AHMEDABAD: It’s electrified to say the least. Phones on the sales desk of electric-vehicle (EV) market have not ceased ringing since two months. The EV market, still battling infancy and stagnation in the Sub-Continent, saw close to 60% rise in sales that has infused new life into the Rs 300-crore EV market. EV makers now eye a three-fold increase in sales this financial year.

All EV players, including domestic market leader Electrotherm (India), Hero Electric and the multinational Ultra Motor, are trying hard to make most of the situation. While the volatile crude put brakes on almost all automobile players, it has given a big boost to the EV segment. Nearly 9,400 EVs were grabbed by consumers during June-July 2008. Market analysts point out that the country saw sales of EV pick up from 3,000 per month to 4,500 during the period.

“While the market for EVs stagnated in 2007-08, it got a boost no sooner crude prices went up. We received a phenomenal response from customers eager to shed petrol for a cheaper option,” says Electrotherm director Avinash Bhandari. New growth will happen in EV segment rapidly for those looking for reasonable speed, good price and low operating cost as petrol vehicles growth stagnates, added chairman and chief technical officer of the company Mukesh Bhandari. “From 1-lakh EV sales, India will see 5-lakh vehicles sold annually by 2010,” he added.

From sales that had dipped to 1,200 per month by March-April 2008, the company saw volumes pick up to the tune of 2,500 vehicles per month in June and July, general manager (sales and marketing) Pradeep Dugar said. While Electrotherm sold 20,000 YOBykes (with YOSpeed alone contributing 10,000 units) and recorded a turnover of Rs 46 crore from the sales in 2007-08, the company believes that with higher crude prices, it will be able to achieve a sales target of 60,000 units in 2008-09. “Soaring crude and increasing acceptability of EV in the domestic market will help us achieve the target,” Mr Bhandari said.

Domestic electronic bike makers are expecting a 5-10 per cent jump in their sales on the back of a steep hike in fuel prices, which is giving jitters to the automobile companies. Within a day of the announcement of the increase in fuel prices by Union Government, the electronic-bike manufacturers have witnessed record sales in their bikes and received lot of enquiries for setting up dealers network across the country.

“Just a day after the announcement of the hike in fuel prices, we have sold 300 e-bikes in a single day which is our highest ever sales per day,” Hero Cycles Managing Director Vijay Munjal said. Besides, the company, which has 100 dedicated dealers across the country, has also received record number of enquiries from people across the country to take company’s dealership for selling Hero Electric bike. “A lot of people have expressed interest in having our company’s dealership which will ultimately provide impetus to e-bike sales,” he said.

Industry experts are of the view that e-bike industry is poised to observe close to 10 per cent growth in sales in short term in view of rising petrol prices as people would prefer e-bike, whose running cost is 10 paise per km, in order to reduce their fuel bill. Presently, the e-bike market in the country stands at Rs 450 crore with the involvement of 40 players and it is expected to grow 10 times within next 4 years in the country.

Undoubtedly, it’s economy, convenience and zero emission that are the prime drivers for the electric two-wheeler category in major parts of the world. Today, with the prices of fuel spiralling to scary heights, there’s unwieldy pressure on corporate as well as business groups to ease the stress on the environment that’s already buckling under the pressure. E-Bikes, as a natural consequence, are here not just to provide a solution…they’re here for keeps!

Backed by numbers, Ghoshal makes a valid point. One litre of petrol gives you 50 km of transportation. One unit of power gives you 70 km to 100 km of transportation. One litre of petrol cost approximately Rs 50. And one unit of power in India cost approximately Rs 4 to Rs 5. This makes it less than 10 paise per km in an electric two-wheeler compared to almost 1 rupee per km in a petrol two-wheeler. If you extrapolate this over a month, it leads to a saving of almost Rs 1,350 per month in a situation where a person rides his bike for 50 km every day. And in 24 months, the savings made enable the user to recover the cost of the vehicle! The consumer virtually is assured of a clean form of mobility, that too free, when he is opting for an electric two-wheeler.

Hero Electric’s managing director Naveen Munjal feels that there are four basic compelling reasons for e-bikes to stay – viz. the depleting stocks of non renewable crude oil; the ever-increasing prices of petrol; their utility as a viable non-polluting economical means of transport, and lastly, their comfort by way of lower sound emissions, convenience of doing away with petrol pump visits, and lack of maintenance costs.

As Chairman and CTO, Electrotherm, Mukesh Bhandari puts it “The Electric 2 Wheelers category will grow exponentially over the next few years with large national level players investing substantial amount of money in manufacturing facility, technology, indigenization, product development, brand and quality improvement thereby making available electric vehicles suitable for Indian Roads”.

Avinash Bhandari, Director Operation of Electrotherm adds, “The launch of high speed / high powered electric two wheelers have brought electric vehicles in the main stream scooter category. With the availability of such high powered vehicles, people have started switching over from petrol two wheelers to electric two wheelers. This trend will gain momentum with the launch of further higher power electric vehicles.

In fact, a much-needed Government support has already started coming in from a few environmentally conscious states like Rajasthan, Karnataka, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Pondicherry, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh to name a few, in the form of RTO exemption / reduction, VAT reduction and subsidies to customers in order to promote electric / battery powered vehicles. A similar move by other Governments will go a long way in supporting this green vehicle.”

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/