Vida lineup will expand with a more affordable model; e-bike will be equivalent to 450cc ICE motorcycle.
Hero MotoCorp’s first electric motorcycle will likely be a premium one, priced around Rs 4–5 lakh, and the company is likely to showcase its first model in the next 2-3 years. Hero also has plans to expand its Vida electric scooter lineup with two new models in the next financial year, in addition to a new electric scooter for B2B last-mile connectivity.
Gupta said the company will launch three electric scooters in 2024-2025. “Over the next 12 months or FY2025, we will launch a mid-priced scooter and an economically priced scooter through the Vida range,” he said.
The third electric scooter will be a business-to-business product, with an eye on the growing last-mile connectivity sector. Meanwhile, Vida’s retail presence has increased to over 100 cities and there are plans to further expand it to 100 more next year. Between July–September 2023, Gupta said Vida sales were over 2,000 units per month on average.
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“Hopefully when the next Hero World happens, you should see some of the electric motorcycle concepts or bikes as well. But it will be in the higher performance segment, like a 450cc equivalent bike. It will not be economical or in the commuter segment. Bikes in the range of Rs 4-5 lakh, that is what you are going to see”, said CEO, Niranjan Gupta on the sidelines of biennial Hero World 2024.
Gupta believes that the electrification of motorcycles will take a longer period, unlike the scooter segment, as the powertrains of the electric variant required to match the power of equivalent motorcycles are costly. “The only case for EV in motorcycles is high-performance models where customers can pay a price of Rs 4 – 10 lakh.”
As we had reported earlier, Hero MotoCorp has partnered with California-based Zero Motorcycles to develop premium electric motorcycles. The Indian two-wheeler maker has made an equity investment of up to USD 60 million in Zero Motorcycles under this partnership.
“It’s not about just launching that (high-performance) product. It’s also then we use that powertrain, understand that, and later on see the application of that at a lower version to commuter motorcycles. So that’s why we have tied up with Zero”, Gupta said.
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KIRAN MURALI