Electric two-wheeler maker Okinawa Autotech is targeting to sell about 3,000 more units by March 2018, to close the current fiscal with a sales of 10,000 units.
“We have two models in our portfolio. While Ridge was launched in January last year, Praise was launched in December,” Jeetender Sharma, managing director, told The Hindu .
“We have already sold over 7,000 units and expect to close the fiscal with sales of 10,000 units,” Mr. Sharma added.
The firm, which has a manufacturing unit in Rajasthan with an annual capacity of 90,000 units, plans to start production at its upcoming plant, in the State in the next 6-8 months.
One million units
The facility would have a capacity to produce about a million units.
“We have planned an investment of ₹275 crore in the next three years to expand operations and introduce new products,” said Mr. Sharma, adding that the company would be expanding its dealer network to 500 by 2020 from the almost 170 now.
Mr. Sharma said the company was witnessing good demand for its products from tier 2 and tier 3 cities. “We have set up dealerships in cities such as Srinagar and Guwahati. About 65% of our sales are from tier 2 and tier 3 cities and remaining 35% from metros,” he added.
Mr. Sharma pointed out that while the cost of buying electric scooters and conventional scooters was almost the same, the running and ownership cost for electric vehicles was far less.
“For electric vehicles, currently the running cost is about 20 paise per kilometre (km) as compared with ₹1.75 per km for a conventional scooter. With electric scooter, the cost of servicing also comes down drastically,” he explained.
Mr. Sharma added that it was easier to have 100% electric two-wheelers in the country than 100% electric cars as the latter required charging infrastructure.
