Electric bikes catch fancy, Cos gear up for more demands

NEW DELHI: With more and more urban middle class taking up energy saving and eco-friendly two-wheelers, electric bike manufacturers are gearing up to meet the demands of a market, which has already crossed a value size of Rs 125 crore.

Players like Ultra Motor India, a joint venture between the Hero Group and UK's Ultratech, and Electrotherm India Ltd are revving up their plans to tap the opportunity.

"We are now finalising our dealerships across India. Currently we sell about 4000 units of e-bikes, but once our sales network is finalised, we are expecting a growth of 300 to 400 per cent in the first year," Ultra Motor India Managing Director VJ Prakash said.

This segment of two-wheeler market has been witnessing a steady growth, having clocked about 50,000 units last year on the back of demands from urban middle-class.

The entry of big players is helping in expanding the market, from which despite competition, the players are expecting to benefit.

"With their entry, problems associated with electric bikes such as after sales service, could easily be sorted out. It is expected that sales would pick up in the later half of this year," Electrotherm India Ltd AGM, Prashant Kumar said.

Electrotherm, which sells 'Yobykes' has already announced plans to invest about Rs 250 crore in its automobile business. It plans to sell about 1.5 lakh units by next year, up from the present 40,000 units. It has an installed capacity of 4.5 lakhs unit per annum. 

The e-bike makers are targeting a wide range of customers for their products, which do not require any registration and license to ride it.

"Ladies, youth below the age of 18, senior citizens and professionals and delivery boys are the main buyers in this segment," Kumar added.

The demand for these products is mainly coming from cities with a population of more than 5 lakhs and the customers are mostly daily commuters, Prakash said.

Despite the high potential, the e-bike segment still has to overcome hurdles such as underpowered performance, heavy batteries, less availability of spare parts and qualified mechanics, bad dealer network, the industry players feel.