More Eclimo EV Scooters To Enter Cambodian Market

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 (Bernama) -- 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 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 Watt 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 Mustapa Mohamed and Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) Chief Executive Officer Dzulkifli Mahmud. Eclimo's venture into the Cambodian market was assisted by MATRADE through its Market Linkage Progamme which saw the introduction of the Internet of Thins (IoT) features which had garnered the interest of Cambodian commercial partners and 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. Taxis operating in the Angkor Watt 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," said Chuah. As for the local market, he said the scooter would be available for rent in Malaysia's northern state of Penang for US$11 (RM50) per 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," he said, adding that the scooter can retail for US$4,094 (RM18,000) if sold to the public. Meanwhile, on Malaysia's aspiration to have more than 100,000 electric motorcycles traversing roads by 2020, Mustapa said the government has received several applications which is being processed by the Malaysia Investment Development Authority. "We still got five years to go, we are encouraging more companies to come up with the technologies for electric motorcycles or scooters," he added. -- BERNAMA