The international electric micromobility promotion platform e-scooter.co launched an import intermediary platform that enables local sellers and international logistics specialists to service customers that want to import an electric vehicle from other countries.

e-scooter.co started to accept import purchase requests about 1,5 years ago and over 30.000 people have submitted a request since, with over 684 requests pending from the countries Hrvatska, Mađarska, Slovenija, Bosna i Hercegovina, Srbija i Crne Gore with a combined revenue of 20.880.006 kn, which excludes revenue from additional services that can be sold to customers such as insurance, finance, maintenance service and the primary import service fee, which may double the revenue potential with a high profit margin.

Why Electric Vehicles Face Difficulties

There are various reasons why electric micromobility products face great difficulties to enter the market despite their great advantages such as significant cost-saving for owners.

For example, electric scooters and mopeds literally save up to 90% of maintenance costs which undermines the business model of the existing sales infrastructure of petrol-engine based vehicles, hindering those established outlets to sell electric models.

Manufacturing Disruption

While the existing petrol-engine based service infrastructure can't financially sustain itself with electric models from established brands, the brands themselves face profound disruption from the much bigger component industry that enables smaller startups to create high quality mobility products.

For example, the 🇩🇪 German brand Bosch has been developing advanced and reliable electric motor kits that includes a dashboard and electrical system and the innovative startup Edison Motors from 🇹🇭 Thailand launched a scooter barebone platform that enables other startups to create new models.

The manufacturing scale 3D printing industry causes further disruption in this space.

Big Petrol Brands Not Motivated to Enter The Market

The manufacturing disruption trajectory caused big brands early on in 2010-2015 to make a hard decision to not enter the electric vehicle market, or to enter it in a way that didn't unlock its full potential for the greatest possible market.

Some have criticized 🇮🇹 Italian Vespa-Piaggio for example for introducing an electric model that costs twice as much as the petrol version for an effective driving range of only 60 km while advertising a driving range of 100 km, and while not having a removable battery.

By comparison, the petrol version of the same Vespa model has a reliable driving range of 280 km and Vespa is unlikely to have failed to deliver on the electric driving range by accident.

In practice, this electric vehicle largely stimulated the sales of petrol models on economic grounds and is likely to have been introduced for that purpose despite that some people have been happy to pay 52.756 kn for an iconic electric Vespa while the petrol version costs 26.378 kn.

Scared away from both ends

Small disruptors scared of going global

While established big brands were financially reluctant to enter the market in the first place, smaller startups (manufacturing disruptors), due to scale-ing and logistics related problems, often remained limited to sales in a single country or a small region.

As an example, the unique Carver scooter-car or the GiGi foldable moped from the 🇳🇱 Netherlands are not yet sold internationally while there has been a significant demand for over a decade. In the 🇺🇸 US alone over 7.988.097 kn in orders for the Carver were sent in on e-scooter.co and someone from 🇮🇳 India sent the following message in his purchase request on March 1, 2025.

I want carver in India

An interaction with the founder of Dutch startup GiGi learned that the company initially had high ambitions but ultimately was scared away from selling internationally.

Selling can be easy but what if something breaks? Then there has to be a local party that can provide service. We do have the EEC certificates but we only want to enter a market when we are financially ready for it.

This line of reasoning makes sense and is common from the perspective of small manufacturers but the problem for international access for customers is that this line of reasoning intensifies over time when a manufacturer aspires to improve its quality and service.

In practice, this results in a high potential vehicle not becoming available in other countries, despite potential high demand.

GiGi, one of the first electric moped pioneers in the Netherlands with high international ambitions and EEC certificates, now decades later, never went beyond the Dutch border.

A Solution For The Market

Connecting Buyers with Import Intermediary's

The simple function of the e-scooter.co platform is to connect import intermediary's (sellers, importers or logistics specialists) with buyers. Quality service and reliable business are ensured through Escrow payment by the customer.

An example customer review reveals how the service might work in practice:

(primjer recenzije) Danas sam u Nizozemskoj preko Uship.com transportnog aranžmana primio najnoviji Gogoro Pulse hiperskuter od transportne tvrtke iz Vijetnama koja je imala slobodnog mjesta u pošiljci iz Tajvana u Rotterdam.

Skuter je dostavljen pred moja vrata, a proces kupnje odvijao se točno prema dogovoru s uvoznim posrednikom koji je odgovorio na moj zahtjev za kupnju na e-scooter.co.

Registracija skutera u Nizozemskoj zahtijevala je nešto više papirologije, ali je na kraju uspješno obavljena. Ukupna cijena koju sam platio za skuter niža je od cijene novog Vespa Elettrica u mojoj zemlji.

Nevjerojatno je što sam danas prvi koji vozi ovaj skuter u Nizozemskoj! Gogoro Pulse Hyperscooter ubrzava brže od većine automobila u Nizozemskoj, a Gogoro je fokusiran na održavanje vozila jednostavnim uz europske dijelove u bilo kojoj motociklističkoj radnji, što održavanje čini jeftinim i jednostavnim.

Zadovoljan kupac!

A Simple Business Model

U zamjenu za pristup najnovijim modelima iz cijelog svijeta, kupci preuzimaju punu odgovornost za jamstvo, servis i registraciju u svojoj zemlji. Kupac čak prihvaća odricanje od jamstvenog servisa proizvođača u slučaju da proizvođač uskrati jamstveni servis u određenoj zemlji

Rezultat je jednostavan transakcijski poslovni model: kupac plaća za isporuku vozila. Nakon što je ta usluga izvršena, transakcija je završena i nema rizika od dugoročnih problema sa zadovoljstvom kupca ili uslugama

Kupci će biti zadovoljni i njihovo mobilno rješenje će biti učinkovito

U praksi su električna vozila pokazala visoku pouzdanost i zahtijevaju do 90% manje održavanja

Osim osnovnog servisa, većina električnih skutera i mopeda će bez problema raditi desetljećima bez daljnjeg održavanja. Električni sustavi se teško oštećuju, a moderna vozila imaju IP certifikat za zaštitu od vode i prašine tako da će trajati desetljećima

Električni motor u mikromobilnosti gotovo nikada se ne kvari i rijetko ima probleme pri isporuci. Električni motor može trajati 50 godina bez održavanja

Moderna električna vozila primaju nadogradnje putem interneta od proizvođača, uključujući softverska ažuriranja i nadzor stanja vozila s proaktivnim upozorenjima za održavanje dobrog stanja. Ovo dodatno osigurava trajno i učinkovito mobilno rješenje u praksi za kupce, čak i bez jamstvenog servisa proizvođača

Pametno korištenje modernih usluga može učiniti međunarodnu logistiku jednostavnom

Usluge poput UShip.com olakšavaju jeftinu dostavu vozila diljem svijeta. Na Ushipu, međunarodni prijevoznici sa slobodnim prostorom mogu popuniti svoj prostor pojedinačnim narudžbama kupaca, kao što je npr. električni skuter ili moped od dobavljača u Tajlandu do kupca u Njemačkoj

Registracija nekih vozila može biti izazov u pojedinim zemljama, ali sa svakim uspjehom sljedeći napredak se ubrzava i nije potrebno pružati ovu uslugu kupcima

Isplativ i visok potencijal prihoda

Uvoz modela koji nisu dostupni u nekoj zemlji vrlo je ekskluzivan za kupce, a kupci će biti spremni platiti visoku cijenu kako bi odmah dobili željeni model

Puna kontrola

The intermediary is in full control and owns the customer relationship from the start.

e-scooter.co is not involved in financial transactions between businesses and the customer. A third-party Escrow service is strongly advised by the platform to protect both buyers and sellers, but when customers trust the intermediary they may decide to pay to them directly.

Access to Customers

e-scooter.co charges intermediary's a yearly subscription fee for ongoing access to new customers. On a daily basis, many new customer requests are sent in that can be serviced, resulting in a multi-million USD business opportunity.

Businesses can apply for access on the following URL:

https://hr.e-scooter.co/requests/

A list with top requested models and basic market analysis is available on this page