India's first E-bike gearing up for launch

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A company made up of 24 engineers, funded by founders of Ola, is getting ready to launch the country's first electric motorcycle.

Pune-based Tork Motorcycle will launch the T6X, a battery-powered motorcycle with a range of 100 kms, as claimed by the promoters, in the next two months.

While no less than 12 companies have launched electric scooters, bicycles and cars in India so far no company ventured to build and commercially launch electric motorcycle.

Kapil Shelke, Director, Tork Motorcycles said, "This is a ground up new bike developed by us which uses proprietary technology. We have had five prototypes which even raced on international circuits. We are looking to launch the T6X commercially in 5-6 cities to begin with in a couple of months".

The company is hopeful of getting the ARAI certification shortly and commence sales in Pune, Delhi and Bengaluru followed by Mumbai and Hyderabad. The bike which has a top speed of 85 kmph will be positioned against a typical 125cc bike priced at Rs 55,000.

A full charge on the Lithium Ion batteries will take around two hours a 80 per cent charge can be done in one hour. The batteries can last for 80,000-100,000 kms. The bike will also have a USB charger, on-board navigation assist and integration with Android/iOS app.

While pricing and product development cost details will be disclosed by the company closer to launch, it hopes to sell at least 10,000 units of the bike in the first year of launch. A new manufacturing plant is being set up at Chakan, Pune which aims to sell 60,000 bikes in five years.

The company has already raised first round of angel funding from a host of marquee investors including Bhavish Agarwal and Ankit Bhati of Ola and a group of other investors led by Harpreet Grover, CoCubes Co-founder and Chief executive.

Company executives also said that it will explore the possibility of retailing the motorcycle through online platforms like Amazon or Flipkart besides independent dealerships. It also plans to open several charging stations, at least two of which are operational in Pune.

Thanks to government initiatives like National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020 and FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) sales of electric vehicles (EV) last financial year zoomed nearly 38 per cent. Total EVs sales for the fiscal 2015-16 stood at 22,000 units (20,000 two wheelers and 2,000 four-wheelers) as compared to 16,000 EVs sold during 2014-15, according to Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles.