Ultra Motor in talks for e-bike foray
Vivek Sinha NEW DELHI
BRITISH electric vehicle company Ultra Motor is in an advanced stage of negotiations with Indian two-wheeler makers for striking manufacturing deals for e-bike and escooters. The electric powered two wheelers are scheduled to be rolled out around November this year with the entry level e-bikes expected to sport a tag of about Rs 12,000. The vehicle will have an electric motor which will run on rechargeable batteries. Ultra Motor has roped in VJ Prakash, who was earlier the managing director of Moser Baer’s European operations, as its managing director for India. It has also appointed Ganesh Mahalingam as its director of business development and sales. “We are talking to few people including few two wheeler manufacturers. In the future there may be more manufacturers including some independent entrepreneurs or power solutions company who see a business opportunity. Our USP will be zero emission and a low maintenance vehicle,” said Mr Prakash. Deba Ghoshal, director marketing for Ultra Motors India said, “We are initially targeting top 15 cities in the country. The products will be manufactured by our partners and sold through a new retail set up. We will be handling the marketing communication for the products.” According to the plan, Ultra will supply the kit including motors and controllers to the partner who will be investing in tooling for the body of the electric vehicle. Ultra will be setting up 50 retail outlets over the next 18 months. The products which will be branded under the name of the two wheeler maker will follow a branding initiative similar to chip maker Intel as ‘powered by Ultra’. In the first phase Ultra will launch two products including its entry level e-bike which will have a speed limit of about 25 kmph and will not require a registration. The other product will be its e-bike plus which will have a speed limit of about 35 kmph and will require registration and is expected to sport a tag of about Rs 15,000. The ebike plus will be specially targeted at corporates having a fleet like a pizza delivery chain or a courier company among others. The e-scooters will be launched in early 2007 and will start with price tag of about Rs 20,000.
