Bumpy ride of shared electric dream

It's been a bumpy road rolling out e-scooters, but Neuron Mobility's Zachary Wang believes the future of urban transport will be shared, electric and small, he tells Sumiko Tan.

- 

Zachary Wang was 17 years old when he boarded a plane for the first time. Several months earlier, a poster at his high school in Hubei province, China, had caught his eye. It was an invitation to apply for a Singapore government scholarship to a university in Singapore. "I was so excited," he recalls. “I really wanted to go out and see what the world looks like."

His parents didn't object, and he landed the scholarship after sitting for tests and interviews.

On a cold December day in 2003, he found himself at the airport in Guangzhou with a one-way ticket to Singapore, alongside dozens of other students from all over China who had also won scholarships to the Republic.

None of them knew which university they were bound for, he says.

"When we landed at Changi Airport and collected our luggage, we were told, 'You guys, NTU. You guys, NUS,' Mr Wang remembers with a laugh. He was placed with the National University of Singapore group.

He went with the flow, which has since carried him far.

In November last year, Mr Wang was named Singapore's EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2024. The award described him as "a serial entrepreneur who is committed to using sustainable technology to improve urban living".

Mr Wang, 39, is the chief executive of Neuron Mobility, a shared electric scooter company he co-founded in 2016 with a friend, Mr Harry Yu. Neuron designs and builds its e-scooters, including the technology behind them.

The father of two boys, who became a Singaporean in 2022, is also the co-founder of Rezeca Renewables, a leading solar energy company in Singapore with operations in Thailand.

We meet at Yardbird Southern Table and Bar at Marina Bay Sands, which holds fond memories for Mr Wang.