Hero Electric chasing sales target of 70,000 units this year

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Kochi, May 12: Positioning itself as maker of environment friendly vehicle, Hero Electric, a 100 per cent subsidiary of the Hero Group, was targetting sales of 70,000 units this year, a 250 per cent increase compared to the previous year's 21,000 units, a top official said on Monday.

Aiming to become a global leader in Electric Vehicle (EV) cateogry, the company would be exporting 10 per cent of its total volume, Managing Dirctor Naveen Munjal told a press meet in Kochi.

To cater to the increasing demand for EV models, Hero Electric has doubled production capacity at its Ludhiana factory from 220 units a day to 440 units a day. It would invest about Rs 80 crore for further expansion and for R&D.

Announcing the launch of a new range of Electric scooters in the low and high speed EV category, he said his company's vision was to provide a low cost, high performanace, non polluting vehicle to the common man.

The southern states have been identified as high potential territories for electric vehicles and accelearated growth was being forseen, he said. Kerala reported sales of over 2,000 units in 2007-08 and was targetting sale of over 6,000 units this year. The dealership network would be doubled from the present nine in the state, he said.

While Hero Electric already has two successful low speed electric scooter models in the market-- Hero Maxi and Hero Optima, the company will soon be introducing a new range of Electric scooters in the high speed category as well, he said.

Hero Electric, which entered the EV segment in 2007, has touched a sales of over 20,000 electric scooters last year itself, Munjal said.

Electric bikes, a new cateogry in the country, were witnessing a good growth. EVs were targeted at young teens between 14-18 years, women and the elederly.

The scooters can run anywhere around 70 km on a single charge of the battery and the cost works out to be about 10 paise per km which makes it very cost effective, Munjal claimed.

With the fuel price soaring, the demand for the electric scooters, priced at Rs 28,000 to Rs 30,000, would go up, he said.