The Oil Meter

Vietnam went into a motorbike buying overdrive between 1996 and 2005, buying over 14 million bikes. Bikes that once bore the burden of development fractured their own lifeline – now they are old and they pollute.

To address this problem, policy makers plan to implement stricter smoke emission standards and by 2030 stop issuing permits for motorbikes – harsh measures in a country that uses motorbikes for everything. While official estimates put the total number of bikes at 45 million, there are millions of outdated bikes on the narrow streets of Vietnam. And old bikes don’t usually get discarded, but find their way into smaller cities, towns and villages.

The real causes of pollution are due to engine oil and bike maintenance. Skilled mechanics could keep these bikes running forever, but the real environmental damage and toxic emissions are caused by the lack of a timely oil change – because most of the bikes have an outdated oil indicator light, and even some of the new models don’t have them.

In a tropical country mechanical parts rust faster, causing overuse of engine oil. While oil brands like Castrol and Total communicate proper oil changes every 1000 kilometers, the average Vietnamese rider would change oil only after 3000 kms or more. Clearly, the business opportunity is that more oil changes mean selling more oil, and the social opportunity was huge.

Our solution is a permanent and scalable idea that found its way even to the smallest bike repair shop – an idea that could thrive in the tough tropical weather of Vietnam and that everyone could understand and made perfect motoring sense.

The Oil Meter was re-created for a tropical rural country: weatherproof, rust-proof, durable, and cost-effective. It needed very little mechanical tools.

Call it frugal innovation, a low-cost solution or social innovation, it serves one purpose – to physically alert every rider about oil change.

The Oil Meter is simple science – when oil volume drops, the oil cap pops.