Hero Electric to set up 2,000 recharging stations
September 4th, 2008Hero Electric on Thursday said that it would be rapidly expanding the infrastructure for electric vehicles by setting up recharging stations, thereby augmenting the demand for such bikes
Currently the company has 12 charging stations which are operational in the national capital and it plans to expand it to 10,000 charging stations.
“We are planning to set up 2000 outlets to facilitate electric bike owners to recharge their vehicle. We hope to expand the number of stations to 10,000 over the next three years,” said the company’s Managing Director, Mr Naveen Munjal.
Explaining the business model, he said that the company had trained mechanics of existing garage owners to provide recharging and servicing facility for electric vehicles also.
The cost of charging the battery is Rs 5 an hour, allowing the vehicle to cover a distance of approximately 10-20 km. Mr Munjal declined to comment on the investment for setting up the charging station stating that the company was hoping to bring down the cost per unit gradually and after the initial period, there could be joint investment made from the dealers end who would be setting up such stations.
The company also intends to set up stations at popular places like parking lots, malls, schools throughout the country to cater to the infrastructure requirement for selling electric vehicles.
The company from April-July sold around 18,000 units and plans to sell 65,000 units by the year end. Hero Electric has a total capacity of around 70,000 units to produce its range of electric vehicles like Maxi and the Optima.
Hero Electric is working on hybrid technology for vehicles which could lead the company to eventually manufacture the country’s first hybrid passenger cars.
“As of now, we are working on developing hybrid technology for vehicles. Once we are able to develop the technology it could see us using it for making passenger cars or even commercial vehicles,” Hero Electric Managing Director
But this project may take some time as manufacturing of hybrid cars was not immediately on the agenda as the company’s research and development team was still working on the technology.
Mr Munjal said Hero Electric, which was a 100 per cent subsidiary of Hero Exports, would soon come out of its fold and become an independent company under the Hero Group. “As Hero Electric has been performing well, the management decided to have its own independent entity.” He said once this development happens, the company would look at raising funds through the debt route. He added that the company would be open to talks with those who might want to tie up with Hero Electric for a joint venture.
Mr Munjal said he expects the electric vehicle market to expand rapidly because of rising fuel prices. The market size of electric two-wheelers in India was around 70,000 units in 2007, and during the current year, it had increased to 1.6 lakh units.
Hero Electric itself can produce 440 units a day across two shifts and plans to sell about 70,000 units this calendar year. In 2007, it sold about 21,000 units of its two models which cost between Rs 29,000 and Rs 31,000.