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Pune-based Tork Motorcycles, has raised an undisclosed amount of angel funding from Ola founders Bhavish Agarwal and Ankit Bhati, and a group of angels led by Harpreet Grover, co-founder & CEO of CoCubes.
Tork was founded by Kapil Shelke, a mechanical engineer with a passion for racing, in 2010. He has built five motorcycle prototypes at Tork Motors. The company is building India’s first electric motorcycle and is planning to launch this year. Tork’s team boasts of having strengths in transportation design, engineering and industrial design, automotive design, automotive electronics, and embedded systems.
Kapil Shelke, founder of Tork Motorcycles, said, “The motorcycle will solve the rider’s pain points with several value added features like GPS, storage, cloud connectivity and phone charging making it also a first smart motorcycle in India”
The company began its foray into electric motorcycles in 2009, when its motorcycle won a place on the podium – the Electric TT race at the Isle of Man, a Mecca for motorcycling enthusiasts. Since then, it has designed, developed and produced five electric motorcycles, applying its learning from motorsport into practical and reliable electric mobility solutions. Tork’s first electric motorcycle will be named T6X. It will have IP over battery management system, control systems, motor tuning, drive train and overall product integration. The motorcycle will enable the significant reduction in overall cost of operation.
The demand for electric two-wheelers is expected to be around 1.3 Mn by 2020-2021.
Harpreet Grover, co-founder and CEO, Cocubes added that electric vehicles are the future. Drop in battery prices, rising sensitivity around emissions and government’s focus on the sector will fuel demand in India.
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