Greaves Cotton will launch two high-speed electric two-wheelers in two years as it looks to benefit from the growing demand for battery-powered vehicles in the country.
Nagesh Basavanhalli, Group CEO, Greaves Cotton, said: “We launched three products in the last two years. The focus for the next two years will be to get a couple of additional products which will have better range.”
The new launches will be under Ampere Vehicles, the Coimbatore-based company which Greaves acquired a few years ago. At present, Ampere has two models, classified as performance scooters and four models as economy scooters.
“While we still have customers who want low-speed, lead acid battery-powered vehicles, the high-speed, lithium ion-powered products have gained significant traction. Improvement in drive range, power and features are desired and that’s what we would be offering,” Basavanhalli added.
Following the increase in demand subsidy on electric two-wheelers by the Centre, Ampere announced a cut of Rs 9,000 on Magnus and Zeal electric scooters. Ampere’s last launch came in June last year, with Magnus Pro.
“It will be our desire and aspiration to have two product launches every year,” Basavanhalli added.
With the increased demand for high-speed models, Basavanhalli added that the company was able to substantially increase the average selling prices of Ampere vehicles.
“We play in the heart of the market, which is the Rs 35,000-Rs 90,000 segment. Our average selling price has gone up from Rs 35,000 to about Rs 60,000,” he added.
Greave’s e-mobility business added 132 dealerships in recent months, taking the total to 328 in over 250 locations across the country. Last year, the group sold 22,661 electric two-wheelers, up from 18,536 in FY20. The group claims to have a market share of 20 percent in the electric two-wheeler segment.
Working with e-commerce players for custom-built vehicles
Greaves Cotton is working with multiple e-commerce players to custom-build electric two-wheelers. He, however, declined to identify the companies.
“We are working with several big B2B (business to business) players to give them the vehicles they want. We have close to 50 tie-ups in the food delivery, retail and ride-sharing segments. A majority of our vehicles are B2C (business to customer) at the moment,” Basavanhalli added.
Greaves Cotton had signed an MoU with the Tamil Nadu government to invest about Rs 700 crore over 10 years for a plant with an annual capacity of 1 million units, with the initial production capacity being 1 lakh units per annum.
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