The first electric motorcycle production line in Iran opened in Isfahan on Monday.
After a short test phase, Kavir Motor started mass production of the electric bikes on Oct. 15, Donyaye Khodro news website reported.
Before the end of the current fiscal (March 2019) Kavir plans to start production of several other e-bikes.
A board member of the company, Majid Rezaei called on authorities to introduce measures to promote e-bikes and help people replace their polluting motorbikes with the eco-friendly electric two-wheelers.
He also suggested that women too should be allowed to drive motorbikes. Women are not legally banned from driving motorcycles, however tradition and custom discourages them from doing so.
Authorities have tapped e-bikes as part of government plans to curb air pollution in the major urban areas. The Isfahan Municipality is set to install 50 electric charging stations in the tourist city.
In a parallel project, the municipality plans to gradually phase out the fossil-fueled bikes with the battery-powered two-wheelers.
Isfahan Mayor Ali Reza Salavati says, “We are planning to offer loans for replacing polluting motorcycles with the electric ones. This will be a step toward improving air quality.”
The municipality has said that it also plans to ban fossil-fueled motorcycles in the future.
There are over 580,000 fossil-fueled motorcycles plying the roads in Isfahan and contribute to the worsening air pollution in the metropolis.
