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Motorcycles are set to power electric vehicle adoption in India in the coming months as traditional manufacturers vie with startups to roll out battery powered versions that match their petrol-driven counterparts in performance and range.
The breakthrough in performance could propel e-motorcycle penetration to over 30% of the overall motorcycle market by 2030, up from less than 1% today, Bain India said in a recent report.
Several startups including Revolt Motors, Matter Electric Motorcycles, Orxa Energies, Oben Electric, Ultraviolette, Komaki, Tork Motors, and Kabira Mobility, and some of the traditional motorcycle majors including Royal Enfield are firming up new electric motorcycle launches over the next few months.
“We are at the cusp of an exciting era of electrification in the motorcycle segment that presents breakout investment opportunities in the Indian market,” said Vasudha Madhavan, founder and CEO of Ostara Advisors, an EV-focused investment bank. “We expect to see an EV startup unicorn emerge in the electric motorcycle space in the next 3-5 years,” she added.
Till now, e-scooters were riding the EV wave in the two-wheeler space. That is likely to change with several high performance, zero emission e-motorcycles set to hit the Indian roads at prices comparable to those run on petrol. In the next 12-18 months, electric motorcycles will become mainstream, said Mohal Lalbhai, founder and CEO of Matter Electric Motorcycles. “While there is a huge pent-up demand, the choices were limited,” he said.
Advanced Technology in Play
Now the electric motorcycle majors are able to achieve price and range parity with the ICE counterparts, thanks to falling battery prices. If a 300-cc ICE (internal combustion engine) motorcycle retails at INR 3.5-4 lakh, its equivalent electric counterpart will be priced around INR 3.8 lakh, e-motorcycle makers said. In the case of range, the electric bike on a single charge can run 307 km while its ICE counterpart can run 250 km on a full tank of petrol, they said. Within the ICE motorcycle segment, the mid and premium segment is growing faster than entry level bikes, and the same trend is expected for e-motorcycles.“So, we see a consumer preference for higher end electric motorcycles, an equivalent to 400-500 cc
ICE bikes,” said Narayan Subramaniam, cofounder and chief executive of Ultraviolette Automotive, which currently retails one model at around INR 3.8 lakh, only out of Bangalore. The company plans to increase dealerships to 15 cities this year. Electric motorcycles are getting increasingly advanced in terms of instant torque, ride-by-wire technology, and over-the-air software updates, which will see an increasing uptick in sales, industry executives said.
“Consumers are not going to move to electric unless you give a product equal in performance to their ICE counterpart,” said Ranjita Ravi, cofounder of Orxa Energies. “This is now possible as we are able to pack enough power at 80% less cost, thanks to the falling lithium prices.”
British luxury carmaker Aston Martin Lagonda will continue to produce traditional combustion-engine vehicles for as long as legally possible, its boss told UK media this week. “For as long as we’re allowed to make ICE (internal combustion engine) cars, we’ll make them.
Vivek Srivatsa, chief commercial officer, Tata Passenger Electric Mobility spoke exclusively to ETBrandEquity about the Tata Motors integration into IPL and how branding and performance are interlinked to secure growth. According to him, success can be measured in the IPL if Tata Motors grows EV sales from 14 per cent to 20 per cent and the category doubles.
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