KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — Malaysian-owned Eclimo Sdn Bhd, the manufacturer of environmentally friendly and energy efficient electric scooters, plans to sell another 100 units to Cambodia this year in addition to three units sold earlier.
Director Datuk Dennis Chuah said the company was also awaiting approval from the Japanese government, which was keen to buy its scooters through a special aid fund.
The scooters will be used as the electric “Tuk Tuk” or “e-TUG-Moto” to ferry tourists around the Angkor Wat area, he said at the launch of the scooter for the export market and online application to rent the scooters locally.
Present were Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed and Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) chief executive officer Datuk Dzulkifli Mahmud.
MATRADE assisted Eclimo’s venture into Cambodia through its Market Linkage Progamme, which through its Internet of Thins (IoT) features gained the interest of Cambodian commercial partners and led to the debut of the brand there.
“We are very much focused on Cambodia due to its heritage sites, which were drawing tourists by the droves,” said Chuah. “Taxis operating in the Angkor Wat area have risen to about 10,000 units due to the increase in tourist arrivals of about four million last year.
“There is a huge demand for this e-scooter and currently we only have three scooters operating in the area.”
As for the local market, he said the scooter would be available for rent in Penang for RM50 a day.
“The reason why we don’t sell the scooter is because the production cost is still high and the battery cost is about 50 per cent of the cost.
“Currently, we lease the scooters to our clients including KFC, police and certain government agencies,” Chuah said, adding that the scooter can retail for RM18,000 if sold to the public.
On Malaysia’s aspiration to have more than 100,000 electric motorcycles by 2020, Mustapa said the government has received several applications, which the Malaysian Investment Development Authority is processing.
“We still got five years to go, we are encouraging more companies to come up with the technologies for electric motorcycles or scooters,” he said. — Bernama
