HMSI sets up dedicated unit for electric 2Ws in Karnataka; to roll out 10 lakh units per year by 2030

HMSI sets up dedicated unit for electric 2Ws in Karnataka; to roll out 10 lakh units per year by 2030

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India on Wednesday said it is setting up a separate unit at its Narsapura plant in Karnataka to roll out electric two-wheelers with the first two models expected to hit the market in the next fiscal itself.

The company aims to touch 10 lakh electric vehicles production capacity annually by 2030.

"Electric mobility is growing in India and our aim is to build the country's best EV business structure. To fulfil our EV business requirements we are coming up with a dedicated factory in Narsapura," Honda Motorcycle &Scooter India (HMSI) Managing Director, President and CEO Atsushi Ogata told reporters here.

Following the government's direction of Make in India and the focus on localisation, main components including battery and other critical components like PCU will be produced in-house, he added.

The motor will also be designed and manufactured locally, Ogata said.

"We aim to reach one million annual EV production at Narsapura by 2030," he said.

HMSI plans to bring in a dedicated platform on which multiple EV models with fixed and swappable batteries would be introduced.

Ogata said the company will utilise its existing sales network of around 6,000 touchpoints to come up with charging stations and for utilizing battery swapping.

Additionally, HMSI plans to leverage the overall ecosystem, including battery-swapping stations at petrol pumps, metro stations, and other locations, to provide convenient battery-swapping solutions for EV users.

Ogata noted that in line with Honda's global direction to increase electric vehicle and fuel cell vehicle unit sales ratio to 100% per cent by 2040, the company will continue to improve the efficiency of ICE engines with the introduction of flex-fuel engines and follow government direction for alternate fuels while expanding electrification of models and ecosystem.

"With our EV roadmap, now in the execution phase, we are taking substantial steps towards creating exclusive infrastructure for manufacturing a diverse range of electric vehicles. Parallelly, we are also investing in the development of EV technologies, charging infrastructure and aftersales services," he said.

HMSI , which sold over 40 lakh two-wheelers in the domestic market this fiscal, has initiated Project Vidyut to introduce a new customer journey that caters to the demand of electrification age.

As a part of this project, HMSI will launch two new two electric two-wheelers in FY2024. The first one, a mid-range Electric Vehicle and the second, a swappable battery type.

Elaborating on the company's business direction in the next fiscal, Ogata said the company will complete the transition of its existing model line-up to the latest OBD2 regulation and E20 fuel compliance in the first half of the next financial year.

He noted that HMSI will be expanding exports to 58 countries with 20 models in FY24.

The company currently exports 18 models to over 38 countries.

Ogata said the company also plans to soon start a new assembly line for scooters with an additional capacity of 6 lakh units at its Vithalapur plant in Gujarat.

HMSI currently has four plants in the country with an installed production capacity of around 52 lakh units per annum.