2025 Reports

Barriers and Breakthroughs: Business Models for Electric Motorcycle Taxis in Bangkok

Anuchitchanchai, Ornicha; Wantanasombut, Akkanut; Ratanawaraha, Apiwat; Chalermpong, Saksith

The transition to electric mobility offers a promising pathway for sustainable urban transport, yet adoption in informal sectors remains poorly understood. This paper examines four business models for promoting electric motorcycle uptake among Bangkok’s motorcycle taxi drivers: full ownership, partial battery leasing, full battery leasing, and rental. Adopting a case study, the research draws on stakeholder interviews and pilot project documentation to identify systemic barriers and enabling factors.

Three system-level constraints limit scalability: network effects in which inadequate and brand-specific battery-swapping infrastructure discourages adoption and investment; sociotechnical misalignments between new business approaches and entrenched regulations and driver routine; and justice-related exclusions which disadvantage informal, low-income operators through financial risks and policy neglect. Finding reveals that high upfront costs, income volatility, resale uncertainty, and restrictive registration rules intersect with infrastructure fragmentation to stall adoption despite pilots demonstrating feasibility.

Policy recommendations include reforming vehicle registration to allow fleet-based ownership, expanding and standardizing battery-swapping networks, introducing flexible financing and resale guarantees tailored to informal workers, and co-designing programs with drivers to align with occupational culture and needs. By reframing adoption challenges through network, institutional, and justice lenses, the paper offers insights for scaling low-carbon mobility transitions in informal transport sectors across the Global South.

Keywords: Motorcycle taxis, Electric motorcycles, EV adoption, Business models, Informal transport, Global South.