Electrotherm working on electric 4-wheeler

Electrotherm India's (ET) automotive division Indus Elec-Trans, which manufactures electric battery operated two-wheelers under the brand name of YO Bykes is developing its first four-wheeler in the form of a pick-up van.

The prototype is being developed at the company's R&D centre at Ahmedabad. The company has also hired a consultant to work on its Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project to explore possibilities of earning carbon credits for its electric vehicles manufacture.

Having achieved sales of 30,000 units of Yo Bykes by the end of the first year of its launch in March 2007, the company is planning to launch a higher powered scooter in the next two and half months after it obtains the Automotive Research Association of India's (ARAI) approvals. The scooter would be powered by 750 me and would cost around Rs 36,000.

The company's foray into the higher powered vehicle segment has come in to attract existing scooter users for whom speed is an issue for not switching to battery powered scooters.

Also, officials say the higher powered vehicle, which will be registered unlike the current 25 km per hour models would enable customers to obtain vehicle loans from banks and financial institutions who are wary of offering finance for unregistered vehicles. Currently, customers can obtain vehicle finance through the company's tie-up with ICICI Bank and GE Money.

"We are projecting sales of 1 lakh to 1.5 lakh units of YO Bykes for the year 2007-2008 and a further 2.5 to 3 lakh units during the year 2008-2009. We expect nearly 65-70 per cent of the revenues to come from the higher power vehicle to be launched shortly since it is competitively priced among other scooters in the market," said Avinash Bhandari, Director-Operations, Electrotherm India.

The next launch for the company after the 750 watts vehicle is the electric three-wheeler which is also awaiting ARAI approvals. The three wheeler would most likely be launched in the next four to six months and would be designed to take in heavy loads. The prototype of hybrid bus is under R&D stage and will take at least two more years to be launched, said Bhandari.

Currently the Yo Byke range consists of five models ranging between Rs 16,000 to Rs 29,000. It has also augmented its manufacturing capacity at its plant in Kutch from 96,000 units per annum to 2,88,000 units per annum.