Guys, I have great news.
Our gas-guzzling, CO2-emitting, fossil-fuel fanatic engines
are on their way out,
and the era of electric vehicles
is quickly being ushered in.
The electric car is here.
Wait, wait, wait, wrong engine.
I'm talking about these guys.
I'm talking about mopeds, bikes, rickshaws, scooters,
the electric two and three-wheelers
that are starting to pop out everywhere.
Because this is how the majority of the world
will experience the transition to clean transportation.
He's not just delivering your food.
He might be delivering the next green energy revolution.
Electric cars are all over the mainstream media right now.
Electric cars are having a moment.
The theme among almost every car commercial,
they were advertising brand new electric cars.
And now my president says, "The future-"
Is electric.
Demand for EVs is exploding.
People are excited about them, and they should be.
Electric cars are a dramatic step of technological progress,
just the kind we need to give us a fighting chance
against the climate crisis.
But let's be honest, it's not an industry without flaws.
Cobalt and lithium, the two crucial minerals
for electric car batteries, are in super high demand.
Finding and extracting them is really hard,
which means they're becoming
more and more expensive every day.
EVs now cost 14% more than they did just last year.
These are prices a huge portion
of the world just can't afford.
If we're trying to slash our carbon footprint,
electric cars will only get some of us there, not all.
That's because cars just aren't
part of the equation for most people.
Electric or not, cars are either too expensive
or just not practical.
But there's another EV revolution already underway
that is accessible to most people.
This one is happening in places like Hanoi, Deli,
Bangkok, Kigali, where most people
are already riding two and three-wheelers.
In dense cities, bikes are just much more space-efficient,
and they do the job.
Researchers say, in any given cities,
people never really travel more than about six miles,
so transitioning to electric two and three-wheelers
is only gonna be an added bonus.
They're affordable, with some as cheap
or even cheaper than gas ones,
they're practical and easy to park in crowded cities,
making urban centers ultimately way more livable,
and they're clean.
In these incredibly dense cities,
they could drastically reduce noise and air pollution.
We're already starting to see them on the roads
of some countries that are plagued by pollution.
India, the world's third biggest carbon emitter,
has made some serious investment in EVs.
Japan's Suzuki Motor plans to invest $1.37 billion
in its India factory.
India's electric vehicle market is expected to grow
at a compounded annual growth rate of 90% this decade.
It would be valued at around 150 billion US dollars
by the year 2030.
E-bikes have tripled sales since last year,
and will take over 76% of the market by 2040.
Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are among the top 15
most polluted cities in Southeast Asia, but Vietnam now is
the world's second largest electric motorbike market.
They even have domestic and local brands
when most other neighboring countries
import their EVs from China.
In Indonesia, two-wheelers are expected
to be the first EVs to reach 50% use.
These countries alone are home
to 1.8 billion people combined.
That's almost a fourth of the entire world population.
Can you imagine the environmental impact
of a 100% EV adoption?
Estimates vary, but switching to EVs
can lead to three to four times less carbon emissions,
depending on how green the electricity grid is.
It's a huge part of how we can reach climate goals.
It's obviously not gonna be easy
to get this up and running on a large scale.
Mass adoption requires massive infrastructure.
We need to build clean energy grids
and accessible charging stations.
These challenges are the same facing electric cars,
but these countries are showing
that it doesn't have to always be so complicated.
Don't have the infrastructure yet?
No problem.
Indian and Indonesian governments are buying time
with battery-swapping stations
so riders can quickly continue their journey
without having to plug in and charge.
There are also challenges that are unique
to two and three-wheelers.
You can't blame them.
They're small, little guys.
They're much more vulnerable to their environments.
We need to improve road conditions and tailor solutions
for the different landscapes of each country.
Resourceful local companies are already on it.
In India, electric bikes are built to work best
in hot, dusty weather and potholed roads.
And in Vietnam, e-bikes include a hydraulic brake system
designed for the infamous local traffic.
The point is both governments and companies
in these countries are putting their heads together
to workshop these challenges,
and they're hedging their bets big
on the future of electric bikes.
It's all still pretty new, and there's a long way to go,
but the road forward is starting to be built.
Billions of people will probably
never drive an electric car,
and while we should definitely celebrate
the progress that's been made,
we also need to acknowledge
that there are smaller alternatives that are just as big.
So let's not get caught in the headlights.
If we're able to switch gears
and signal away from the Teslas
and towards the world's electric Vespas,
the road ahead to clean, green two-wheeler energy machines
can be truly electric.