While the number of electric motorcycles is rising in Macau, and might surge further due to the lately-launched scheme of financial support, its future growth depends on the availability of charging facilities.

0.32% – Share of electric motorcycles in all registered motorcycles in Macau

In tandem with the national goals to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, Macau has also been working on reducing its own carbon footprint and one of the solutions the authorities are looking into is electric mobility. 

Given the low penetration rate of electric vehicles (EVs)— including electric automobiles and electric motorcycles— at the moment, a subsidy scheme on the replacement of old motorcycles with electric ones has recently been launched to provide an incentive for the public to switch to greener choices. While the number of e-motorcycles in the territory is likely to jump several fold in the wake of the scheme, the key to its prevalence depends on whether the amount of charging facilities could catch up with its rise, say observers. 

The Environmental Protection Bureau unveiled the new financial support scheme in February, in which owners of old motorcycles that were registered on or before June 30, 2009 can apply for tax exemption and subsidy of as much as MOP8,800 (US$1,100) upon the purchase of a new electric one after handing over their old diesel one. The scheme is available for application between March and the end of this year. 

“After the authorities have announced this new scheme, the number of enquiries and orders [of e-motorcycles] we have received has increased by several times,” says Xavier Tou, general manager of Segway-Ninebot Macau. The official Macau agent and distributor of the Mainland Chinese firm on short-distance transportation solutions now provides one model of e-motorcycles to the Macau public. “We sold a total of some 60 e-motorcycles between December and February, but our monthly sales have increased to more than 50 e-motorcycles following the launch of the scheme.”

The flagship shop of Segway-Ninebot, which is the world’s largest maker of electric kick-scooters, in the city was inaugurated in the Cotai resort Lisboeta Macau in December last year. Given the hopes of customers for a new sales point on the Macau peninsula, as well as the rising demand in the market in light of the replacement scheme, Segway-Ninebot Macau opened a new sales point and maintenance centre in the district of Rua dos Pescadores this year. “We’ve noticed the market of e-motorcycles in Macau is starting out… and there is so much room for development, so we’ve decided to bring Ninebot to Macau,” Mr Tou says.

Like other types of EVs, the number of e-motorcycles has been on a steady hike in the territory in the past year. According to the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), the city had 411 registered e-motorcycles as of this March, including 64 light e-motorcycles (equivalent to 50cc diesel motorcycles) and 347 heavy e-bikes (equivalent to diesel motorcycles of 125cc or more), more than doubling from just 196 e-motorcycles a year earlier. But this latest figure was only 0.32 per cent of the total number of registered motorcycles across the territory, which stood at 126,968 as of March.

“We sold a total of some 60 e-motorcycles between December and February, but our monthly sales have increased to more than 50 e-motorcycles following the launch of the scheme,” says Xavier Tou of Segway-Ninebot Macau

Lei Chong Sam, president of the Business Association of Environmentally-Friendly and Electric Motorcycles of Macau, also thinks there is room for development of e-motorcycles here. “In the past, there were some worries about whether electric vehicles, including electric motorcycles, are suitable for the road conditions in Macau that are narrow and steep… but the electric mobility solution is so developed and mature now that there is no difference in terms of road performance between electric and diesel ones,” he comments. 

Besides being more environmentally-friendly, Mr Lei says the electric ones are also more cost-effective. “It takes about MOP50-60 per 100 kilometres to refill the diesel of traditional motorcycles but it takes less to charge e-motorcycles for the same distance. Lei illustrates, who also runs the Macau agent and distributor of Mainland Chinese e-bike brand Ecooter. “The maintenance and repair costs of electric motorcycles are also lower because they have fewer parts that need to be repaired or replaced except tires compared with the diesel ones.”

Thus, from his perspective, the replacement subsidy scheme rolled out by the authorities could attract some drivers to convert to the green mobility solution. According to his estimates, there are now more than 20,000 old motorcycles that were registered on or before June 30, 2009, and owners of at least 1,000 old motorcycles have applied for the scheme in recent times.

Figures from the Environmental Protection Bureau show a total of 307 applications for the replacement scheme were made as of April 20. Among the applications, the bureau had received 177 obsolete motorcycles, and 33 new electric motorcycles had officially been registered as of April 20. 

“The maintenance and repair costs of electric motorcycles are also lower because they have fewer parts that need to be repaired or replaced except tires compared with the diesel ones,” says Lei Chong Sam of Ecooter Macau

While the scheme could stimulate the rise of e-bikes in the city, both Messrs Tou and Lei  point out there is one main factor hindering more local motorcycle drivers from opting for the green mobility option: charging. In general, it takes about two to four hours for owners to charge their electric motorcycles, and there are three main charging solutions available at the moment: charging the bikes at charging facilities in public car parks, taking out the batteries from motorcycles— ranging from one to two batteries installed in each bike— to charge at home, or replacing used batteries with charged ones at the battery-swapping cabinets provided by e-bike brands at designated locations. 

“There’s just a little difference between manoeuvring an electric motorcycle and a diesel motorcycle: the driver usually only needs three to five days to adapt during the switch,” Mr Tou says. “The current price, without subsidy, of an electric motorcycle is now about MOP30,000-MOP40,000, similar to the price of a [first-hand diesel] one.”

“Thus, from what I have observed and heard from the customers, their biggest concern about electric motorcycles is the charging solution. Due to the lack of charging facilities in the city, many motorcycle drivers need to take out the battery to charge it at home,” he continues. “But it’s troublesome to take the battery home, which weighs more than a standard pack of rice at about 12 kilogrammes.”

There were originally only two spaces in car parks designed for charging e-motorcycles, but following the launch of the replacement subsidy scheme, the Environmental Protection Bureau had installed 50 new charging spaces for e-motorcycles in 10 public car parks as of late April, but it does not disclose at the moment how many more charging facilities for motorcycles it plans to install in the future. 

“It’s good to see the government has taken the initiative to come up with more charging facilities, but it’s not enough yet,” says the Segway-Ninebot Macau manager, who reveals over 95 per cent of the buyers now are males. “Many female guests have enquired about our motorcycles but they have chosen not to buy them at last because of the charging problem,” he adds.

“The priority task [for the Macau government] in advocating e-motorcycles is then to resolve the lack and uneven distribution of charging stations and battery-swapping cabinets in the city,” says Ku Heng Cheong, a member of the Transport Consultative Committee

Mr Lei of Ecooter Macau also laments the scarcity of charging facilities for electric motorcycles. His brand now caters eight battery-swapping cabinets available across the city to provide convenience for the drivers of its motorcycles. “It’s expensive for us to set up these cabinets, as each battery costs like MOP7,000-8,000 and the cost for the entire cabinet is about MOP100,000-200,000,” he illustrates. “But we just charge our customers at a very low price to swap their batteries at the cabinet each time, as we hope to provide convenience for our users and promote the usage of e-motorcycles in Macau.”

Ku Heng Cheong, a member of the Transport Consultative Committee, a government-appointed advisory body on the related matter, also thinks the promotion of the green mobility solution in Macau relies on the charging facilities and uses Taiwan as an example. “There are over 1,500 battery-swapping stations for electric motorcycles in six big cities in the Taiwan region, where electric vehicles are popular, which exceeds the total number of petrol stations for vehicles [in these six cities].” 

“The priority task [for the Macau government] in advocating e-motorcycles is then to resolve the lack and uneven distribution of charging stations and battery-swapping cabinets in the city,” he remarks, adding, for instance, there are about nine battery-swapping cabinets provided by e-bike brands here, but most are located on the Macau peninsula only. “The government could also launch a subsidy scheme to encourage more private entities to install charging facilities for electric vehicles.”

According to the previous information indicated by Companhia de Electricidade de Macau – CEM, S.A (CEM), the city’s sole electricity supplier, there were about 113 private car parking spaces in the city installed with charging facilities as of March this year, besides the public car parks. 

“The development of the e-motorcycle market really depends on how well the government can tackle the shortage of charging facilities,” Mr Tou concludes.

While the subsidy scheme on the replacement of old motorcycles with electric ones has drawn a positive response from the public, not many e-motorcycle have been seen in the city due to the manufacturing and logistics delays across the border.

Compared with the electric automobile segment, in which consumers have a variety of options from different countries and regions like American automotive brand Telsa and others, the e-motorcycle brands available in Macau are mostly Mainland Chinese brands. Thus, the surge of COVID-19 cases in the mainland and subsequent lockdown measures in some places like Shanghai in recent months have stalled the delivery of e-motorcycles from the mainland to Macau.

Xavier Tou, general manager of Segway-Ninebot Macau, the official Macau agent and distributor of the Chinese firm on short-distance transportation solutions, says it now takes about 2 months to 2 months and a half for its customers to receive their electric motorcycles after placing an order, including two weeks for the Macau government to handle the paper work of the scheme. 

As the manufacturing facilities of Segway-Ninebot are located in the vicinity of Shanghai, its manufacturing process has once been temporarily paused due to the strict quarantine measures across the border, he explains, for instance, Shanghai has been in lockdown since April. “The logistics process in the mainland has also been impacted, so it takes a longer time for customers to have their e-motorcycles ready,” he says. But as the pandemic situation seems to stabilise across the border, he believes the situation of manufacturing and logistics delays “will be improved in these two or three months”.

Lei Chong Sam, a representative of the Macau agent and distributor of Chinese e-bike brand Ecooter, also pinpoints they have experienced similar delays in logistics for the delivery of motorcycles. He adds that the authorities could further streamline the paperwork for the replacement subsidy scheme to provide more convenience, as motorcycle owners now have to submit several documents to several government departments like the Environmental Protection Bureau and Financial Services Bureau.