Nanowires are widely considered to be key elements in future disruptive electronics and photonics. This paper presents the first detailed study of transport mechanisms in single-crystalline InAs nanowires synthesized by a cheap solvothermal wet chemical method. From detailed analyses of temperature-dependent current-voltage characteristics, it was observed that contacted nanowires operate in a linear transport regime at biases below a critical cross-over voltage. For larger biases, the transport changes to space-charge-limited conduction assisted by traps. The characteristic parameters such as free electron concentration, trap concentration and energy distribution, and electron mobility were all calculated. It was demonstrated that the nanowires have key electrical properties comparable to those of InAs nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Our results might pave the way for cheap disruptive low-dimensional electronics such as resistive switching devices. © 2020 IOP Publishing Ltd.