Yadea started life as a manufacturer of diminutive electric mopeds. They still sell many of them, but then they also sell the Kemper, an everyday sports motorcycle with a 40kW motor and high voltage system, a 6.4kWh LFP battery, and a high quality cycle parts - Brembo, KYB etc.

Yadea did not do the Kemper on day 1. They spent years making electric scooters and mopeds, have sold them worldwide - from China to Chad - and learnt from the experience. Most importantly, in the face of a Chinese market downturn, Yadea sold about 4.0m E2Ws in 2024. Mind you, they are heavily profitable, self-sustaining and on an upward trajectory, both in terms of geographical reach and technology.

So we are perplexed, when a manufacturer like Yadea commands a market cap of USD 5.26bn only. Sure, it's up 22.5% in the last six months, but USD 5.26bn still sounds low.

But we are not in the business of recommending stocks, else we would have pointed out Gogoro's problems - they have to hit USD 1.00 in share price before 28th April, else they get delisted from Nasdaq, something they don't want to do. The stock trades at 43 cents, the company makes losses, and there is little they can do.

These and more were discussed in our weekly analysis, in which we took note of market cap movements of the publicly traded E2W manufacturers worldwide and checked how they have been doing. Some do need CPR.

The Erosion Intensifies
There are not too many publicly traded E2W and electric light mobility players. The ones that are have mostly been struggling. We last checked their health eight months back. Now, we check on them again and realize that things have taken a downturn for the worse.
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Meanwhile on Yadea, I want to draw your attention to the company's efforts on Sodium-ion batteries. Na-ion batteries are heavy, cumbersome, energy-poor...but cheap and safe. Yadea has decided to circumvent the Na-ion problems by deploying them where it makes sense. This is what we wrote many weeks back:

Yadea circumvents these challenges by offering the Na-ion option only in low-speed yet full-size moped models. These vehicles (Q1, DE3, G30, and Guanneng Q50) have 400W-600W motor power and top speeds in the 25-30kph range. Notably, their rated payload is 75kg, making them solo-rider vehicles, even though the images show a small auxiliary passenger seat for carrying kids. All are priced between USD 450 - 590 and are Chinese market-only vehicles.

Read the full story here

Yadea brings Sodium Ion to the market
One small step for Yadea, a big leap for the electric mobility industry. The technology comes with all the limitations we expected with Na-ion
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KTM Restructuring Approval

If one needs an example of a highly intelligent Homosapien constructed clusterfuck, look no further than the mess KTM is in today. That was the other story this week as the Austrian manufacturer has received approval for restructuring and that's excellent news. Bajaj Auto is spending some money, not a lot, but just enough to restart production at Mattighofen.

But looking into the details, it seems that the majority of the funds are to come from an investor who remains unnamed, and may not have been found yet. More in our analysis here:

KTM Finally has a Restructuring Plan
At yesterday’s court hearing, KTM creditors have accepted a restructuring plan proposed by the board. As part of the plan, nearly EUR 548m would be received by the creditors by end-May. India-based Bajaj Auto is bringing some of the money but there remains a larger investor yet to be named.
Insight EVEditor

That's a wrap for today. This newsletter will be back next Friday. The posts on the website are more frequent. Also, there is a new X in town.

You can find the About and Editorial Ethics pages here.

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