Yamaha Studying Indian EV Prices, Policies: Likely To Enter Market?

Before making any decision on entering the Indian electric vehicles (EV) market, Japanese motorcycle manufacturer Yamaha is doing its homework right. Yamaha Motors India chairman Motofumi Shitara said that the company is conducting feasibility studies before making any decision on the launch of its electric two-wheelers in India.

In an interview with ET, Shitara added that Yamaha is studying parameters such as cost of ownership, infrastructure availability, policy roadmap, financing and other factors that will come into play to boost the Indian EV ecosystem.

Yamaha India’s chairman also specified that the company has not made any decision on entering the Indian market. However, looking at the history of Yamaha Motors, the company might end up making concrete plans if and when the study shows a positive result.

Previously, Yamaha conducted similar “feasibility studies” before launching its electric scooter EC-05 in Taiwan, in August 2019. The company plans to sell 20K units of the e-scooter in Taiwan in one year. The company launched its first electric scooter in 2002 in Japan.

Another mainstream player in the two-wheeler manufacturing Bajaj Auto will be stepping in the EV race from January 2020 with the launch of the electric variants of its classic scooter Chetak. Bajaj Auto has not yet revealed the price of Chetak Electric.

However, Bajaj Auto has announced that Chetak Electric will come in two variants —85 km and 95 km — based on the range offered per charge. The company stopped manufacturing traditional scooters in 2009 and had pivoted to motorcycle brands KTM, Pulsar, and Avenger, among others.

Besides Bajaj Auto, Hero Electric and TVS Motors are some of the mainstream players that are into e-scooter or electric-two wheeler manufacturing. Just this month, TVS Motors also announced that it is looking to switch to clean energy — wind and solar — to power its electric scooters. In addition, the company also announced that it has managed to cut down on its carbon dioxide emission by tonnes in the last financial year.

The competition in the electric-two wheeler section is not just limited to the mainstream players. India also has some Indian brands that are serious competitors in the game. Some of them are Ampere Scooters, Ultraviolette Automotive, Ather Energy and Revolt Intellicorp, among others.

A report by the World Economic Forum states that India is poised to become the largest electric vehicles (EV) market in the world, especially due to the policies and initiatives of the state and central government. Another report by US-based Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) states that electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers will account for over 80% of the total passenger vehicles sold by 2030.