Mapping the EV startups accelerating adoption in Asia

Unlike their counterparts in the West, the first electric vehicle that drivers in most of Asia would usually own is not a four-wheeler but a two- or three-wheeler. That comes as no surprise, as roads from Bengaluru to Bangkok are usually cramped not with cars, but motorbikes or tuk-tuks during rush hour.

The EV industry in Asia is a reflection of its people’s first vehicle of choice for decades. China aside, the most funded EV startups in the region are the ones building electric two-wheelers.

“Vietnam, Indonesia, and China are some of the countries that have been dependent on two-wheelers since the 1980s. So outside of cost, it’s only natural that EV companies in the region are focused on building electric two and three-wheeler vehicles,” Alloysius Joko Purwanto tells Tech in Asia.

He is an energy economist at Indonesia-based think tank Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) who has co-written research papers on EV adoption in the region.

India and Indonesia are home to the next most funded EV startups in Asia, outside of China. Most that have bagged more than US$100 million worth of funding, such as Ola Electric and Aether Energy, focus on developing e-motorcycles for consumer use.

Both countries have ambitious EV adoption goals. The Indian government aims for 30% of vehicles sold in the country by 2030 to be electric.

Meanwhile, Indonesia seeks to produce 600,000 EVs on a yearly basis by the same year. That is almost 10x more than the number of EVs sold in the country in 2023.

Both markets have been aggressive in their fiscal incentives for EV manufacturers and in their campaigns for consumers to make the switch to EVs. Their decisions ride on a combined bid to take a slice of the growing pie of the industry globally and to reach their climate goals.

This push has led companies to move beyond just EV automobile manufacturing, with players now focusing on the supply chain – from battery recycling to charging – to take advantage of the ecosystem’s nascency. These are gaps in the sector that bigger players may have missed.

Big bucks in B2B EVs

EV manufacturers in India and Indonesia, for example, have been aggressive in taking on this challenge.

Some players are manufacturing e-bikes for consumer use, such as Ola in India and Electrum in Indonesia. Most manufacturers, however, are focused on building or leasing electric two-wheelers for B2B use.

Vietnam-based Selex, for example, sells its e-bikes to ride-sharing platforms such as Grab and Gojek.

Euler Motors in India – which has bagged US$128 million in funding so far – is exclusively manufacturing three-wheeler EVs for commercial purposes. Investors entering the EV sector now would most likely be betting on such companies, says one of the startup’s backers.

Chinese EV adoption ahead of Asia

Infrastructure issues and opportunities