Why India's charged up about its first e-mobike

Tork Motorcycles will launch the T6X in the next 2 months

Racetrack is their favourite laboratory - made up of 24 engineers and funded by the founders of Ola, Pune-based Tork Motorcycles is getting ready to launch the country’s first electric motorcycle.

Tork will launch the T6X, a battery-powered motorcycle, with a purported range of 100 km, in the next two months.

While no less than 12 companies launching electric scooters, bicycles and cars in India, no company has, as yet, attempted to build and commercially launch an electric motorbike.

“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 five to six cities to begin with, in a couple of months,” said Kapil Shelke, director, Tork Motorcycles.

The company hopes to get Automotive Research Association of India certification 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 125 cc bike, priced at Rs 55,000.

A full charge on lithium ion batteries will take two hours. The batteries can last for 80,000-100,000 km. The bike will also have a Universal Serial Bus, or 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 the launch date, it hopes to sell at least 10,000 units of the bike in the first year of the launch alone; and 60,000 bikes in five years. A new manufacturing plant is also being set up at Chakan in Pune.

The company has already raised the first round of angel funding from a host of marquee investors, including Bhavish Aggarwal 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 they 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 2020 and FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) India, sales of electric vehicles (EVs) last financial year zoomed nearly 38%. Total EV sales for FY16 stood at 22,000 units (20,000 two-wheelers and 2,000 four-wheelers), compared to 16,000 EVs sold during FY15, according to the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles.