Founded in Singapore, riding overseas: Why local electric motorcycle firms are looking abroad

Co-founders Vincent Yap and Sheldon Lee said the scale of the Indonesian market prompted him to start there. The firm plans to expand within Indonesia, move into Thailand by the end of this year, and enter Vietnam and the Philippines in 2027.

Mr Yap currently has no vehicles operating in Singapore, which he described instead as a “springboard” for regional expansion.

“Using Singapore as the funding and brain-base allows companies to scale faster across the region, in terms of permits, partnerships and capital deployment,” he said.

“Singapore is our ‘mothership’ and investment holding vehicle where we plan to have direct shareholding interests in all operations overseas.”

Local firm Charged Asia gets all of its current revenue from Indonesia and is looking to expand into Malaysia. CEO Joel Chang said the firm has deployed more than 5,000 motorcycles in Indonesia and is on track to deploy over 300,000 across the region in the “next few years”.

Leo Electric also looked overseas first, exploring deployments in Nigeria and the Middle East, though those plans were held back by infrastructure and geopolitical challenges.

While it looks to launch its bikes in Nigeria next year, it is also turning its attention closer to home, working with Kilats to introduce an electric motorcycle model in Singapore this year – one designed to plug into the charging infrastructure already used by electric cars.

“Beyond vehicle sales, we are also exploring opportunities in charging infrastructure as a potential area of expansion,” said chief operating officer Nicholas Ng.