"We intend to visit Latin America, Bangladesh, and other countries where we have joint operations. We are making urgent arrangements for Europe. "It will not take us a year to enter global markets," Pawan Munjal, Chairman and CEO of Hero MotoCorp, said on the sidelines of the Vida V1 unveiling at the CIT near Jaipur.

 

Hero's Vida V1 electric scooters will be manufactured at the company's facilities in the Andhra Pradesh district of Chittoor. The modern ICE car production complex is stretched across 600 acres and employs around 1200 workers. According to Hero, the factory has a modular construction and the potential to increase production capacity based on demand.

 

Another source verified that the factory now has one EV line, and that around one-fourth (200-300) of the staff will be committed to this line. Hero MotoCorp had previously intended to debut its first EV product in April of this year. It was then postponed until July before being released in October. The Vida V1 scooters are available in two variants: V1 Plus and V1 Pro, priced at INR 1.45 lakh and INR 1.59 lakh, respectively.

 

"While we haven't disclosed disruptive pricing, we do have a disruptive bundle." We are entering the EV market at this pricing range, but it does not imply we will never have inexpensive EV products. There will undoubtedly be. Our intention is not to focus on big volume EVs straight now. We will steadily increase our capacity," Munjal said.

 

The business expects to launch its EVs in eight additional cities by the end of December this year, beginning with Delhi, Bengaluru, and Jaipur. Bookings for the first three cities will begin on October 10, with delivery beginning in mid-December. The scooters have a detachable battery and can be charged at home for up to 11kW.

 

The manufacturer of Splendor and Passion is the country's largest in terms of motorcycle volume. It also cooperated with Zero Motorcycles, a premium electric motorbike company located in California (USA), last month. However, the business stated that it will launch e-motorcycles at a later stage and will not be introducing them into the market anytime soon.

 

"While many firms have set certain timetables for transitioning to EVs, we must remember that in a country like ours, this is not an easy undertaking; it is an uphill struggle. We will do the same, but ICE will be present for some time," Munjal added. Hero MotoCorp previously invested heavily in the EV company Ather Energy. In the future, the world's largest two-wheeler manufacturer will debut an electric scooter in collaboration with Taiwanese battery swapping startup Gogoro.