According to EnergyTrend, a division of TrendForce, eased oil prices and sliding xEV battery costs may drive Taiwan’s fledgling electric scooter market. Taiwan is expected to have 78000 electric scooters in 2018, taking a share of 8% in its overall scooter market. For 2019, the market share of electric scooters will reach 10%, of which 90% will be heavy electric scooters, up from 85% in 2018.
According to Duff Lu, senior research manager of EnergyTrend, Taiwan’s gas scooter market is becoming saturated. Taiwan government has been promoting the industry toward electrification, echoing the trend of sustainable transportation such as bike-sharing systems. The government is also building public charging stations, providing subsidies to encourage the use of electric scooter and to promote clean energy.
On the other hand, the costs of lithium-ion battery have been decreasing, as China continues promoting electric vehicles and its domestic xEV battery industry. China has become a major supplier of raw materials for xEV battery as well, further lowering the prices of battery systems. The prices of xEV battery for vehicles remained about 550 USD/kWh in 2015, then decreased to 350 USD/kWh in 2017, and are expected to slide to 250USD/kWh in 2019, boosting the battery applications.
EnergyTrend notes that Taiwan is expected to have 78000 electric scooters in 2018, taking a share of 8% in its overall scooter market. Light e-scooters (with lower than 5 horsepower) used to be more common in Taiwan compared with heavy ones (with 5 or higher horsepower), but the emergence of Gogoro since 2016 has gradually pushed up the demand for heavy electric scooters.
The price gap between heavy e-scooters and gas scooters has further narrowed since 2017, when budget scooters (with costs lower than NT$40000) were introduced.
Currently, heavy e-scooters account for 85% of the whole e-scooter market in Taiwan for 2018. Looking ahead, major scooter manufacturers like Gogoro, Kwang Yang Motor Co. (KYMCO), and Sanyang Motor Co. (SYM) have plans to launch new heavy e-scooters, which could further boost the sales volume of heavy e-scooter to 90000 units in 2019, accounting for 90% of all the electric scooters.
