems noticed in the life cycle emissions. When considering the life-cycle environmental impacts of e-bikes, lead pollution from industrial processes stands out as a clear challenge to the environmental sustainability of this mode, even with nearly 100% recycling rates. Because the large batteries are replaced every 1–2 years, a medium-sized e-bike introduces 420 milligrams (mg)/km of lead into the environment through mining, smelting, and recycling. This pollution is emitted in various forms of solid, liquid, and airborne waste. Many of these emissions are the result of small-scale, informal lead-producing operations, which are difficult to regulate or monitor (http://www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/Electric-Bikes.pdf)

Bangladesh is yet to try e-bikes as an alternative to gasoline bikes. It needs to be done with utmost care and strong policy support.

When you import a bike for 1000 dollars, you give away thousand dollars to foreigners and no jobs for locals.

When you assemble a bike locally, you give 800 dollars to foreigners but also provide jobs to locals + learning experience.

Assembling is always better than outright importing finished products.

Everything starts from some small step.

Continue taking the steps.

Good luck.

My words exactly! Geniuses think alike!

 

[bluesky]

"Indian companies cannot really compete in their home market"

As usual. You can't resist the urge to spew crap about India, eh? Hero comes third in India's 75,000 per month electric 2W industry with Ola leading. All the top selling brands are Indian OEMs.

But I would concede that any Indian competition would be devastating for your e-bike industry. I guess you know what happened to this manufacturers IC engine bikes.

Even Indian start ups like Ultraviolette have more engineering capabilities than your entire 2W industry.

As for your e-scooter it's basically Chinese kit assembly.

Doohan iDou aka Walton 1.20

Yadea T9 aka Walton 1.0

Yeah but Tachyon, Higgs Boson or whatever.



It's basically a kit-assembled low cost e-scooter with COTS components. The motor is from Bosch.

Whatever great may be the capabilities of Indian companies compared to ours, it is imperative that BD protects its own turf to safeguard its future from the concentric onslaught of Indian low-grade companies.

What Indian companies can produce, given time BD companies can produce better ones. BD needs only a period of respite to grow.

 

[Bilal9]

Whatever great may the capabilities of Indian companies compared to ours, it is imperative that BD protects its own turf to safeguard its future from the concentric onslaught of Indian low-grade companies.

What Indian companies can produce, BD companies can produce better ones. BD needs only a period of respite to grow.

Very apt comments @bluesky bhai.

I resist discussing Indian products wherever possible.

But the problems with Indian Banyas cutting corners in their products is not new, it is decades old. Sanghis here are spreading lies and misinformation as always.

These Indian Banya people have no business principle, they do NOT value customer loyalty. So they cheat in product quality.

Some Indian customers are also a strange miserly kanjoosi bunch. They do NOT want to pay for quality in a product, always looking for the lowest common denominator. On the discount rack.

The overall result is that foreign products (sometimes assembled) will always dominate Indian market. The only thing Sanghis can do is block Bangladeshi products in Indian market. They dare not do that to Chinese or Korean products. Otherwise they cannot export things to those markets.

Here are a bunch of stories showing the horrendous quality and hype driven BS marketing philosophy of OLA, the most common and largest selling Indian e-bike.

Ola Electric responds to customers' suspension failure complaints

A fresh controversy erupted around Ola Electric's scooter S1 Pro after several customers reported incidents of suspension failure as the front fork breaks down.

www.republicworld.com

Multiple Ola S1 Pro Suspension Failure Reports Surface | BikeDekho

After the fire and reverse function incidents, there are now many reports of the EV’s front giving upAfter the fire incident and the elect

www.bikedekho.com

Ola Electric under fire for faulty bikes

With Ola's electric bikes catching fire and malfunctioning, Ola's brand image is under duress. Will there be a spillover to its other verticals?

www.afaqs.com

Here is one Marathi guy tying his OLA scooter to a donkey and parading it - because OLA refused to service his OLA e-scooter.

LetsUpp Marathi on Instagram: "इलेक्ट्रिक बाईक गाढवाला बांधून शहर भरात फिरवली बीडच्या परळीत एका व्यक्तीने घेतलेली नवीन इलेक्ट्रिक बाईक बंद पडली. बंद पडलेल्या नव्या बाईकची कंपनीकडे वारंवार तक्रार करूनही कंपनीकडून दुर्लक्ष होत असल्याने बाईकच्या मालकान

14K likes, 201 comments - letsupp.marathi on April 25, 2022: "इलेक्ट्रिक बाईक गाढवाला बांधून शहर भरात फिरवली बीडच्या परळीत एका व्यक्तीने घेतलेली नवीन इलेक्ट्रिक बाईक बंद पडली. बंद पडलेल्या नव्या बाईकची कंपनीकडे वारंवार तक्रार करूनही कंपनीकडून दुर्लक्ष होत असल्याने बाईकच्या मालकाने ही इलेक्ट्रिक...

www.instagram.com

Front ends giving up at 25 MPH ! Wow !! Banya Hye Qwallity !!

Cast Iron castings look like they are made of pot metal.

 

[Bilal9]

I heard that the cockpit control software for the Boeing 737 Max series was written by Indian software outsourcing people.

Is it any wonder why it crashed twice?

Same quality control issues which affected all Indian and foreign companies that outsourced software development to India - but now lives of people were being endangered (and taken).

When will Boeing learn its lessons?

Airbus took Boeing for a ride in the marketplace.

 

[walterbibikow]

Cope harder, Kanglu swamp-rat.

Ola Electric unveils its indigenous battery cell, mass production from 2023

Ola Electric is currently focusing its energy on introducing its first-ever all-electric car.

auto.hindustantimes.com

Their upcoming state of the art Battery Innovation Center in Bengaluru will become the largest cell R&D facility in Asia

 

[Bilal9]

A lot of Victoria's Secret and other high end seksi wimmins undies get stitched there

View attachment 903607

Stop hijacking the thread - reported you.

This is India's ENTIRE sales for e-scooties (for $1.4 Billion people). Production is nowhere and pales in comparison to Chinese production of e-scooties.

Exports are negligible. Indians here won't provide export numbers because they are nothing to write home about.

Electric Two-Wheeler Sales Data for November 2022

top 10 players accounted for 91% of sales of E2W in month of November 2022. YOY rise we can witness a 185% growth in electric vehicles.

e-vehicleinfo.com

These are the numbers for a supposed superpower of 1.4 Billion people. Pathetic - I have no words.

@Nergal bhai look at these cheap-a$$ kanjoosis. They'll only buy cheap scooters selling in the tens of thousands a month max (even at around a lakh each) and they are so proud of the numbers sold. Ha ha ha.....

• Ola Electric sold 16,246 of the Ola S1 range of vehicles.
• The second spot was occupied by Ampere Electric vehicles. They recorded sales of 12,232 E2W of their Magnus EX electric scooter.
• Okinawa holds the third spot by setting a sales target of 9,038 vehicles they saw a dip in the sales from October data of 14,121 units. This can be due to subsidy disbursal under the FAME II policy that Okinawa was a direct victim to. (Bilal9: what were the actual number of E2Ws sold? As usual Indian fraud and cheatery)
• The fourth position is held by Hero Electric, they witnessed a slight rise in the sales of their E2W by recording 9,008 sales in November.
• TVS holds the fifth position by recording 8,076 vehicle registration. For their iQube, electric scooter.
• Ather Energy comes sixth in the sales of E2W which witnessed a decline of 12% from the October output by selling 7,234 units.
• Bajaj witnessed a dip in the sales of electric scooters this month by selling 2,987 units of the Bajaj Chetak.
• The following brands that held the last three positions were Okaya EV, Jitendra EV teach, and Benling India setting a target of 1,782 units, 1,258 units, and 1,213 units respectively.

Read more here: https://e-vehicleinfo.com/electric-two-wheeler-sales-data-for-november-2022/

How do you stay afloat and remain in business selling this small a number of vehicles ?? Even with govt. subsidies (which is the norm in India) this is tough going. Once subsidies run out, khel shuru hoga....

@rott, @beijingwalker brothers - can you let me know what the production figure of e-scooters is in China (A, B, C categories combined)? I think altogether may have exceeded $18-$20 Million a year by now.

 

[Bilal9]

Their upcoming state of the art Battery Innovation Center in Bengaluru will become the largest cell R&D facility in Asia

I am sure the engineers will be sporting cheap polyester pants and flip-flops, as is the pattern in India.

Gora comes with money, pays for shiny glass building - then Ph.D's (of which there are too many unemployed in India) come get paid by goras to produce new patents.

 

[Homo Sapiens]

A lot of Victoria's Secret and other high end seksi wimmins undies get stitched there

View attachment 903607

This is a garments factory in Tamil Nadu, India, Not in Bangladesh. Look at the clothes of the workers, plus all of them have red dot in forehead. This is not the attire of Bangladeshi women. I had doubt, so a simple image search with google lens lead to this article which clearly said this is in Tamil Nadu.

Here Are All the Issues that Remain Unresolved in the Draft Code on Wages Rules

The Code on Wages 2019 has already been passed in both houses of parliament. Issues with the Code were supposed to be addressed in drafted the Rules. This does not seem to have happened.

thewire.in

You Indians have a habit of using your own images to project shortcoming of Bangladesh which usually get boomerang once anyone do a simple investigation.

 

[bluesky]

You Indians have a habit of using your own images to project shortcoming of Bangladesh which usually get boomerang once anyone do a simple investigation.

Indians are very shameless.

 

[-=virus=-]

This is a garments factory in Tamil Nadu, India, Not in Bangladesh. Look at the clothes of the workers, plus all of them have red dot in forehead. This is not the attire of Bangladeshi women. I had doubt, so a simple image search with google lens lead to this article which clearly said this is in Tamil Nadu.

Here Are All the Issues that Remain Unresolved in the Draft Code on Wages Rules

The Code on Wages 2019 has already been passed in both houses of parliament. Issues with the Code were supposed to be addressed in drafted the Rules. This does not seem to have happened.

thewire.in

View attachment 903703
You Indians have a habit of using your own images to project shortcoming of Bangladesh which usually get boomerang once anyone do a simple investigation.

not a biggie, and certainly not intentional on my part... I just wanted a representative image and that's the firt thing Mr Google threw up upon searching.

My point stands, BD make a lot of undies for global brands. Nothing wrong in that, a good honest line of work.

 

[bluesky]

not a biggie, and certainly not intentional on my part... I just wanted a representative image and that's the firt thing Mr Google threw up upon searching.

My point stands, BD make a lot of undies for global brands. Nothing wrong in that, a good honest line of work.

Below is a picture that represents a garment factory in BD. Why did you have to send a Bangalore picture, instead? That picture showed how poor and backward India is.
\

 

[Homo Sapiens]

not a biggie, and certainly not intentional on my part... I just wanted a representative image and that's the firt thing Mr Google threw up upon searching.

My point stands, BD make a lot of undies for global brands. Nothing wrong in that, a good honest line of work.

Making and selling underwear is the polar opposite of running call center scam business that your countrymen are most known for around the world. One is legitimate hard working profession who are promoting health and hygiene around the world while other is the lowest scum only harming innocent people. If Chanakya were alive today, he would felt proud of you guys. A nation full of call center scammers and baniya cheaters. They have surpassed his expectation with their greed, meanness, cheatery and thievish cunningness.

 

[UKBengali]

^^^ Nilgiri's reincarnation yet again.

 

[BananaRepublicUK]

not a biggie, and certainly not intentional on my part... I just wanted a representative image and that's the firt thing Mr Google threw up upon searching.

My point stands, BD make a lot of undies for global brands. Nothing wrong in that, a good honest line of work.

You have been caught with your undies down!

Oh! The irony!