Autoportal India

In a recent interview with Eishin Chihana, chairman of Yamaha Motor India, we learned that the Japanese manufacturer is developing an e-scooter for the Indian market, based on its Neo’s electric scooter sold overseas. While that is still some time away, the company’s vehicle leasing subsidiary, Moto Business Service India (MBSI), has just commenced its vehicle leasing operations in India.

This first investment has been in the form of 250 Hero Electric e-scooters, which will be provided to Zypp Electric, a last-mile delivery service. In this first phase of MBSI’s operation, these e-scooters will be used in Delhi, where Zypp is most active. The delivery service currently uses 5,000 scooters and has plans to expand to Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune in 2022.

Speaking about the move, Shoji Shiraishi, managing director, MBSI, says, “The Indian electric vehicle mobility market is growing in line with the overall global trend and will see rapid traction and growth for shared two-wheelers and four-wheelers in the EVs segment. We will onboard EV vehicles across multiple cities and generate employment avenues for the youth of India. We need to create an evolving ecosystem that can address all challenges and enable millions of businesses to adopt sustainable modes of transport.”