In Southeast Asia, the electric two-wheeler market is experiencing a rapid transition from fuel vehicles to electrification. The policy push in Vietnam and Indonesia and consumers’ pursuit of affordability have spawned a boom in e-bike conversion kits. Compared with directly purchasing the whole vehicle, conversion kits have become a new choice for Southeast Asian users to upgrade their travelling tools with the advantages of low cost, flexible adaptability and reuse of resources.
I. Southeast Asia Market Background: Double Driving of Policy and Demand
- Policy dividend releasing market space
Vietnam has banned fuel motorbikes from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and other large urban centres since 2025, and plans to expand the Southeast Asian electric two-wheeled vehicle market to US$44 billion by 2029. This policy is directly contributing to the surge in demand for electric bikes, with Vietnam’s market sales growing 30%-35% year-on-year in 2023. - Economic and Environmental Demand
Southeast Asian users are highly price sensitive. Chinese e-bikes are priced at only 1/3-1/2 the price of Japanese fuel motorbikes, saving approximately 20,000 RMB in petrol costs over six years of use. And conversion kits further reduce the cost. For example, Ruying’s e-bike conversion kit (<$100) upgrades a regular bike to an e-bike at 1/4 of the cost of a new bike.
II. Core Advantages of Conversion Kits: Low Cost and High Adaptability
- The cost is only 1/3-1/2 of the whole vehicle.
- Price advantage of the kit: taking Vietnam market as an example, a mid-range e-bike is sold at about 3000-5000 RMB, while the cost of compliant conversion kit (e.g. motor, controller, battery) is only 1000-2000 RMB, and if the user already has a bike, the total cost can be compressed to less than 1/2 of the new bike.
- Reuse of old vehicle resources: Southeast Asian users generally keep fuel motorbikes or traditional bicycles, through modification can extend the life of the old vehicle to avoid waste of resources.
- **Flexibility in adapting to complex usage scenarios
- Terrain Adaptability: Vietnam and Indonesia have a lot of mountainous terrain, and the conversion kit supports the addition of high-torque motors (e.g. Bafang M510 motor with 95N-m torque), which significantly improves the climbing ability, which is better than the fixed configuration of the entry-level vehicle.
- Cargo Demand: For the cargo demand of small traders in Southeast Asia, users can add their own racks and enhance the battery capacity (e.g. 72V38Ah battery), with a range of up to 150km, while the price of a complete cargo model is usually 30% higher.
III. Compliance Retrofitting: The Key to Avoiding Risks
- Technical standards and regulatory adaptation
- Southeast Asian countries have strict restrictions on motor power and speed. For example, Vietnam requires e-bike motor power ≤400W and speed limit of 25km/h. Compliance kits such as LvBu cloud wheels have built-in anti-tampering design to ensure that they do not exceed the speed limit.
- Some countries (e.g. Thailand) have not yet clarified e-bike regulations, so modifications need to refer to motorbike standards, and choosing a ≤250W motor can avoid legal risks.
- Safety design to reduce the hidden danger
- Yunnan data shows that 72% of e-bike fires are caused by lithium battery conversion. Therefore, Southeast Asian users tend to choose lead-acid battery kits (e.g. 48V20Ah), which are heavier but safer and cost 40% less than lithium batteries.
- Branded kits (e.g. Yadi, Taito) reduce the failure rate to less than 1 per cent through IP67 waterproofing and intelligent temperature control technology, much lower than non-standard modifications.
IV. Typical Cases: Southeast Asian Practices of Conversion Kits
- **Vietnam: Swytch Go’s ‘low-cost commuting’ model
- Users retrofit their old bikes valued at $1,000 with Swytch kits (about $2,000), at a total cost of $3,000, with performance comparable to a new bike costing $5,000, and support for five levels of power modes to cope with congested road conditions in the city.
- Compared to direct purchase, the $2,000 saved can cover two years of charging costs, with remarkable economy.
- Indonesia: modular battery rental programme
- In response to the problem of insufficient charging facilities, conversion kit companies (e.g., Yadi) have launched a battery rental service in cooperation with local convenience stores. Users only need to pay for the kit, and batteries are rented on demand, with monthly costs of