At EICMA 2024, Vmoto revealed EMS – Electric Mobility Solution, an innovative and comprehensive system designed to tackle the main obstacles faced by the electric vehicle industry: charging, range, and fleet management. While initially aimed at businesses, this project also has benefits for individuals and marks a significant step towards promoting greener and more efficient modes of transportation.
In a Q&A session with Vmoto’s CEO Charles Chen, we gained insight into Vmoto’s perspective on the electric 2-wheeler industry.
What were your perceptions of this year’s EICMA Show and exhibitors?
When you were at the exhibition, you saw many new brands coming in, with lots of them having electric two-wheeler models and many from China. I can tell you honestly that 90% of them are doing something we did five or six years ago.
Where are Vmoto situated within this market place?
So now we are actually in version 4.0 of the electric market, if we realise that if 1.0 or 2.0 was having a vehicle for sale, we now need not only a product, not only a technology, you need a full solution. This includes the products, the technology, the charging infrastructure, the charging solution, and the right business model.
We have the experience and history in this segment to create a complete solution and make it sophisticated. The goal, or our new mission, is global electrification.
What is your own background?
My first startup company is the exclusive distributor of CF Moto for all international markets before it moved to KTM Group, and before that, I was an engineer originally and worked for Honda China for eight years including in Honda overseas department.
I still have a lot of Japanese Honda colleagues from different departments because I was in the factory. I worked for the R&D department, then the export department, the import supply side, and then worked overseas. I think these experiences have helped with both the technical side of working through the solution and also for having a ‘world view’.”
What is the point of distinction for Vmoto compared to your rivals?
I think it is fair to say that we have moved in front of not only the other Chinese brands but also those from the rest of Asia and India. With due respect to the big Japanese brands of Yamaha and Honda, I think they have a lot of technology, but the biggest barrier for them is to realise it. They have a very heavy old industry plus a massive supply chain. All of their segmentation technology is based on ICE petrol vehicles, so for them to cut off all of their arms and legs to then regrow the new arms is very painful.
We move to a new style of company like Tesla. So, the supply chain is fresh and has no historical burdens, so this is something very different. Honda and Yamaha have lots of technology, but it’s very hard to realise, that’s the big difference. It is always the new entrants that can change the world.
So you would like to create a Tesla type business model?
If you look at Tesla at the beginning, nobody believed Elon. But he did it his own way, believed in bringing good products to customers, aggressively into country by country, with his electric car, his supercharger, and his other technology software. That’s something we hope to do, with full commitment, attack each problem aggressively with our full solution. So yes, the Tesla way. Like Elon, he’s a disruptor.
And why ‘now’?
That’s a very hard question, to be honest. I think it is the right time, the right year, to roll out the new solution because the market is more mature, and the consumers have already experienced the earlier versions and have enough understanding of the EV in terms of the advantages. What’s the disadvantage? People are still hesitant to adopt, and this is why a full solution is needed to encourage them. Europe has been the leader since 2011 and has done a lot of good things to promote EV technology and vehicles, but unfortunately, since COVID-19, it has slowed down.
What is your immediate plan?
Next year, we are putting all of these projects on the ground with our bikes, our charging solutions, fast charging, and software management system, working with our partners, in several countries simultaneously; so in Europe, there is already a stronger customer base, but in others they need more help, so country by country we need to support their local infrastructure and business. We already have five to ten countries that are going to adopt our solution with some funding from us, so we have signed joint ventures.
And the next 3-5 years?
From the point of view of the electrification solution, I’m looking to at least 20 countries. Full of Vmoto electric vehicles and full Ecosystem solution. That’s our target, that’s our plan. We are helping them first with our products and then with our full solution, and simultaneously, we are also investing in them because their riders are very important to our business.
How are riders are part of the plan?
They need the vehicle for living. So they should be looked after well, in a proper way. We cannot do that by ourselves directly, but working with our local partners like Zenion in the UK, Vanmo in Brazil, Modenas in Malaysia, Nova Moto in South Africa and Skipper Run in Thailand.
So, this is a very important part of our targeted users, but we need to make them more profit from their work. For example, what we did in Indonesia with our partner called Charged. We analysed that by using Vmoto scooters, riders can save 400 to 500 USD per annum. So they are very happy!
Adam, our COO, visited Brazil a couple of months ago. He met one of Vammo’s riders (our partner in Brazil). So the rider goes to shake hands with Adam and says “Really, thank you very much. Because you know, after using your scooter, I now make more money. Now I’m married, and next year I’m going to have a baby.” OK, it is one little story but it shows we can bring more benefits for them. That’s very important, and also shows the responsibility of doing this sort of business.
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