Hero Electric to spruce up Ludhiana plant

28 May, 2008

Hero Electric has said that it would invest around Rs 80 crore in boosting its manufacturing plant of electric vehicles (EVs) at Ludhiana in Punjab besides the development of its R&D facility. The fully owned arm of the Hero group has also expanded its state-of-the-art manufacturing plant at Ludhiana and is dramatically stepping up research and development for innovation in EVs. Hero Electric will also be investing on training the dealers to educate the consumers on the benefits and features of Electric Vehicles.

It has also lined a strategy to ramp up its dealership network in the country to leverage the growth happening in the electric vehicle (EV) segment. The company has also announced its plans to launch a new range of electric scooters in the low and high speed electric vehicles category.

The company has identified the southern States as high-potential territories for our electric vehicles and we foresee accelerated growth in these markets. “We are doubling our dealership network in the South to reach out to a wider segment of people not only in big cities but also in Tier II towns, where our electric vehicles are increasingly gaining popularity. We have also set aside a marketing budget to train our dealers to educate customers on this relatively new and green technology, which has a running cost of 10 paisa per km,” Navin Munjal, managing director of the company, said.

"Hero is committed to prioritizing low-polluting transport systems and has stepped up its research in areas that involve zero pollution. Electric Vehicles will bring about a significant shift in the way the world will travel in the future as they are cost effective and environmental friendly. While Hero Electric already has two successful Low Speed Electric Scooter models in the market – Hero Maxi & Hero Optima, we will soon be introducing a new range of Electric Scooters in the High Speed category as well," he said.

Hero Electric has set up a state-of-the-art R&D cell at Ludhiana and at Delhi to develop and manufacture indigenous world-class EV motors within a year to suit both high-speed and low-speed vehicles. It is also conducting research to improve the quality, efficiency and life of batteries and other critical components that run these EVs. A high level R&D team with vast global experience in the segment has been put in place and will work on the EV indigenous motor technology, particularly on enhanced performance and speed.