TVS Motor Company is developing electric two-wheelers, and the company plans to launch the products soon, reports PTI.
Aniruddha Haldar, TVS Motors’ vice president (marketing) commuter motorcycles, scooters and corporate brand told PTI:
We are very keen on that (electric) space and as a major OEM in the two-wheeler space we believe that we will have a strong presence in electric segment as well. We have been working on it for quite some time. In the past we had products (electric) too. We continue to work on that and as technology has grown so has our capability. With emerging technologies in the vertical, the company is now able to build out an offering that would fulfil actual need of the customer on the ground. We will be in the market soon.
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Haldar told the news agency that the company will launch an electric motorcycle as well as an electric scooter. Last month, an electric scooter from TVS was spotted testing. The scooter was based on TVS’ popular petrol scooter, the Jupiter. TVS’ upcoming electric two-wheelers will rival products from Hero Electric and Lohia Auto in the Indian market. Bajaj is also planning to enter the segment under the brand “Urbanite” before 2020.
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As per the report, the sales of electric scooters are only 15,000-20,000 units annually, compared to the annual sales of 1.7 crore petrol two-wheelers in the country. Most of the scooters use lead-acid batteries which limit their range and reliability. Scooters with lithium-ion batteries are still considerably high compared to their petrol counterparts, despite subsidies.
In the first quarter of the current financial year TVS sold 2.49 lakh scooters. The TVS Jupiter has helped the company capture a market share of 15.12 percent, overtaking Hero MotoCorp’s scooter business. It is likely that the upcoming TVS electric scooter will be based on the Jupiter.
