Royal Enfield plans to launch its first electric bike in two years

The company is evaluating the market requirements and the business prospect for electric motorcycles in the country

Eicher Motors, the manufacturer of the Royal Enfield (RE) bikes, is planning to introduce its first electric bike in India in the next two years, The Economic Times (ET) has reported. Managing Director Siddharth Lal said that the company will install a production facility of 150,000. The production of this first RE electric bike will be started in a modular fashion, Lal said.

Notably, RE dominates the premium motorcycle market in India with a dominating share of about 90 per cent. The company said that it has constituted a commercial team to look for the market requirements for its first electric motorcycle, the report added.

The report quoted Siddharth Lal as saying, "We are currently testing the prototype and will bring in a disruptive product. We have put together a team to look into the commercial side of this business."

Major two-wheeler manufacturers in the country, Hero MotoCorp, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI), and Bajaj Auto are also gearing up to challenge RE's dominance in the market. To this end, these companies plan to introduce around a dozen mid-weight motorcycles in the next few months. Notably, Royal Enfield's Classic 350 and Bullet 350 have ruled the Indian market in the mid-weight category.

As a part of their plans, Bajaj-Triumph launched two 400cc motorcycles in India namely, Speed 400 and Scrambler 400. Hero MotoCorp is likely to begin the delivery of its Harley Davidson X440 which it has developed in collaboration with the American company, Harley Davidson.

To counter the competition, Royal Enfield is also working on a 440cc Scram which will further strengthen Royal Enfield's product line-up. The Scram is expected to be launched within a year. RE plans to launch three bikes in the Indian market. All three bikes will be powered by a 350-450cc engine. The bike manufacturer is also preparing a launch a bobber version of the Classic, an Autocar India report said.