Hero Electric, India’s largest electric two-wheeler manufacturer, revealed that it has sold over 15,000 high-speed electric two-wheelers in the first half of the year, more than any electric two-wheeler manufacturer in the country.
According to JMK research, the business also reported a record post-COVID second wave recovery with sales of over 4,500 high-speed electric two-wheelers in July, holding the top spot. Hero had announced intentions earlier this month to expand its existing plant to produce over 3 lakh electric vehicles per year, a 100% increase over last year, to satisfy demand.
The Demand & The ‘X’ Factor
Hero anticipates demand to grow even more now that the pricing of its most popular City Speed scooters, the Optima and Nyx, start at Rs.53,600. In recent months, the firm has seen a significant increase in bookings.
The company said it is seeing an increase in demand as a result of the increase in incentives for electric two-wheelers to Rs 15,000 per kWh, up from Rs 10,000 per kWh uniform subsidy previously offered, as well as EV policies by various state governments.
In response to the increased demand, Mr Rajesh Jadam, a dealer for Hero Electric in Ajmer said, “Post June 11th, the demand for electric vehicles has grown by over 10X. We have been dealers of Hero Electric for close to 8 years and July has been the busiest month for us. We have been getting numerous inquiries to test ride the bikes, not just at our stores, but also online.
“With Hero’s bikes now under Rs.60,000, the most affordable in the market, consumers continue to book them immediately after test riding. We are also happy to see that approximately 90% of our stocks are booked and July has been extremely promising. We are all set to go all out to transform the country,” he added.
Thus it is clear that competitive pricing is the ‘X’ factor here in the success of Hero’s Electric scooters.
Thinking Ahead of The Game
Hero has pledged to create an ecosystem through reskilling and educating mechanics and garage owners known as Preferred Garage Owners (PGOs) to repair all types of electric bikes in the near future, to further encourage development. Over 6000 PGOs have been taught thus far, and the business plans to teach over 20,000 garage owners in the next two years.
This is a rather expensive and painstaking process and due to that companies won’t be willing to take such a risk. But Hero is thinking long-term here and if it works out well Hero Electric can enjoy something Maruti Suzuki enjoys right now.
“As we continue to fight the pandemic, we at Hero are extremely bullish about the market seeing its biggest growth thanks to the extremely conducive market and policies since they were announced. The green shoots for this are visible in the numbers we have achieved in July and overall, in the first half of the year. Our manufacturing facilities are working overtime to cater to the demand. Hero Electric is proud to have achieved our goals despite all challenges.” said Sohinder Gill, CEO, Hero Electric.
“What the country today needs to realize is that the only way we will be able to make it a better place to live is by making the shift and that will happen with one bike at a time. This is a great opportunity for us as a company to share our success and talk about bigger milestones we aim to achieve,” he added.
Conclusion
The question is, Being able to sell a mere 15000 units is that big of a deal?
And the answer is probably ‘NO’.
But there are several factors making this a special milestone. We have to remember that in a period where people are in a lot of ambiguity and uncertainty, Hero could pull such a number. It is to be noted that most of the sales are made after the test drive and it tells us one thing ‘Indians do love riding on an electric scooter’ and that is certainly a piece of great news.
Congratulations and Thank you Hero Electric for achieving such a milestone for the nation.
