Saera Electric, which manufactures e-rickshaws out of American bike maker Harley-Davidson’s former assembly facility in India, is readying an electric two-wheeler for launch in the next financial year.
The company had acquired the facility at Bawal, Haryana, for an undisclosed sum last year after Harley-Davidson stopped assembly operations in India.
It is waiting for clarification on the new rules on battery safety to commence homologation of the two-wheeler. The industry had sought clarity on the rules from the government and it is expected to come by the end of this year.
“We want to wait in case there are any further changes to the battery safety norms. We want to be compliant with the latest norms, post which we will send our product for certification,” managing director Nitin Kapoor said. After that, “we will launch commercially our first electric two-wheeler in the next 3-4 months”, he said.
The company expects the proposed entry into electric two-wheelers to help double its revenue to Rs 550-600 crore in the next fiscal year starting April, from a projected Rs 300 crore in the ongoing fiscal 2023. It had posted revenue of Rs 147 crore in the last fiscal year.
Saera Electric, which currently manufactures the Mayuri brand of e-rickshaws, also wants to launch electric four-wheelers for commercial operations at a later date.
“There is a strong shift to green mobility in the B2B segment with companies such as Zomato and Swiggy urging vendors to go electric. We see a lot of potential in these categories as charging infrastructure and swapping networks develop,” said Kapoor.
Apart from production and sale of its own products, Saera Electric will shortly start contract manufacturing for LML, a two-wheeler company that has announced plans to return to the Indian market. It is in talks with two other electric vehicle companies as well for contract manufacturing of two-wheelers at its plant.
It currently has capacity to produce 200,000 two-wheelers and 36,000 three-wheelers a year at Bawal. Kapoor expects a quarter of the company’s turnover in the medium term to come from contract manufacturing.
Apart from Haryana, Saera Electric has a plant at Bhiwadi, Rajasthan, and has also opened a small facility on lease at Kosi, Uttar Pradesh.
Saera Electric started operations in Delhi in 2011 with its Mayuri brand of e-rickshaws. The company claims to have pioneered the concept of e-rickshaws and made it popular in markets like Delhi, Agra and Nepal.
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