India To Get Homegrown Electric Motorbike
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 06.29.07
Don’t own an elephant? But still looking for transport with less air pollution than the average Indian transport? Then Evera Auto might be able to help out. Come July they’ll be revealing the result of two years development. A battery powered motorbike. Charges its for six hours and the 250-watt motor will carry you for about 80 km (50 miles) at about 25 km per hour (~16 mph). The motorcycles will be made in India, the company is based in Firozabad, Uttar Pradesh, and they expect pricing to start at about 25,000 Rupees (~$600 USD), which they figure is pretty competitive in what is still a niche market. Apparently up to now electric motorbikes had to be imported from China, but the company hopes to sell about 12,000 in its first year of release. We doubt that will make much of an impact in India air pollution problem, but they will take up less room than an elephant, who probably is a big methane contributor anyhow. Oh, and for the record, as of 2005, over 29% of India electricity came from hydro and renewable energy sources. ::India Times. Image found here
Evera is late to the market. YoBykes have had these for over an year or two and they cost just about the same (25-30,000).
Then over the last few months, a bunch of bicycle players such as Atlas Cycles, Hero Cycles etc have launched their own electric two-wheelers.
I wouldn't call these two-wheelers "motorcycles" since they have a paltry 250W motor and the maximum weight they can carry is 70-75 kg.
(PS: Treehugger should get a dedicated India blogger. )
5this is sick