Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba yesterday launched the Eclimo ES-11, an electric scooter made right here in Malaysia.
The scooter was developed by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) in collaboration with NanoMalaysia Berhad and Eclimo Sdn Bhd.
It is said to have a 100km-range per charge and a maximum speed of 100km/h.
Its nano-based lithium-ion battery cell is said to be able to hold up to 1,000 charge cycles or approximately 100,000 km.
To address the lack of infrastructure and charging stations, Dr Adham said that the ES-11 comes with a three-pin plug charging system.
This means that the scooter can be plugged into a standard wall outlet.
However, he didn’t elaborate on where someone would find these readily available wall outlets to charge from while they travel and how long it takes to charge the batteries.
Despite the vehicle’s limitations in range and life cycle, Dr Adham said that with the right pricing, it can potentially have a huge impact on the market.
You’ll Need At Least Rm10,000 to Get One Of These Electric Rides
Based on the price list published by Eclimo, the on the road price of an ES-11 Basic starts at RM10,501 and a delivery model starts at RM15,900.
To put it in perspective, a Honda EX5 can be had for less than RM5,000 and a Honda BeAT scooter retails for under RM6,000.
However, Eclimo also offers a subscription plan of RM600 per month with an initial payment starting at RM1,800, depending on the model.
They Are Already On The Road
NanoMalaysia chief executive officer Dr Rezal Khairi Ahmad said the scooter had been tested on a commercial scale.
He said 58 Eclimo ES-11 units have been built so far, with 41 of them rented out under a leasing model in the Klang Valley, Penang, and Johor.
Dr Rezal believes that the electric scooter would be ideal for the delivery of food, groceries, medical, and pharmaceutical products, and e-commerce packages as well as being used as a mode of transportation.
There are even plans to use the ES-11 as a public sharing vehicle in the city, just like Beam and Tryke.
The launch of the electric scooter coincides with the announcement of Budget 2022 recently.
In it, the government is exempting the import duty, excise, duty and sales tax for all EV vehicles, as well as providing income tax relief of up to RM2,500 for the cost of purchase, installation, rental, hire purchase facilities as well as the cost of subscribing to the EV charging facility.
