AIDCO to Import Electric Bikes

Automotive Industries Development Company, a local industrial holding, is set to import electric motorcycles, says the firm’s deputy chief.

According to Hassan Forouzan-Mehr “Import of e-bikes is in line with the government’s agenda to remove gasoline-powered motorcycles from the roads. The two-wheelers presently made and sold locally are notorious for high emission and fuel consumption,” ILNA reported.

Motorcycles are among the main air-polluters coming after the mostly dilapidated heavy vehicles and substandard locally-made cars.

Forouzan-Mehr says 5,000 units of electric bikes will be imported as completely built units before the current fiscal ends in March 2018. He did not name the producing company.

“During the next fiscal 10,000 units of completely knocked down kits of the bikes will be imported and assembled.”

AIDCO currently offers electric scooters imported from the Italian manufacturer Ecomission.

In recent years local businesses relevant to this sector have announced various plans for production and imports of electric bikes. Furthermore, academia has also shown interest in the sector.

In June 2016, students at Tehran’s Amirkabir University of Technology said the electric motorbike they had designed was undergoing commercialization and would be ready for production soon.

Earlier this year Iran’s second-largest automotive company, SAIPA, said it will import electric motorcycles in collaboration with Tehran Municipality and is planning to set up an assembly line for producing the environment-friendly two-wheelers.

In September a local auto importer Datis Khodro reported that it will bring solar-powered electric bicycles to Iran. Milad Alinaqi, the company’s CEO, said Datis has reached a deal with the Italian bicycle producer LEAOS and has been named as the exclusive agent of the company’s e-bikes in Iran.