For a long time, electric mobility was treated as a topic associated with major cities, linked to extensive bike lanes and other urban infrastructure. Entrepreneur Fredy da Silva Gonçalves Bento, CEO of Litoral Mobilidade, built his retail network based on a different perspective: lightweight electric vehicles find particularly favorable conditions in medium-sized and coastal cities.
This perspective helps explain a trend that has been gaining momentum. Electric scooters, bicycles, and motorcycles are no longer seen solely as recreational vehicles but are increasingly used for daily commuting and work. Understanding what drives this shift also reveals where the market is likely headed.
Short Trips Favor Electric Motors
In many coastal cities, daily commutes are relatively short. Homes, workplaces, shopping areas, and beaches are often just a few kilometers apart, on predominantly flat terrain.
This environment aligns well with the characteristics of lightweight electric vehicles. Fredy Restrito (as he is also known) demonstrates that battery range is more than sufficient for daily use, charging can be done through a standard electrical outlet, and the cost per kilometer tends to be significantly lower than that of a gasoline-powered motorcycle. For those who travel every day, the difference becomes noticeable at the end of the month.
Work Drives Demand
Delivery drivers, retail workers, and service providers represent a group that carefully considers every amount spent on transportation. For them, a vehicle is an income-generating tool, and fuel and maintenance expenses directly affect their earnings.
The expansion of delivery apps has increased the size of this group. When an electric vehicle proves cheaper to maintain and adequate for daily needs, purchasing decisions are no longer driven by novelty but by economic considerations. This shift in motivation often indicates that a market is beginning to mature.
Clearer Regulations Are Changing the Retail Landscape
Brazil’s National Traffic Council (Contran) regulations have established clearer distinctions between electric bicycles, self-propelled vehicles, and mopeds, requiring registration, license plates, and a driver’s license for the latter category. In the short term, these changes have raised questions among consumers and retailers.
In the medium term, well-defined rules tend to benefit established businesses. Stores that guide customers on vehicle classification, documentation, and safe operation gain an advantage over informal sellers. Fredy Restrito has argued that product quality, technical assistance, and after-sales support form the foundation for the sector’s professionalization, and regulation reinforces precisely this direction.
Franchising as a Way to Reach New Cities
If demand exists across many medium-sized cities, the challenge becomes reaching these markets without compromising standards. The franchise model frequently emerges as a solution at this stage because it combines the franchisee’s capital and local market knowledge with the franchisor’s purchasing structure, brand, and operational processes.
In the electric mobility sector, this arrangement offers a specific advantage. An independent store may struggle to negotiate directly with manufacturers, maintain a comprehensive inventory of spare parts, and train technical staff. A retail network can share these costs. Litoral Mobilidade is preparing a nationwide expansion through franchises, supported by its own distribution center and import operations, an infrastructure that enables the company to supply stores located far from its headquarters.
What This Trend Means for New Market Entrants
Ultimately, the growth of electric mobility outside major cities does not mean that every business model will succeed. Better-informed consumers, stronger regulatory enforcement, and increasing competition are likely to distinguish companies that simply sell vehicles from those that provide comprehensive transportation solutions.
In Fredy Restrito’s view, the sector’s next growth cycle will be defined less by the number of stores opened and more by each company’s ability to support customers after their purchase. This is the point at which a trend stops being a passing fad and becomes an established market.
