Pakistan ezBike is the first that got a raise in its pre-seed round from the Pakistan’s i2i Ventures, Walled City Co, GroundUp, and leading angels in the United States. Back in October 2020, ezBike was launched as the first electric scooter by Mohammad Hadi, a former investment banker, and Ali Moeen, a software executive. According to the company, it has around 100,000 customers who can book an ezBike parked around the city of Islamabad. The customers need to download the ezBike app via which they can reserve, locate and operate their electric scooters. The CEO Mr. Hadi says that the ride on the ezBike scooters are 30% less than the average ride one the non-electric services. The CEO further added that due to the expertise in the assembling, operating and maintaining electric scooters at scale, they are confident to address the broader market opportunity of the shift to electric vehicles to 2 wheelers. With the pre-seed raised the CEO plans to launch their own brand of electric scooters, whose sale will start this summer. Misbah Naqvi co-founder and GP at i2i Ventures said that they are proud to back the ezBike founders as they focus on addressing the urgent and significant issue of climate change and pollution in Pakistan, while providing electric mobility startup for consumers with affordable options to purchase and operate electric scooters. Mr. Hadi further adds that the in Pakistan there are about 22 million registered motorcycles and 2 million pcs are old each year. The electric vehicles market is estimated to be a $20 billion opportunity; though the market has not grown even with very supportive regulatory and tax policies. The CEO blames the high price of these vehicles to be the reason for the slow growth of the market. The pre-seed funds will be used for the development of an electric two-wheelers eco-system including assembly facility, low-cost lithium-ion battery production. With such a setup of electric mobility the price of the Electric scooter will be reduced. “Battery swapping network” via which the customers will be able to rent the batteries is also part of the electric two-wheelers eco-system. With such an active and running electric two-wheelers eco-system, the customer will be able to purchase an ezBike at 80% of the “petrol motorcycle” price and will be able to operate at 50% the cost of “petrol motorcycle”. EV is the future, investing in it is the need of the time. If the prices of the motorcycles and the fuel efficiency of the device is as the founders have stated, it will be a great blessing for the people of Pakistan. Also Read: Toyota Lobbying Congress to Slow the Shift to Electric Vehicles
