TEVDA Continues Turning EVs From Dream Into Viable Reality in Taiwan

Association chairman Kuo

The Taiwan Electric Vehicle Development Association (TEVDA) is a private organization set up in 2004 by a group of EV entrepreneurs on the island.

Aiming to further develop EVs that is regarded as the personal-mobility solution of the future, the Association has been trying to help players in the emerging business achieve stable growth, as well as promote the popularity of EVs.

The TEVDA, positioned to be a representative for the EV sector that speaks on behalf of makers, agents, distributors as well as the public to build interest in EVs, and garner more rights to drive EVs. The Association also plays a role to uphold product quality, preventing shoddy, low-priced EVs from being imported to protect interests of local member companies, the public, pedestrians and riders.

On a more technical level, the Association has also been encouraging technical exchanges, experience sharing, joint R&D projects etc. to upgrade know-how among members. Achieving such goals also involves working with different foreign certification organizations to set standards, which will help to uphold quality as well. These efforts will help, likely in the long-run, TEVDA to create more business opportunities for members.

C.C. Kuo, TEVDA chairman and president of Mashin Electric Corp., a developer and manufacturer of chargers and DC equipment, echoes what has been said about vehicular exhausts and greenhouse gases, and their impact on global warming. Apparently altruistic, Kuo and a group of businessmen expect to set up an eco-minded organization. Such ambitions have a key role in Taiwan, he adds, where the number of motorcycles and scooters has exceeded 16 million by mid-2009, though over 60% of riders use their PTWs less than 30 kilometers daily.

Pointing out an issue that rarely gets attention in Taiwan, Kuo says that over two million two-stroke, 50cc light scooters older than 12 years are still ridden. Two-stroke bikes are worse polluters than their 4-stroke counterparts and the degree of pollution worsens with aging of bikes. One of the TEVDA goals is to lobby the government to cut red tape, allowing short-distance PTW riders, especially seniors, females and handicapped, who commute 30km-or-less daily to do so without license.

Growing Trend

Kuo predicts that the annual shipment growth of e-scooters and e-bikes from 2012 to 2017 will reach 400,000 units. To reduce the number of aging scooters, TEVDA has been working with the authorities to scrap such PTWs, through more stringent inspections, including on-road vehicle inspections by the police.

Also encouraging technical transfer, the TEVDA also urges EV research institutes, such as the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), to share advanced technical know-how and mature technologies with private makers to upgrade overall competitiveness of local makers of e-scooters and e-bikes. Also apparently foresighted, the Association is trying to persuade the government to direct the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) or Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) to jointly plan recharging networks and product standards, which may help to make e-bike riding more reality than convenience for minority.

Membership

With membership widely represented, TEVDA members come from all sectors of the industry in Taiwan, including operators in assembled-EV and parts design, manufacturing, assembly, testing, sales, distribution, repair and maintenance. The Association has 20 directors, who have elected its chairman.

One member conference and three director conferences are held once a year, with other activities to be held occasionally.

So far the joint efforts of the TEVDA members have helped to make e-bikes more than a tree-hugger's dream of a greener world but a real, viable, convenient transport solution in Taiwan, as well as helping, according to Kuo, to develop and upgrade the local e-bike industry.

To further widen the e-scooter segment in Taiwan, the TEVDA began lobbying the EPA to subsidize e-bikes and e-scooter buyers, with the former already implemented and the latter being in the final evaluation stage and to be effective likely by June 2010.

With Taiwan having mapped out a four-year subsidy program for 160,000 e-scooters, TEVDA is very optimistic about the sector developing rapidly in Taiwan.