India Yamaha Motor is conducting a feasibility study before getting ready for fully electric bikes in India. The electric products are a great way of getting over the internal combustion engines but, presently, the thing gets limited to city use only. Yamaha has also shortlisted a number of suppliers for their upcoming product range. As most buyers are daily commuters with less than a certain range of kilometers per day of use, switching from petrol to electric power can help in the reduction of harmful gases from the city limits. The only problem that binds the usage is output range, limiting the same sized electric two-wheeler from a conventional engine by a large margin.
A commuter motorcycle with 50 kmpl of mileage could go as far as 600 kilometers on a single fuel tank while same sized battery powered vehicles generally reach 100-150 km only. The difference comes when we calculate the operating cost as battery powered vehicle consumes much less electricity and thus, fuel cost drops by an even bigger margin than the range difference. Strictly city riding routine with 20-40 km per day of travel can help riders enjoy battery life of 2-4 days. The standard charging time comes between 7-9 hours, perfectly parallel to a person’s sleep time on an average. If an emergency, the fast charging slots can help you get the same in a mere 2 hours. Supply of electricity needs to be reliable while government subsidy on first-time buyers should apply to these vehicles too.
Electric two-wheelers are necessary but not at the stake of powerhouses burning more coal to meet the increasing demands. Yamaha India is interested in investing more in powertrains and batteries as these can be used universally, even if the model fails to impress buyers initially. International concept range of Yamaha has different types of electric models that look quite far away from the production design presently. Still, the fifth largest brand in India is not giving up at any cost and targets 2021 as the year to launch impressive sustainable energy-powered products.
