In most developing countries around the world, two-wheeled vehicles (mopeds, scooters and motorcycles) form the backbone of daily movement for large parts of the population and account for ~30% of global mobility. Two-wheelers (2Ws) provide an affordable and convenient method of transportation and are often used for last mile logistics applications as well, given their fuel efficiency and ability to navigate through traffic and congested areas.
The ICE two-wheeler market consists of 600mn vehicles today with ~$300bn per year spent on fuel. In 2023 alone, sales of 2Ws crossed 62mn units and is further expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.7% through 2029. In many parts of the world, 2Ws are used for B2B / commercial use cases including last mile delivery, bike taxis and even hyperlocal commerce, even though these assets are designed and built for personal mobility.
A switch to electric for such use cases makes a lot of economic sense. Hence, commercial drivers are some of the best early adopters of electric vehicles due to their high fuel consumption. For example, the average African boda boda driver (“motorcycle taxi drivers”) spends the same amount on fuel, as an American commuter with 20x the purchasing power. Such boda boda riders can reduce their fuel spend by 50-75% by switching to electric and even Indian commercial drivers can reduce their fuel spend by 25-50%.
Due to the above, electrification of 2Ws is underway at a rapid pace with almost 10mn units sold in 2022, however over 85% of these vehicles were sold in China itself. Penetration of electric 2Ws in other markets like India still hovers around 6% and falls to under 1% in countries in Africa. Additionally, the vast majority of E-2Ws sold today are either mopeds, scooters or very high end and expensive motorcycles, however 60-80% of the market consists of entry level 100-200cc commuter motorcycles, where no good electric option exists. Mass electric motorcycle adoption has been limited due to lack of viable options in the segment, high upfront cost, insufficient range and vehicle robustness for many B2B use cases.
Zeno is building a full stack electric mobility solution for emerging markets centered around a 100-200 cc equivalent entry level sport utility electric motorbike, while elimination the 3 barriers to adoption:
- Development of a durable, robust electric motorcycle built from scratch specifically for heavy commercial use cases
- Sale of motorcycle without a battery to bring down cost below an ICE equivalent and providing the battery on a battery-as-a-service (“BaaS”) subscription model
- Providing unlimited range using a combination of various charging options which encompass battery swapping, public fast charging, and at-home slow charging
The Company has spent the last 3 years doing market research, customer engagement, product prototyping and testing. The valuable insights they have garnered during this period are being incorporated into an extremely robust production version of the vehicle, along with a unique GTM plan alongside strong partners.
Zeno plans to target bike taxi drivers from East Africa, as well as India with the offering, as they need an economical solution with enough power to carry up to 3 people. The solution aims to deliver an equivalent vehicle to a 150cc ICE vehicle in terms of performance and reliability, so the driver does not have to compromise in the transition from an ICE to an EV.
We obviously see the need for such a solution in the Indian market, given how closely we work with Rapido and their efforts to encourage a shift towards EVs amongst their captains. However, we are even more excited by the need for such a product in the East African market, where 99% of the market is ICE motorcycles between 100-150cc and over 90% of these are purchased by the owner with the intention of using the vehicle for a commercial use case (majorly for bike taxi services). Zeno’s solution seems like a perfect product for these markets.
We are very excited to partner with Michael in this journey, who after having spent 4 years at Tesla wants to supercharge the transition underway from ICE to EVs by focusing on motorcycles. Michael, along with Rob, Swaroop and Alastair have built a rock star team of ex-Tesla, Lucid, Apple, Nest, Gogoro, Ola Electric, Ather, and other engineers & executives who designed, engineered, built, and sold some of the world’s most popular electric vehicles. Thank you Michael for choosing Advantedge as one of your partners of choice and we can not wait to see Zeno bikes zipping everywhere around us!
You can learn more about Zeno at https://zeno.earth.
