Electrotherm plans Rs 40 cr R&D spend

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Electrotherm (India) Ltd, which manufactures electric and hybrid vehicles under the brand name ‘YObykes’, is planning to invest Rs 40 crore in research and development (R&D) activities and in setting up a battery and a motor manufacturing facility in China. The company manufactures ‘YObykes’ range under its division Indus Elec-trans.

Interacting with the media here on Tuesday, B K Vaishya, senior vice president (R&D) of Electrotherm said, “we will soon be putting in place a battery manufacturing unit with a capacity of 4 lakh batteries per annum and a motor manufacturing plant in China.”

“Works are in process at the plant in China. In the next 6-8 months it would be ready. This will help us to increase the level of localisation from the present level of 85% across all our models. The project will call for an investment of Rs 40 crore spread over a period of time including R&D works. The investment will be over and above the Rs 60 crore pumped in so far in the facility.”

The company has a good product range. Of that, YOSpeed and YOSmart are the flagship models. “OSpeed which comes with 750 watts gives good competition to scooters and scooterettes in the 75cc to 100 cc category. We are also planning to launch a high powered vehicle which will compete with 125 cc motorcycles. It should hit the market in the next 6 months,” he said.

Since the launch in February 2006, YObykes have been widely accepted across the country. Currently, there are about 46,000 satisfied customers.

“We are looking at a target of crossing 1 lakh customers by next year. The overall electric scooters market is expected to touch a level of 5 lakh vehicles in two years time. So to cope up with the demand we are planning to add three more assembly lines in our existing facility in Kutch,” he said.