Questions from students Amsterdam about TWIKE electric vehicle in Singapore

[amsterdam]

Hello, we are students from Amsterdam and we have to do an assignment for school. We have to investigate whether of TWIKE is a wanted vehicle in Singapore. Our client is the maker of TWIKE tricycles. TWIKE is a human-electric hybrid vehicle / light electric vehicle designed to carry two passengers and cargo. It can be driven in electric-only mode or electric + pedal power mode in this way the driver can pedal and work-out. Constructed of lightweight materials such as aluminum and plastic, this 246 kg tricycle vehicle uses a lithium-mangan battery. Ranges of 300 miles are possible, and the maximum speed is 120 km per hour. Here is a link to the website of TWIKE for more information: http://www.twike.com.

We have prepared some questions from which we need the answers before we can advise our client whether of he should export TWIKE to Singapore or not. We were wondering if u can help us out a little bit with these questions.

 

- Do people in Singapore use electric vehicles nowadays? If yes, what kind?

- Which driver’s license do people in Singapore need to have to drive this vehicle?

- We know the government is promoting electric vehicles in Singapore, but are there any subsidies?

- Would people use this vehicle for a hobby or for driving to work etc.?

- Do you think people would buy the TWIKE in Singapore? If yes, why?

- Do you think people would hire the TWIKE in Singapore? If yes, why not buy?

- What is the maximum price that people are willing to pay for the TWIKE?

 

Thankyou already!

[MR BIKER]

Hi. while it looks great and I am sure it functions well, the organisation you should actually approach should be the government agencies such as lta (http://www.lta.gov.sg) .I as rider would surely love to have this machine but sadly by the time it comes and probably being used here, the price would be 3x or even more than what you would pay in Amsterdam and thus out of reach for the common people.

just to let you know, in singapore we actually had several inventors who wanted to promote the electric vehicle but they soon were blocked with many obstacle that now i have not read about their machines anymore

1) Not many people use completely electric (hybrid), bicycle (yes)

2) hybrid car licence. bicycle -- no need

3) car subsidies yes but very complicated

4)hobby (1 out of 100k people) work (10 out of 100k workers)

5) buy (1 out of 500k people)

6) i would hire if price is right

7) many of us have not idea what is the price because there is no yardstick to figure out. you have to put a price and see for reaction. if no react, people will think its to expensive then you have to lower (free market)

[amsterdam]

thankyou for your reaction!!

[mechwira]

singaporeans are a highly practical-minded people. although we are more concerned today about environmental issues and overcrowding roads, they will always take a back seat to issues of cost and convenience.

 

and the number 1 inconvenience of electric vehicles is, we have no practical way to charge them. Majority of singaporeans live in flats or shoebox apartments. vehicles are parked at multi-storey carparks which are seperate from our housing units, with no charging stations. this means to charge the vehicles, we must remove the battery and carry it up to our apartments. and most, if not all electrical vehicles have batteries which are either troublesome to remove and plug in quickly, or are bulky and heavy, or both. until the day charging stations are readily available at our residential public carparks (or batteries become small and light and simple plug-in-and-out), most singaporeans are not likely to take it up.

 

in addition, you are unlikely to entice any singaporean with the twike's pedal feature. anybody willing to pedal would already be on a bicycle.

 

if you (or any electrical vehicle manufacturer) manage to successfuly solve the inconvenience of charging, then your final obstacle would be making it sufficiently cheap that singaporeans would consider buying it over a car, or a motorcycle. personally i would not pay more than the equivalent of a 400cc motorcycle for the twike, but thats just me.

[amsterdam]

thank you very much for your information