Dinesh Arjun, Co-founder and CEO of electric motorcycle Raptee said that they were the only ones in India using their cell chemistry. “These are lithium-ion NMC (Nickle, Manganese, Cobalt) cells but there is a slight difference in the chemistry,” he said. The chemistries help us with providing the amount of power in this kind of form factor, without affecting the cell, and providing a longer battery life span, not just range, he told Autocar Professional.
What’s also unique about Raptee’s high voltage powertrain technology is that so far, this is a technology that was typically used in the passenger car industry. Therefore, this technology enables Raptee’s motorcycles to be compatible with CCS2 charging points, and it can be charged in the points currently being used for electric cars. This, Arjun says, will be a big game-changer for the electric two wheeler segment.
There is nobody in India who is using our cell chemistry, which was a boon and bane, as they have to specifically ensure that these cells come in on time and get here at the right quantity for us to make these cells, Arjun added.
“Last month only we cracked the code of sourcing it from two different countries.” So, we have a clear backup if something does go wrong. If there are any macroeconomic issues.
He explained that for cells they have recently diversified their sources and are sourcing from multiple countries.
For cells, what we have recently done is diversify our sources. We’re actually sourcing our cells from multiple countries now. “Though these energy cells are very similar to that which is being used in other electric two-wheelers in the market today, the specific cell chemistry that we use is unique (for us).”
Further explaining the in-house production of what they produce, Arjun explained that due to the high voltage drive train that the company has developed, a lot of these components need to be in-house.
“When the semiconductor crisis happened, it made it very clear that the semiconductor supply chain is very fragile. So we started partnering with ICE manufacturers,” he said. Raptee was amongst the first few OEMs to get agreements done with players such as Texas Instruments and Infineon for supply for a 24 to 36-month period (for chips). “While there were issues, in the long run, it made sense for us because we were very clear in terms of the components we needed to source for the products,” he added.
Talking about the battery pack, he said that they have a ‘huge amount’ of intellectual property (IP) and control every part of how the battery pack is actually manufactured and that battery packs are manufactured in-house only.
“We control every part of how the battery pack is actually manufactured,” he noted. Raptee will compete with Ultraviolette, Revolt, and Tork in the premium electric motorcycle category.