TAIPEI, Taiwan — Kwang Yang Motor Co. Ltd. (Kymco), a vehicle manufacturer based here, plans to launch its future electric motorcycles under its Ionex line in the Philippines next year, marking its initial foray into the largely undocumented e-scooter market in the country.
Kymco Chairman Allen Ko said his group plans to develop a specific e-motorcycle model in the Philippines soon, so that it could launch the product in Asia’s rising tiger by 2019.
“We will have to do market research first, and since we’re going to launch 10 Ionex models in the next three years globally, we will have more models in the future very soon. Definitely, we will see our bikes in the Philippines, and the earliest would be next year,” he told Manila-based media here in a roundtable interview.
The Taiwanese vehicle maker launched the first 2 of the 10 Ionex motorcycle line—the New Many 110 EV and the Nice 100 EV—aimed at converting Taiwan and its neighboring countries to the new trend of green and electric vehicles.
New Many 110 EV sports a retro look packed with one swapping battery and a core battery that can run up to a maximum speed of 59 kilometer per hour (kph). It also has a sensor to open the battery box, which can be fully charged as fast as one hour. The e-scooter may also be connected to the Internet to set up the GPS that will pop out of the LCD screen of the vehicle.
The Nice 100 EV—a slimmer, more compact version of the Ionex line—is marketed for ladies. It also boasts of the same features of the Many New 110 EV, but has a maximum speed of 45 kph with a range of 64 km at a constant 30 kph speed.
Kymco is expected to introduce eight more of the Ionex line in the next three years, to “transform the world’s electric scooter landscape starting with Taiwan, a market with the world’s highest scooter density.”
“We are at the turning point of personal-transportation development,” Ko said. Ionex scooters allow users to charge the external batteries while the core powers up the vehicle, doing away with the need to wait before for the motorcycle to charge before being used. “Kymco has a good brand name in the Philippines, so we would like to introduce our Ionex line there,” Ko said. “We have been there for a very long time, and it is a very important market for us.”
Kymco Philippines Inc. has been in the Philippines for a decade now.
Currently, the motorcycle manufacturer sells diesel-run motorbikes in the Philippines, accounting for 2 percent of the market, which sold around 1.3 million units in 2017.
“We will do our best to increase our market share,” Ko noted.
He added the future Ionex motorcycles may be produced in its assembly plant in the Philippines.
“We always think that localization is very important, and where we go, we also look for localization,” Ko said. Here in Taiwan, Kymco has set up charging stations for its Ionex line, targeting to deploy an initial 1,500 fast-charging stations this year. By the end of 2019, Kymco will complete the deployment of 2,000 Ionex energy stations, so riders can easily rent swappable shared batteries for long-distance travel.
In two years, Kymco will have more than 30,000 shared outlet spots to completely “eliminate any range anxiety riders may have.”
Ionex e-scooters are designed with the industry’s first smart energy bay. Complemented by the extremely light 5-kilogram battery, riders can easily carry the battery home to charge at night and leave home fully charged every morning.
“While Ionex is meant for personal charging, as in mobile phones, we will set up charging stations for the convenience of our customers,” Ko said. In the Philippines Ko said his group will also build the necessary infrastructure for e-scooters. However, these stations will be built once the company has reached critical mass.
“We will build up a network for this, but that is the last stage,” he said.
