Skip to navigationSkip to content
TWO WHEELS UP

To master electric-car manufacturing, China started with bikes

Reuters/Jason Lee
I like to ride my electric bicycle.
By Akshat Rathi

Senior reporter

This article is more than 2 years old.

Spend even an hour or two in any Asian country, and thereโ€™s zero chance you wonโ€™t come across a two-wheeled vehicle. They are everywhere and for good reason: Two-wheelers are much cheaper to buy and operate than cars, and their small size gives them higher mileage and makes them easier to park in typically densely populated Asian cities.

Between China, India, and southeast Asia, there are approximately 900 million two-wheelers, almost as many as the 1 billion passenger cars in the world, according to the 2018 Global Electric Vehicle Outlook published by the International Energy Agency. China stands out for one reason: There are about 250 million electric two-wheelers in the world, and almost all of them are in China. Thatโ€™s nearly 100 times the total number of electric passenger cars in the world.


Enrich your perspective. Embolden your work. Become a Quartz member.

Your membership supports a team of global Quartz journalists reporting on the forces shaping our world. We make sense of accelerating change and help you get ahead of it with business news for the next era, not just the next hour. Subscribe to Quartz today.

Membership includes:

ใ“ใกใ‚‰ใฏ่‹ฑ่ชž็‰ˆใธใฎ็™ป้Œฒใƒšใƒผใ‚ธใงใ™ใ€‚
Quartz Japanใธใฎ็™ป้Œฒใ‚’ใ”ๅธŒๆœ›ใฎๆ–นใฏใ“ใกใ‚‰ใ‹ใ‚‰ใ€‚