Artem Energy Future plans to develop e-scooter

Homegrown electric vehicle technology company Artem Energy Future today announced its plans to develop an electric scooter named Artem M9.

Artem M9 will be the safest e-scooter equipped with ADAS (advanced driver-assistance systems), previously seen only in luxury cars, and will run at a maximum speed of 90 km/hour with a range of 100 kms per charge, the company said in a release.

Charging of the scooter will be provided by an on-board fast charger, and by swapping batteries.

"Range anxiety is a key factor against the adoption of electric vehicles. With the M9, we mitigate this by cracking that psychological barrier of 100 kms of range, as well as provide the flexibility of charging or swapping, as is convenient," said Rajit Arya, founder and chief executive officer, Artem Energy Future.

The company is in the process of raising series A round of investment and plans to have three such scooters in the portfolio over the next five years.

The M9 will be followed by the M9-A and a mid-mass market scooter, the M6, the release said.

India's two-wheeler market stands at 20 million per annum, which is expected to grow to 36 million by 2022-23, the company said, adding while four-wheeler safety continues to take strides with clear regulatory will, two-wheelers tend to lag, with almost token regulation requiring ABS (anti-lock braking system) and CBS (combined braking system) on two-wheelers going forward.

India has the world's worst traffic safety record with 1.4 lakh fatalities last year, of which 35 per cent were on two wheelers, according to the release.

A majority of two-wheeler accidents are caused by rider error and lack of due attention, it said adding the company is working on safety with a two-step approach - collision prevention and collision alert.

Artem's flagship M9-A scooters will have cameras and radars to allow 360-degree awareness up to a 100m radius, the release said.