Electric Scooter Import & Distribution

The ask

Sourceelectric scooters from proven Chinese OEMs — Yadea, AIMA, or equivalent — and build a Bangladesh distribution network: importer, service network, and financing wrapper in one company.

Why now

Chinese e-scooter factories are producing 50–150 cc-equivalent electric two-wheelers at ৳40,000–70,000 landed cost, undercutting Japanese ICE scooters on price for the first time. Pakistan and Vietnam have already demonstrated that South/Southeast Asian mass markets adopt quickly once aftersales infrastructure exists. Bangladesh's two-wheeler market is ~800,000 units per year and nearly 100% ICE; the infrastructure gap is the only barrier.

Why Bangladesh

Bangladesh runs ~4 million rickshaw-vans, auto-rickshaws, and delivery two-wheelers, almost all on liquid fuel whose price tracks global oil. Riders' daily fuel spend is ৳150–300; e-scooter running cost drops that to ৳30–50. BRTA simplified e-vehicle registration in 2023. The country already has a dense network of informal two-wheeler repair shops that can be certified as service points cheaply.

As a business

Revenue is unit sales plus a financed EMI product (partnered with a bank or MFI) that unlocks the mass market priced out of upfront purchase. Margin comes from import aggregation (40–60-unit container loads vs. single-unit grey imports), branded aftersales parts, and eventually a battery-swap subscription for fleet operators. Gross margin on a ৳90,000 retail unit with ৳58,000 landed cost is ~35%.

Economics

Move the sliders to model your own e-scooter distribution business. Defaults are order-of-magnitude estimates — pressure-testing them is part of what a founder pitches us.

What ZEPH would back

A founder with supply-chain experience in consumer hardware or automotive distribution who has already run a pilot container import. We want the operator who can own the service network, not just the import license — aftersales is where the moat builds. Bonus if they bring a banking or MFI partner for the EMI product from day one.

Impact

Each electric scooter displacing a 125cc petrol scooter avoids approximately 0.5–0.8 tCO₂e per year (BPDB grid vs petrol combustion). At 1,440 units/year — the default slider — the fleet avoids roughly 900 tCO₂e/year while cutting each rider's fuel cost by ₳3,000–4,000/month, real purchasing power that stays in Bangladesh. Building a dense domestic service network trains 200–400 mechanics in EV systems, seeding skills critical for the broader transport electrification transition. The company displaces roughly $1.5–2M/year of petrol import at default fleet volumes.