Royal Enfield electric bike update! Automaker waiting for right time to enter EV segment

Royal Enfield's parent firm Eicher Motors Managing Director Siddhartha Lal noted that the company is working on electric prototypes but does not plan to launch any product in the near future as it would wait for the market to develop for electric bikes.

New Delhi: Royal Enfield is not in a hurry to get into the electric vehicle segment and will wait for the right time to enter the space which is witnessing a lot of action in the country, Eicher Motors Managing Director Siddhartha Lal said on Thursday.

Lal noted that the company is working on electric prototypes but does not plan to launch any product in the near future as it would wait for the market to develop for electric bikes.

Currently, the share of electric bikes in the overall domestic bike sales remains negligible, he added.

Royal Enfield, which is a part of Eicher Motors, currently sells bikes ranging between 250cc to 750cc in the domestic and international markets.

"We have a lot of activity going on in the EV front at the back end. In terms of products, there is nothing on the anvil for the next few years. We have a very strong team for the EV sector and we have done a lot of stuff in the consumer side, technology space and have also worked on the prototypes. But we are not going to hurry for the launch because we think the value proposition for EVs in India right now, especially for motorcycles, is not there yet," Lal said in a virtual press meet.

The value proposition would be there in a few years but it certainly is not there this year so the company doesn't want to launch products at this time, he added.

"We don't even have a product right now to be honest..Our EV strategy is not to launch the product immediately but to work towards the right product range and be ready when the time is right, when the economics for the consumer work," Lal noted.

He stated that the company is focussing at the long-term prospects and therefore developing products that would make sense in the marketplace.

"This is a long game not a short one...You may have products coming from other makers, some may work some may not, but it does not matter. What matters is the long term view and that is what we are focussed on. We don't do anything that is half baked. We don't do anything which is sort of just getting into the market, that is not our philosophy at all. When we come in, we come in strong and with sorted products and ecosystem and everything else," Lal said.

It will take time for the electric bike segment to get acceptance in the market, he added.

Royal Enfield is currently the global leader in the middleweight motorcycles segment (250cc - 750cc).

The world's oldest motorcycle brand in continuous production, Royal Enfield has presence in India and over 60 countries around the world. Also Read: Public Provident Fund: Invest Rs 34 every day in PPF to get Rs 18 lakh, here’s how

In the April-June quarter this fiscal, the company sold a total of 1,22,170 motorcycles. Also Read: Instagram apologises for deleting film poster depicting lactating nipple