Electric bikes come charging on to Indian highways

The Nextgen bikes are here, and they?re not Townies or XVS1300A Midnight Stars. Riding a wave of public discontent over rising fuel prices, Ultra Motor, Electrotherm (India) and ACE Motors are driving out the green-wheelers: battery-charged bikes (35-50 kms per charge; the ?socket-friendly? charges take 3-4 hours), high on torque and the ?good looks? factor, low on sound ? and zero on emission.

The Nextgen bikes are here, and they’re not Townies or XVS1300A Midnight Stars. Riding a wave of public discontent over rising fuel prices, Ultra Motor, Electrotherm (India) and ACE Motors are driving out the green-wheelers: battery-charged bikes (35-50 kms per charge; the ‘socket-friendly’ charges take 3-4 hours), high on torque and the ‘good looks’ factor, low on sound — and zero on emission.

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Internal combustion engines (ICE)-propelled two-wheelers give you 90 paise/km; eBikes will give you 10 paise/km (with battery maintenance, it could go up to 15 paise/km). And the mean machines will come with price tags lesser than the ICE variants.

ACNielsen conducted a 10-city survey across India (markets with populations of 5 lakh-plus) to get a better grip on the eBike: 62 per cent reacted “positively”; 28 per cent “extremely positively”; and 30 per cent were keen to buy such a bike.

“In India, 9 million bicycles are sold every year,” says Deba Ghoshal, director, marketing (India), Ultra Motor, that plans to launch its brand of U-Bykes and U-Scootis (U=ultra-powered) in October. “Most owners are looking for an upgrade, and we’ll offer price-effective variants for this category.” There would also be “the converts” who’d switch gears to eBikes from their gas-guzzlers. The other big catchment will be teenagers and kids: some variants don’t need licence or registration because there’s speed control mechanism. “They’re also safer,” adds Ghoshal.