Telepod partners Foodpanda, Buzz to create e-scooter battery network

With multiple players in the mix, Singapore’s scooter-sharing scene is shaping up to be just as competitive as the bike-sharing boom that came before it.

Homegrown startup Telepod is hoping to differentiate itself with a new initiative focused on e-scooter battery tech and food delivery drivers.

Photo credit: Telepod

As part of its new service called Televery, the startup is partnering food delivery platform Foodpanda and convenience store chain Buzz to distribute spare batteries for its e-scooters.

Aimed at the on-demand food industry, Televery allows delivery drivers to purchase either a S$45 (US$33.20) weekly pass or a S$150 (US$111) monthly pass to use Telepod’s shared e-scooters at a special rate. For a limited time, Foodpanda drivers are getting 20% off those prices as part of the two companies’ partnership.

See: With Mobike leaving, Singapore’s bike-sharing boom looks over. Here’s what’s next

This isn’t the first time that Foodpanda has joined forces with an e-scooter sharing startup. It teamed up with Telepod rival Beam last month, with its drivers getting special access to around 20 Beam scooters.

However, those vehicles have to be stored and charged at a centralized location. Telepod’s offering allows food delivery drivers to stop off at kiosks located at Buzz outlets or other public locations, such as bus stops, to pick up fresh batteries when their scooters are running low.

According to Telepod, most e-scooter batteries provide around two to three hours’ drive time, but the average food delivery driver prefers to work for up to eight hours per day. With Televery, they can swap out an empty battery and replace it with a fully charged one for S$3 (US$2.21). Telepod claims the process of changing batteries is made fast and easy by its patent-pending “quick-swap” feature.

Telepod is one of 14 companies known to have applied for e-scooter sharing operator’s licenses from Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA). Other applicants include Beam, fellow homegrown startup Neuron Mobility, ride-hailing giant Grab, and US e-scooter unicorn Lime, which recently selected Singapore as the location of its Asia-Pacific headquarters.

Following some of the negative social and environmental impacts of bike-sharing, LTA has indicated it will take a strict line on e-scooter services when it comes to illegal parking and misuse of their vehicles.

Beam, Neuron, and Telepod have all had vehicles impounded by the agency, which confiscated 42 e-scooters belonging to the three startups last November. The e-scooters in question were available for hire in public places outside of designated testbed areas, which was in contravention of Singapore’s parking laws. Neuron and Telepod were later charged for illegally providing e-scooters for hire.

Telepod recently launched its first overseas service in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. It is also targeting expansion to Australia, Japan, and South Korea. Among Telepod’s investors is MomentUM, the venture and incubation arm of Singaporean public transport operator SMRT.

Currency converted from Singapore dollars. Rate: US$1 = S$1.35