Japanese electric motorcycles fight for market share

By David Ohito

Japan traditionally known for motorcycle brands of Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki has a new electric brand that is taking the market by storm and challenging the giants.

In what appears a departure from the traditional corporate brand names Terra Motors Corporation has introduced a battery-powered motorcycle in the market that has dwarfed the traditional motorcycle options.

Terra Motors now controls up to 44 percent of the market share of the scooter making industry in a market that has witnessed a fall form 178 motorcycle manufacturers to only four currently.

Combining innovation and new management style which has called down the bureaucracy that has seen decision making in giant corporates take long, Terra Motors under the stewardship of Toru Tokushige is scaling fresh business heights and has captured the Asian Market.

The motorbike is powered by 600-watt 48volts and 45 Amps and has a maximum speed of 60 KPH. The battery is rechargeable.Tokushige now has his eyes trained on Africa and targets East Africa which is reported to be having in excess of 20 million motorcycles with majority imported from China.

The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is currently helping Terra Motors establish its presence in Africa. The Corporation was formed in 2010 in Tokyo.In an Interview with The Standard in Tokyo, Tokushige described how he set up his own venture via incubation in the Silicon Valley in California US.

“We are a start up. We take risks unlike the traditional Japanese giant corporates we do not take long to make decisions and delaying signing contract papers” Tokushige says.He claims Japan’s corporate giants Toyota, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Toshiba, Sony are unable to cope with the rapid speed of globalization and fight for the merging markets effectively.

Tokushige says, “We rely on continuous innovation and prioritise speed in decision making. Our technology is offering solutions for the clients who buy our motorcycles. We work twice as hard as our competitors”

The battery-operated motorcycles have helped in reducing oil consumption and have a direct result in air pollution and traffic congestion in cities.“We need to create sustainable societies with innovations. In Asia the market has been ready, we are helping solve environmental pollution.”

“We are helping transform mobility and drive change by providing solutions to sustainable urban and metropolitan transport,”The world is awash with petrol-powered bikes with China account for 30 percent, India 17 percent, Indonesia 15 percent, Vietnam 7 percent, Thailand and US each at 4 percent. Other countries account for 21 percent and Philippines is at 2 percent.

Says Tokushige: “mass production as first mover requires speed and quality and the market is becoming very competitive. We have a venture-spirited and highly motivated team.”

“We combine this with innovative ways of sales and marketing and within two years we took the biggest share of the market, “ Tokushige says.We have remained competitive because we stress improving quality and establishing maintenance system and parts supply system.

Tokushige is currently in exploratory talks with several groups to partner with in distribution of the popular electric bike.