Scooters Ind Plans Electric Car With Rs 1.75 Lakh Tag

The central public sector undertaking two and three-wheeler manufacturer Scooters India Ltd (Sil) is all set to enter into the passenger car segment with an electric vehicle carrying a Rs 1.75 lakh price tag.

The electric car will be produced under a joint venture between Sil, the United States-based Amerigon and the Maini group of Bangalore. Negotiations with the partners are at an advanced stage. The exact equity distribution has not been finalised as yet, a senior company official told UNI here.

The cabinet has already decided to divest majority stake in the PSU. The government intends to retain 26 per cent stake finally. It has also hired the services of Coopers and Lybrand to find a strategic partner for Sil to technologically update its three-wheelers.

The company, which has recently come out of the red, is also developing the countrys first electric three-wheeler. The vehicle, he said, would hit the roads by the end of 1998.

This is currently being used in Kathmandu under the Vikram brandname. We are just waiting for the necessary basic infrastructure like charging stations to be set up in the country before rolling them out , he said.

The companys decision to foray into the passenger car segment was based on the need of numerous two-wheeler customers who always felt that they needed an all-weather vehicle but could not afford a car. Presently, there is no product between a good scooter at Rs 40,000 and a car at Rs 2.5 lakh. This scenario gave birth to the concept of a scooter car which is affordable to this segment of buyers whose need will be served, the official added.

Being an electric vehicle, the car would meet all future emission norms. However, the exact date of its rollout has not been finalised as yet. The charging stations for the cars need to be set up first. We cant launch the car without the basic infrastructure in place, he said.

A separate vendor base for sourcing motors, controllers and batteries for the electric car is currently being developed.

For the other basic needs like paint shop, die-casting, forging, and welding, Scooters Indias existing facility will be put into use. With a battery life of three years, the vehicle will have a running cost of around 12 paise per kilometer.

The electric car is expected to be a 48-volt product and run for 80 kms at a stretch at a maximum speed of 70 kmph. The company intends to commence operations for the electric vehicle by importing completely knocked down (CKD) kits immediately after an agreement is reached with the partners.

The company had turned around and started recording profits in the 1996-97 fiscal. It posted Rs 10 crore profit for the financial year ended March 31, 1997 as against a loss of Rs 9 crore during the financial year ended March 31,1995.

The turnaround was achieved by a combination of writing off interest of Rs 450.09 crore on a term loan of Rs 166.72 crore and the voluntary exit by about 1,200 workers two years ago.

The company had reduced the total employee strength to 2,000.