What Actually Determines Whether EV Motorcycles Scale in Southeast Asia When electric motorcycle projects fail to scale in Southeast Asia, the explanation is usually framed as a demand problem. “Consumers aren’t ready.”“Education will take time.”“EV awareness is still too low.” After sitting in real discussions with dealers, platform partners, and financing companies across the region, I’ve come to a different conclusion: Most electric motorcycles don’t stall because consumer

A Ground-Level View from Southeast Asia’s EV Motorcycle Market When electric motorcycle sales stall in Southeast Asia, I often hear the same explanation: “Dealers are not pushing hard enough.” It’s an easy conclusion to reach. It’s also one of the most misleading. From what I’ve seen across Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand, dealers are rarely the bottleneck because they lack motivation or understanding .They are cautious for a much simpler reason: they are filtering risk. Dea

A Reality Check from the Ground in Southeast Asia Over the last year, I’ve lost count of how many electric motorcycle teams have told me the same story. “We’re working with Grab.”“We’re in discussions with Gojek.”“Our bikes are already being used by riders.” It’s usually said with confidence, sometimes even relief — as if one major uncertainty has already been solved. I understand why this sounds convincing.I also understand why so many teams build their Southeast Asia entry

For new electric motorcycle brands entering Southeast Asia, the real challenge is not insufficient product capability—it is the market’s refusal to tolerate uncertainty. Once price, displacement equivalent, and system complexity rise together, consumers, dealers, and financial institutions step back simultaneously. This is why nearly every local player that has successfully scaled in Indonesia has chosen mid-price positioning, layered product portfolios, and risk decompositio

“ Transsion’s success in Pakistan’s electric two-wheeler market isn’t about premium tech or branding. It’s about channels, institutions, and real demand. Here’s why it works. ” A Non-Romantic, Highly Realistic Playbook for Emerging Markets While many Chinese brands approach electric two-wheelers with narratives of “premium positioning” or “technological leapfrogging,” Transsion Holdings  has taken a very different path in Pakistan —and quietly made it work. This is not a bran