07 Sept 2023 – Due to the high cost of EV batteries, Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) is gaining traction, allowing customers to lease batteries, reducing the barriers to EV adoption, and opening up new business opportunities for battery swapping services.
There are 250 million motorcycles in Southeast Asia, presenting good prospects for motorcycle electrification. Local technology startup Oyika is seizing the opportunity in Southeast Asia and has established its presence in four regional countries, offering battery swapping for electric motorcycles.
Oyika’s co-founder and CEO, Lee Jinsi, stated in an interview with Zaobao that batteries that generally accompany the purchase of electric motorcycles degrade over time and require periodic replacements. BaaS absolves riders from such concerns.
The company’s battery design makes it compatible with most of the mass-market electric motorcycles across Southeast Asia, and they provide affordable power subscription packages, bundling battery swaps with electric motorcycles, similar to how telcos bundle data and call services with mobile phones.
Jinsi explains, “Riders only need to go to a nearby convenience store to swap depleted batteries for fully charged ones, a process that takes less than a minute, similar to refuelling at a gas station.”
The company has expanded to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia, with plans to enter Vietnam and the Philippines.
Indonesia boasts Southeast Asia’s largest electric motorcycle market, accounting for half of the region’s overall market size. The company has 200 swap stations in the capital, Jakarta. Jinsi noted that Indonesia has over 70 electric motorcycle manufacturers, but only three providers offer battery-swapping services.
Oyika has over 100 employees across the region, with its headquarters in Singapore primarily focusing on research and development and operational support to the region. Unlike most companies, Oyika began overseas and has yet to deploy its swap stations in Singapore.
Despite the modest population of 140,000 registered motorbikes in the city-state, Jinsi believes the influx of 100,000 Malaysian motorbikes registered for auto-clearance to enter Singapore – half that number crossing the border into Singapore daily – holds significant promise.
Jinsi opines that the logistics sector is at the forefront of this electric transition, primarily due to the substantial savings in operational costs. Delivery riders, on average, travel about 100 km a day, three times more than the average user.
Oyika secured a total of US$20 million across two funding rounds to date. Investors include venture capital firms with a focus on decarbonization and clean energy technology, namely TRIREC and SEACEF. And corporations, Yinson and Banpu, both in the energy sector undergoing a strategic shift towards clean energy solutions.
09 Sept 2023 – Yinson GreenTech has officially launched the rydeEV Experience Centre in Petaling Jaya, bringing one of the region’s biggest e-bike leasing companies with swappable batteries to Malaysian road users.
The 8,000 square feet centre serves as a one-stop destination for all things rydeEV, where users can test ride the e-bikes, experience its battery-swapping technology, sign up for affordable lease-to-own or leasing packages, get their e-bikes serviced or repaired and purchase merchandise.
Tengku Zafrul Aziz who witnessed the launch said, “Green mobility is one of the key focus areas in our recently launched New Industrial Master Plan 2030’s net zero mission. As Malaysia proactively courts investments in green tech innovations and solutions, we also aim to create opportunities for our SMEs, particularly through the development of holistic, low-carbon mobility ecosystem as outlined by our National Automotive Policy.”
rydeEV offers two leasing options – B2B Leasing and Leasing to Own. For B2B Leasing, the monthly price for 24 months for Ryder is RM299 and RM499 for Hyper. This option includes unlimited swapping and maintenance, insurance and road tax coverage. Meanwhile, for Leasing to Own, the pricing is RM299 for 36 months or RM250 for 48 months for Ryder, and RM430 for 36 months or RM339 for 48 months for Hyper. Consumers will only need to pay RM1 to own the bike after the lease-to-own tenure ends.
Users may find out the locations of the battery swapping stations from the Oyika App, in order to plan their travels in advance.
April 21, 2023, SINGAPORE – Banpu NEXT, a subsidiary of Banpu, a leading smart energy solutions provider in Asia Pacific has announced a strategic investment in Oyika, a Singapore start-up that offers battery swap solutions and Battery-as-a-Service (“BaaS”).
Oyika addresses electric motorbike riders’ range anxiety by providing a convenient, fast, and affordable battery swapping service, eliminating long charging times faced by electric vehicles (EV) and the cost associated with owning and replacing batteries. The company’s growing network of battery swap stations in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and, soon, Thailand is compatible with most of the electric motorbikes on the market, facilitating the transition to sustainable transportation.
This collaboration between Banpu NEXT and Oyika marks a vital step towards a greener and smarter future for electric mobility in Southeast Asia, lowering the barriers to EV adoption and reducing carbon emissions. The investment will help Oyika to accelerate its expansion plans, widen its network of battery swap stations, and boost its BaaS offering across the region.
Mr Sinon Vongkusolkit, Chief Executive Officer at Banpu NEXT said, “We are excited to partner with Oyika, a company that shares our commitment towards Greener & Smarter energy to embrace future trends. Their battery swapping technology and BaaS model can potentially bolster up the EV market and drive the adoption of clean energy transportation in our region. Through this investment, we aim to support Oyika in expanding its footprint in Thailand and Southeast Asia, while also integrating Oyika’s solutions for logistics and transportation into our e-Mobility business.”
Banpu NEXT’s businesses include renewable power generation, energy storage, energy trading, e-Mobility, and smart city & energy management. It positions itself as a long-term partner committing to becoming a Net-Zero Energy Provider for enterprises, providing a total smart energy solution for sustainability to help customers achieve their ESG goals while building up sustainable growth.
“We are honoured to join the Banpu family and eagerly anticipate collaborating with Banpu NEXT in the Thailand market and the surrounding region. Our initial focus will be on the logistics and delivery sectors. This partnership will expedite the adoption of eco-friendly transportation solutions, enabling companies to contribute their part in mitigating climate change while reducing costs,” stated Jinsi Lee, Chief Executive Officer at Oyika.
About Banpu NEXT
Banpu NEXT Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Banpu PCL., is a leading smart energy solutions provider in Asia-Pacific. The company aligns its operation with Banpu’s Greener & Smarter strategy and supports the transition to a Net-Zero society. The five core business groups of Banpu NEXT are Renewable Power, Energy Storage, Energy Trading, e-Mobility, and Smart City & Energy Management. With all these five businesses, the company boasts the capability to offer “Smart Energy Solutions for Sustainability” with a “Total Solutions” approach. Banpu NEXT is positioned as the long-term partner who combines technology and digital platform with its energy expertise to provide the best tailor-made solutions, empowering organizations to tap into an infinite of clean energy, accelerate smart business transformation, while building up sustainable growth along with contribution to the betterment of end-users and society at large.
Oyika provides a convenient and sustainable way for electric motorbike riders to overcome range anxiety by offering an affordable and fast battery swapping service that eliminates the need for long charging times. The company creates a network of battery swap stations that electric motorbike riders can easily access. It offers Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) that is compatible with most electric motorbikes.
Jinsi Lee had first entered the renewable energy sector in 2007 with the ambition of building a solar thin-film manufacturing plant in Singapore.
It wasn’t the best timing though. At that time, the solar module price was at US$4 per watt. Prices had dropped faster than anticipated (for perspective, it stands at under US$0.30 per watt today), so that venture didn’t pan out.
He subsequently joined Sunseap, which became Singapore’s largest solar power producer, to spearhead their overseas operations. During his time in the company, he helped complete Cambodia’s first 10MW solar farm and a 140MW solar farm in Rajasthan, India, which was the largest for a Singapore consortium at the time.
Feeling regretful about his first failed venture, Jinsi decided to strike out on his own again with Oyika in 2018, and even received financial backing from the founders of Sunseap. To date, Oyika has received US$10 million funding.
Oyika aims to speed up electric motorbike adoption
Jinsi Lee, founder and CEO of Oyika / Image Credit: Oyika
Jinsi strongly believed that energy storage, or simply batteries, is the “next wave in renewable energy”.
He noted that solar and wind are intermittent power — depending on the time of day and weather conditions — so they require storage for that energy to be used at other times of the day, unlike traditional power plants that generate electricity with coal or natural gas on demand.
However, energy storage is still too expensive for wide-scale adoption as part of an energy grid. The economics for battery-powered vehicles is more palatable and can happen sooner.
The smaller and lighter the vehicle, the better the economics for electric vehicles (EVs), therefore the focus on powering motorbikes. Southeast Asia (SEA) happens to have the highest concentration of motorbikes in the world.
– Jinsi Lee, founder and CEO of Oyika
It’s also interesting to note that Oyika may be a Singapore startup, but it currently only has presence in Indonesia and Cambodia. Motorbikes constitute 85 per cent of the vehicle population in these two countries. In contrast, Singapore has a small motorbike population of only 140,000.
Image Credit: Oyika
Out of the entire region, Indonesia owns the biggest market share for motorbikes with a total of 125 million motorbikes, and it’s also the third-largest in the world after India and China.
Jinsi shared that he also chose to enter Cambodia because he was involved in his first solar farm project there, and felt that it would be a good first place outside of Singapore to trial their battery swap products and services.
With its Battery-as-a-Service (BaasS) offering, Oyika helps to solve three primary pain points for electric motorbike adoptions: range anxiety, long charging times, and the upfront purchase cost of EV batteries.
How Oyika’s EV battery swapping service works
Oyika app with shared bike and swap station in Cambodia / Image Credit: Oyika
BaaS is basically a leased battery that comes with battery swaps. A rider can swap his depleted battery for a fully charged one at a nearby “swap station” located at a convenience store or petrol kiosk, explained Jinsi.
The swapping process takes less than a minute, and it’s no different from topping up petrol at a kiosk when running out of fuel. Their batteries are also compatible with most existing mass-market electric motorbikes in SEA.
We remove the upfront purchase cost of the battery from an electric motorbike. The battery can be half the overall cost of the bike, making EV adoption a more affordable and compelling proposition.
Furthermore, batteries purchased with electric motorbikes degrade over time, requiring riders to periodically replace them throughout their bikes’ lifespan. With battery swapping, riders need not worry about battery replacement and upgrades.
– Jinsi Lee, founder and CEO of Oyika
Oyika offers packages such as pay-per-use (US$0.05 a minute), prepaid weekly (US$18 a week) and monthly (US$72 a month) subscription plans, where battery swaps are bundled with an electric motorbike. This is a similar concept to telco subscription plans that bundle data and calls with mobile phones.
Battery swap at station / Image Credit: Oyika
A single swap costs US$1, which takes an electric motorbike about 50km in range. An electric motorbike may carry up to two batteries, or carry one and swap more regularly.
Most single trips are less than 15km, with daily trips under 30km. For a 100km range on an electric motorbike, it costs US$2 for swaps.
“A gasoline bike requires about three litres of petrol to travel 100km. Assuming pump price of US$1.50 per litre (it costs more in Singapore), that’s US$4.50 for 100km of range on a gasoline bike,” calculates Jinsi.
He further shared that when they first launched their monthly subscription plan in Cambodia in the second half of 2019, it “did not fly” even though it was cheaper than gasoline motorbikes.
He reasoned that there was a lot of “apprehension about electric motorbikes” then and after all, people were already comfortable with gasoline motorbikes.
The following year in May 2020, Oyika went ahead to launch a pay-as-you-go ride-share programme despite them not being able to step foot into Cambodia due to Covid-19.
“The goal was to make it simpler and cheaper for the public to be exposed to electric motorbikes,” said Jinsi.
Oyika even managed to secure grant support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), as well as formal approval from the Phnom Penh City Administration (PPCA) in October 2021 to be a part of the city’s public bus programme.
Under this programme, the startup deployed ride-share bikes at 11 public bus stops to bridge the first- and last-mile gap and increase ridership of the buses.
Covid-19 challenges
According to Jinsi, their biggest business challenge is operating in an environment where gasoline bikes are already “well-established and entrenched”.
Additionally, they are promoting electric motorbikes — along with their batteries and swap infrastructure — in markets that not only have no subsidy, but also lack of financing for EVs. Particularly in Indonesia, Oyika also competes against subsidised petrol that costs one-fifth the price of Singapore.
Image Credit: Oyika
Despite the challenges, Oyika has managed to earn the support of major electric motorbike manufacturers to pair their bikes with Oyika batteries.
It took a while, but we eventually got the buy-in Indonesia’s national e-motorbike brand Gesits to launch a bike version with our swappable batteries.
– Jinsi Lee, founder and CEO of Oyika
In mid-2021, Oyika also worked with international brands Yadea and Tailing, which are the world’s first and third best-selling e-motorbike brands respectively.
Both companies integrated what will be the first of several models with Oyika’s battery swap system for their foray into SEA, and the bikes are currently being homologated (certified for road use) in Indonesia.
However, Covid-19 has brought about a whole new set of challenges, such as causing significant disruptions to their expansion plans.
“We encountered months of lockdowns in Indonesia, supply chain disruptions causing delivery delays of our batteries, swap stations and electric motorbikes. Despite all the challenges, we (have) made good progress (and) established a strong network of partners, both domestically and internationally,” said Jinsi.
The pandemic has also delayed its fundraising plans, in which it targeted to raise US$100 million to roll out 30,000 power subscription plans with electric motorbike bundles across Indonesia.
Regardless, Oyika managed to secure Green Bond Certification for its operations in Indonesia with the support of the Asian Development Bank, which enables them to raise Green Bond for their expansion there.
“This also means that motorbikes powered by Oyika batteries are eligible for green finance. This is a milestone for us and a powerful statement. We can track our batteries from their inception to their second life use in energy storage systems (ESS) and final decommissioning, where they are sent for recycling,” he added.
Oyika is helping to build EV charging stations in S’pore
Singapore has been very vocal about its plans to phase out Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles by 2040.
As part of this ambition, it is ramping up efforts to build 60,000 EV charging stations in Singapore by 2030, up from the initial target of 28,000.
Oyika is actually one of two consortiums that have been awarded tender by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) to install 600 charging stations in public car parks.
Jinsi expressed that Singapore has the ability to be SEA’s EV capital by leading in EV adoption.
“Norway has about the same population size as Singapore, and they have shown the way forward for the electrification of personal transport,” he said.
“In Norway, an oil-producing country — where the fossil fuel sector contributes 14 per cent of the country’s GDP and government revenue — EVs are able to contribute more than 80 per cent of new car sales.”
He added that while Singapore has only 140,000 motorbikes in Singapore, there are 100,000 Malaysian motorbikes registered for auto-clearance to cross into Singapore. Half that number enter Singapore daily.
Image Credit: Oyika
Oyika desires to incentivise those bikes entering Singapore to be electric, (but) it requires coordination on both sides of the causeway. That is no mean feat. If that can be achieved, imagine a much quieter and pollution-free causeway, and the well-being of those who travel to and from Johor and Singapore daily.
It will be cheaper for the riders too, regardless of whether they conduct their battery swaps in Singapore or Malaysia.
– Jinsi Lee, founder and CEO of Oyika
Ultimately, Oyika aims to lower the barriers to EV adoption in SEA via the bundling of EV charging with EVs on a monthly subscription plan, starting out with electric motorbikes.
Moving forward, it hopes to expand its footprint in Africa as well as expand the use of its batteries to power off-grid homes. It noted that there are currently 30 million people in SEA and 600 million in Africa who lack access to electricity.
Home dock for off-grid electrification / Image Credit: Oyika
In fact, it is already conducting trials to prove that its portable batteries — which are charged at a swap station powered by solar at a centralised location — can help power homes.
“(It) is a simpler, cheaper and more scalable alternative to individual solar home systems and micro-grids,” he summed up.
In the beginning of November 2021, Oyika’s ride share brand Go2 was featured by UNDP Cambodia during a week of events dedicated to “Electrification of Vehicles for a Cleaner Cambodia”.
Go2 / Oyika was recognised as playing an important role in the transition to e-transportation in Phnom Penh city.
This short documentary showcases riders of Go2’s electric motorbikes – their experiences in their own words.
Oyika is proud to support Phnom Penh’s drive to become a smart city.
A pilot tender by the Urban Redevelopment Authority and Land Transport Authority to deploy more than 600 electric vehicle chargers closed on Wednesday (Mar 31). The tender drew almost 20 bids from companies like Shell, ComfortDelGro, as well as consortiums among smaller players.
Source news Singapore startup to offer leases on battery packs, bundling these with e-bike subscriptions. It also aims to bring power to those off the grid with those same battery packs.
OYIKA wants to pull off the electrification of mobility in South-east Asia, specifically by bundling subscriptions to electric motorbikes with fully-charged battery packs that power these bikes.
The company offers a subscription-based battery-sharing concept that allows e-motorbike riders to swap their depleted leased battery for a fully charged one. All they need to do is stop at an Oyika “swap station”, which looks like a parcel locker terminal
KUALA LUMPUR: Yinson Holdings Bhd’s green technologies division (YGT) has invested in Oyika Pte Ltd (Oyika) to accelerate electric vehicles (EV) adoption in Southeast Asia via the latter’s affordable, app-based solution and battery swap infrastructure.
Oyika, a Singapore-based start-up, aims to lower the barriers to EV adoption in the region with a battery swap service bundled with an electric motorbike (e-motorbike) made available through affordable subscription plans.
Yinson said Oyika works with local e-motorbike manufacturers to adapt their brand-agnostic technology for local use.
Its swappable batteries work with most e-motorbike brands and models in Southeast Asia.
Subscribers to its pay-per-use, prepaid weekly or postpaid monthly plan can swap depleted batteries for fully charged ones at any Oyika swap station within a minute.
Oyika aims to develop its technology further and strengthen its market position in Southeast Asia, backed by Yinson’s support, network and experience in logistics and energy solutions,
Oyika’s core strength in technology development also presents synergistic opportunities with Yinson’s green technologies investment plans in Malaysia.
Yinson group executive vice president (new ventures and technology) Eirik Barclay said the company aims
to create a pathway for electric mobility to become an integrated way of life, transitioning the current fossil fuel-reliant system into a clean, sustainable one.
“Southeast Asia is the world’s largest motorbike market, with motorbikes constituting up to 85 per cent of vehicle population in countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam, the two largest motorbike markets in the region.
“And less than 0.1 per cent of them are electric. Each internal combustion engine motorbike on the road replaced by an e-motorbike saves about one tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. Thus, a significant reduction in carbon emissions can be made through the introduction of such EV solutions,” Eirik said in a statement today.
Yinson group chief strategy officer Daniel Bong said YGT and Oyika shared the same goal of bringing about a more environmentally sustainable transport network by working with like-minded partners.
“This investment, together with our recent investment into autonomous driverless solution company MooVita, presents the first step of our roadmap towards building an integrated green logistics solution.
“Yinson is investing into green technologies to help mitigate global climate issues. We believe that being early movers in future-proof technologies, and capitalising on strategic partnerships with the public and private sectors, is an important way to bring sustained value to our stakeholders continually,” he added.
Oyika chief executive officer Jinsi Lee said the company is glad to receive Yinson’s endorsement and leverage its resources and global network to bring affordable EV solutions to developing countries.
“We look forward to rolling out Oyika’s subscription plans for EVs, to not only reduce the cost for riders but, more importantly, contribute towards mitigating climate change,” added Jinsi.
Oyika is happy to support the transition providing a state of the artbattery swap system that can be adapted to any kind of electric motorbike and modern EV charging station.
Oyika is happy to support the transition providing a state of the artbattery swap system that can be adapted to any kind of electric motorbike and modern EV charging station.
