Cynosure Enterprises Limited, a Hyderabad-based manufacturer of battery-operated bikes under the Yash brand, is in talks with two European companies to roll out a 100-kilometre per hour (kmph)-speed electric bike in the country.
Already launched in Holland, the US and Italy in January 2008, the hyper speed e-bike is expected to hit the Indian roads by 2010.
"We are on the verge of forging an MoU with one of the companies to obtain the technology and source 15 per cent of the parts from them. The rest will be indigenously developed," Mandali S Rao, managing director of Cynosure, told Business Standard.
Fitted with a 2,500-watt motor and powered by a nickel metal hybrid battery, the hyper bike will have a four-speed shifter and can run for 300 km per single charge. It will have an under-seat compartment to accommodate a full-sized helmet and glove box besides provision to charge a cellphone from the integrated 12-volt power outlet. "The hyper bike will be priced anywhere between Rs 62,000 and Rs 65,000 and we expect around Rs 40 crore sales from this in 2010," Rao said.
Stating that the steep hike in oil prices has been fuelling sales of battery-driven bikes, he said the company had lined up newer models for launch. The company is currently developing Yash Clone, a hybrid scooter that teams a petrol engine and an electric battery.
"Clone is being developed conforming to the Euro-II standards. The scooter, which gives a mileage of 60 km on petrol and 44 km on battery, will be priced at Rs 45,000 and will be launched in 2010. Prior to this launch will be the rollout of Yash Whizz, a 950-watt motorcycle with a payload of 226 kg targeted at the rural markets. Whizz, priced at Rs 35,000, has already been certified by the Pune-based Automobile Research Association of India and will be launched in the first week of September this year," Rao said.
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Seeing the demand for battery-run two-wheelers, which is expected to touch 150,000 units during the current financial year, Rao said the company was planning to expand its production capacity.
Cynosure is setting up an assembly unit each in Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan with a total outlay of Rs 15 crore, which will have a combined capacity of 25,000 unit a year. This will be in addition to the 14,400-unit per year capacity that the company has at its two facilities in Hyderabad.
"We are currently in talks with a couple of venture capital firms to raise Rs 20 crore, part of which will be utilised to finance our capacity expansion. The new assembly units will be operational by October this year," Rao said.
Cynosure, founded in 2005, recorded revenues of Rs 5.6 crore last year. It expects to close the current fiscal with Rs 20 crore.