The electric two-wheeler market is expected to boom in the future even though market penetration still remains well below 10 percent mark. Nevertheless, the growing interest has led to the birth of many electric two-wheeler manufacturing startups who want a piece of this promising market.
A few weeks ago, the internet broke out with the news of Patanjali bringing out its electric scooter. Now, the Patanjali brand needs no introduction but a company who deals in so-called Ayurvedic products like medicines, soaps, cosmetics, etc., building an electric scooter seems a far-fetched idea in the first place.
Patanjali electric scooter: Is there one really?
It will be quite interesting to see if Yog Guru Baba Ramdev, who is the face of the Patanjali brand, turns up on our TV screens on an electric scooter explaning its features and specification, and how he and Patanjali are spearheading the “Atma Nirbhar Bharat” campaign.
Earlier this month, a few websites revealed a few details about this e-scooter from Patanjali. Here are a few details as mentioned in the website EVMechanica about the Patanjali e-scooter.
| Specifications | Details |
| Max range | 440 km |
| Battery type | Lithium ion (detachable) |
| Charging time | 4-5 hours |
| Top speed | 60 kmph |
| Price | Rs 14,000 (introductory) |
| Weight | 75-80 kg |
| Braking system | Drum (front & rear) |
| Available colours | White, Blue, Grey, Black |
One good look at the table and anyone with a sane mind or a little knowledge about automobiles will know that these specs are a little too good to be true. For starters, the scooter claims a range of 440 km on a single charge. The highest claimed single-charge range for an electric scooter in India is held by Simple One with 248 km, which by the way hasn’t been tested by any media outlet in the country for its real-world range yet.
For reference, the Simple One packs a 5.0 kWh battery pack. Similarly, the recently-launched Ultraviolette Tesseract boasts of a 261 km range on a single charge courtesy of 6 kWh battery pack. That said, the battery placement is more like a motorcycle. Fitting a battery anything larger than 6 kWh in a scooter with a traditional design will be an uphill challenge.
What makes the range of 440 km even more hysterical is the fact that Patanjali hasn’t even declared the exact battery capacity. But the data published in the websites claim the battery will be a detachable unit, quite advanced we must admit. And if you haven’t yet burst out of laughter or started scratching your head, here’s something more bizarre.
The introductory price for the Patanjali is claimed to be Rs 14,000, which is cheaper than an average mid-budget smartphone. We checked if this story broke out on April 1 to see if this was a prank. Turns out this news broke out a month later. So unless Patanjali has unearthed something which automakers all across the globe with some high-end research and development facilities haven’t been able to, it is very same to assume that this is FAKE NEWS!!