Why Hero MotoCorp will not make an electric motorcycle anytime soon, and will instead focus on e-scooters

Hero MotoCorp’s electrification journey begins in 2022, with the world’s biggest two-wheeler player set to launch its first electric scooter by March. While the e-scooter space is witnessing spectacular growth, Hero MotoCorp’s core business still lies in the motorcycle segment, and given the dearth of e-motorcycles in the country at present, it’s a valid question to ask – will Hero also roll out an electric motorcycle of its own? The answer to that, at least for the foreseeable future, is no, as Hero sees present-day limitations making e-motorcycles unfeasible on several fronts.

Motorcycles – which are heavily favoured by the Indian masses for their daily commutes – are more efficiency-oriented than scooters, and have the kind of power and high travel range to appeal to two-wheeler buyers, especially to those who live beyond urban settings. Additionally, there’s the cost factor – in Hero’s case, its most popular models, the Splendor and HF series, are also its most affordable models.

Hero MotoCorp doesn't see electric motorcycles becoming feasible anytime soon. Image: Hero MotoCorp/Zero Motorcycles/Tech2

To build an electric motorcycle that could offer the power and range to match petrol-powered bikes, Hero would need a substantial battery pack and a suitably powerful electric motor, which would drive costs up, and that is why the company believes pure electric motorcycles are “way off” as things stand.

“EV in motorcycles is way off in our view. There’s a big difference in the fuel efficiency of a motorcycle versus a scooter, especially entry-level motorcycles. Secondly, you also look at the pricing, which is different. Thirdly, if you look at the range and power required to suit the average motorcyclist’s usage and the distances they need to cover, if you are to cater to that consumer, the battery pack size and capacity has to be far more. On one hand, you have to cater to a lower price but with a higher battery capacity and higher range, because the use of a scooter, on daily average, would be far lower than a commuter motorcycle's”, said Niranjan Gupta, Chief Financial Officer at Hero MotoCorp, during a recent interaction with analysts.

The Revolt RV400 is currently the only electric motorcycle on sale in the country, and only faces competition from made-in-China kit bikes. Image: Revolt Motors

At present, the only options for those seeking to buy an electric motorcycle in India are the Revolt RV400 (which recently received a hefty price hike) and a glut of made-in-China kit bikes. Hero is of the opinion that given the current battery technology, the cost of incorporating a pure electric powertrain into a commuter or even a mid-capacity motorcycle would be too high, and that electric motorcycles currently only make sense for players operating in the premium segments.

“There are some players globally at the super-premium end where a customer can pay a huge premium for possessing that vehicle, but as far as commuter and right up to probably mid-capacity segment is concerned, they are way off”, remarked Gupta.

The Harley-Davidson LiveWire is currently the only all-electric motorcycle from a globally established bikemaker. Image: Harley-Davidson

In overseas markets, too, there aren’t many electric motorcycles to choose from – the only established bikemaker to have an e-motorcycle in its portfolio is Harley-Davidson, which rolled out the LiveWire a couple of years ago, and reception for the bike was lukewarm at best. Other major names in the business are in the process of readying electric motorcycles – Ducati will supply motorcycles to the all-electric MotoE class of MotoGP with an eye on eventually building e-bikes for road use, and Triumph is set to unveil its first electric superbike, currently known by its working name ‘Project TE-1’, in 2022.

For now, Hero MotoCorp believes it is scooters that will lead the proliferation of electric vehicles in the country in the time to come. The company is open to revisiting the idea of an electric motorcycle when present battery technology evolves significantly enough to make it feasible, or if alternative battery technologies prove to be more effective solutions.

“EV penetration, at least over the next few years, will be driven by scooters, and thereafter as battery technology develops, where you can pack more with less and with costs reduced; maybe other cell technologies (like solid-state batteries) emerge, only then can we look at it”, said Gupta on the prospects of an electric motorcycle from Hero MotoCorp.

Hero MotoCorp's first electric scooter is expected to have a fixed charging system. Image: Hero MotoCorp

Hero’s first electric scooter – which is expected to rival the likes of the Ather 450X and Ola S1 – has been developed at the Hero MotoCorp CIT in Rajasthan, in collaboration with the Hero Tech Centre in Germany, and will be manufactured in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh.

To gain an edge on other manufacturers, Hero MotoCorp has decided to adopt Ather Energy’s fast-charging tech for its electric scooters that will have a fixed charging system, and has also partnered with Gogoro to roll out Hero-branded e-scooters with a swappable battery, the first of which may arrive sometime in the second half of 2022.

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.



from Firstpost Tech Latest News https://ift.tt/3COqWcw

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Elon Musk’s bid spotlights Twitter’s unique role in public discourse – and what changes might be in store

Twitter has been in the news a lot lately, albeit for the wrong reasons. Its stock growth has languished and the platform itself has largely remained the same since its founding in 2006. On April 14, 2022, Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, made an offer to buy Twitter and take the public company private. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission , Musk stated, “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.” As a researcher of social media platforms , I find that Musk’s potential ownership of Twitter and his stated reasons for buying the company raise important issues. Those issues stem from the nature of the social media platform and what sets it apart from others. What makes Twitter unique Twitter occupies a unique niche. Its short chunks of text and threading foster real-time conversations among thousands of people, which
Read more

To reach net-zero emissions and remove CO2 from the air, scientists drawn up six priorities

Image
To reach net-zero emissions by 2050, global emissions must be cut faster and deeper than the world has yet managed. But even then, some hard-to-treat sources of pollution – in aviation, agriculture and cement making – may linger for longer than we would like. It will take time for clean alternatives to arrive and replace them. That means the world also needs to find and ramp up ways of taking CO₂ out of the atmosphere to stabilise the climate. Just meeting the UK’s net-zero target is likely to require the removal of 100 million tonnes of CO₂ a year , similar in size to current emissions from the country’s largest-emitting sector, road transport, but in reverse. The UK government’s announcement of £31.5 million (US$44.7 million) in support for research and development of carbon removal is welcome. And while trials of new tech will help, there are many social issues that need to be tackled if removing greenhouse gases is to succeed. Done right, carbon removal could be the perfect a
Read more

NASA is planning to partner with SpaceX to reboost the Hubble Telescope and extend its life

Image
The Hubble Space Telescope is one of the most important scientific achievements of the human species that has helped us understand space. It has been in orbit for over 30 years and has been feeding some of the most vital streams of information that has not only helped us steer our space exploration efforts, but also solve some of the more deep mysteries of the universe . NASA would love to extend its usable life for as long as possible. Unfortunately, for some years now, Hubble Space Telescope has been slipping out of its orbit. That is why, NASA is planning to team up with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and place it into a higher much more stable orbit. NASA, SpaceX and Jared Isaacman, a private astronaut with the Polaris Program, hosted a media teleconference on Thursday to announce a feasibility study that will look into sending a commercial Dragon spacecraft to reboost the Hubble Space Telescope . This will, in effect place the telescope into a higher and more stable orbit than it’s curren
Read more