Despite falling crude oil prices, Taiwan’s electric motorbike sector showed growth last year, selling more than 10,000 vehicles for the first time ever and exceeding a sales target of 9,000 units, a Ministry of Economic Affairs official said.
A total of 11,087 electric motorbikes were sold in Taiwan last year, bringing the sector’s cumulative sales to 43,000 units since electric two-wheelers were introduced in the late 2000s.
The sales also represented a 60 percent share of the market for motorbikes with a displacement of 50cc or less, the Industrial Development Bureau official said.
That remains just a small fraction of the overall market for motorbikes. A total of 653,869 new motorbikes were licensed in the first 11 months of last year, most of them in the 51cc to 250cc range.
However, due to greater awareness of air pollution, the niche electric motorbike market seems poised for sustained growth, the official said, pointing to ongoing government support that has existed since 2009 to help drive the sector’s rise.
In 2009, the Executive Yuan approved an electric motorcycle industry development plan, which laid the foundation for Taiwan’s electric scooter industry by promoting the replacement of 50cc gasoline-powered scooters with electric models, the official said.
The government has also pushed low-carbon tourism development by promoting the use of electric motorbikes and scooters on outlying islands through electric motorbike rentals.
There are 6,981 electric motorbikes available for rent at several tourist destinations throughout the nation, the official said.
The ministry in August last year began to help Gogoro Inc (睿能創意) develop and sell electric scooters and set up battery swapping infrastructure in the Taipei area and beyond.
The company has sold 3,261 electric scooters and sells more than 600 units per month.
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