Ready to ride bikes without sweating it out and mobikes without shelling out a bomb on petrol.

British auto technology company Ultra Motors, backed by private equity investors including Proventec and the Khemkas, is close to striking deals with some of the large 2&3-wheeler manufacturers in the country for battery-powered motorcycles, bikes and scooters. It is also in negotiations with an Indian company for a possible joint venture for a greenfield manufacturing facility for electric vehicles.

As a part of the deal, Ultra would provide its motors, through its OEM supplier based in Gujarat, to the vehicle manufacturers. The products—ebikes , escooters and emobikes—would in turn be manufactured by the existing 2-wheeler companies with co-branding arrangement with Ultra. In addition, Ultra is also looking to launch its own branded products in the future.

Without disclosing the names of the prospective partners Paul Dyson, CEO of Ultra Motors, said that the USP of the project would be lower cost of the vehicle coupled with significantly lower maintenance costs: “Given the growth in 2-wheeler demand in India and other factors including rising fuel costs it is the right to launch.