Honda India To Launch Maiden Electric Scooter By March 2025

The competition in the Indian electric two-wheeler landscape is heating up. Now, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) is reportedly planning to launch its first electric vehicle (EV) by March 2025. 

HMSI CEO Tsutsumu Otani told NDTV that the company plans to launch “Activa Electric” by the end of this fiscal year.

As per the report, the new EV will likely be an all-new product and as such Honda could use a different “name plate” for this vehicle. 

The report added that the company plans to leverage its battery swapping technology, Honda e:Swap, to power the escooter. Additionally, the EV could also be equipped with features such as a touchscreen infotainment unit, connected features, keyless operation, among others.

Confirming the development, HMSI’s director of sales and marketing, Yogesh Mathur, told  PTI that the company plans to foray into the EV segment in the current fiscal itself, adding that it is eyeing one-third of its overall sales from the EV segment by 2030. 

“And what we understand is that by 2030 there will be a major shift towards EVs and we have announced that by 2030 in our lineup also..one-third at least will be coming only from EV models,” Mathur reportedly added. 

As per the PTI report, the new EV model is being developed jointly by HMSI in partnership with Honda teams. He also reiterated that the contribution of electric vehicles to the overall two-wheeler sales was continuing to grow. 

The comments come as EV vehicles continue to see rapid adoption across the country. Buoyed by government subsidies and sops, the ecosystem has seen the emergence of multiple new-age tech companies such as listed Ola Electric and IPO-bound Ather Energy and Pure EV. 

Sensing an opportunity, even legacy players such as TVS, Hero Motocorp and others also have unveiled their electric offerings to woo customers. With this, HSIL has become the latest to jump into the EV fray and capitalise on the growing demand for such vehicles. 

On September 10, union transport minister Nitin Gadkari said that India will clock 1 Cr annual EV sales by 2030, adding that the EV boom will create 5 Cr jobs in the country by the end of this decade.

He added that the homegrown EV market will become an INR 20 Lakh Cr opportunity by 2030 while the EV financing market will soar to a size of INR 4 Lakh Cr by the same year. 

This comes as the Centre is all set to roll out the third iteration of the Faster Adoption & Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme in the coming two months.