All electric vehicles run on battery power. Just like the cells used in a torch or mobile phone, even these have to be replaced with time. The charge retaining capacity diminishes over time. Jeetender Sharma, the founder of Okinawa Autotech told Express Drives that their scooters which run on Lithium ion batteries might need a replacement only after five years. The company offers a three year warranty on its Li-ion battery powered scooters. On asked the cost for the replacement, Jeetender confirmed that it is around Rs 20,000. This cost though is expected to go down in the coming years, with the large scale commercialisation of these batteries. Currently all Okinawa dealerships are equipped with a 3S facility. This means a customer need not worry about going elsewhere to replace the battery. All these dealerships also have stocks of the battery.
On being probed where they dispose the batteries, Jeetender says that each dealership has to keep the old battery and then it is sent back to the Okinawa headquarters. These batteries are recycled. Jeetender further says that it is too early to talk about Lithium ion battery recycling. The company though aims to have a proper ecosystem in place for the same, soon.
Okinawa recently launched the low-speed Lite electric scooter for Rs 60,000. The company says that it has received a good response to the vehicle so far. Buoyed by this, the company aims to have a new electric motorcycle in the market in April 2020. The motorcycle will have a 150km range and a 100-120kmph top speed. It will have a removable Lithium ion battery and have a chain drive as well. There will be many artificial intelligence aids associated with it. Express Drives is the first from the media to have seen the vehicle sketches. We will say that it will not be revolutionary in terms of design and instead have an acceptable form.
