With its electric scooters business not doing too well, the Ludhiana-based company Hero Electric is planning to manufacture niche products to prop up sales.

The company already makes high-end electric bicycles branded as A2B, which are exported to 22 countries including Europe, the UK and the US, priced around Rs 2 lakh.

One of such products is a 'first response vehicle', designed for catering to medical emergencies in areas where ambulances cannot enter.

“These would be based on orders to make with all the requirement tools in a bag. The bag or the package itself is very costly right now (around Rs 3 lakh), which includes a battery (to run electronic items in case if no power in that particular area), a defibrillator, small oxygen cylinder and a mask,” Sohinder Gill, Chief Executive Officer – Global Business, told Business Line .

He said the equipments are imported (all German products) and therefore, the price is high, which leads to pricing of the vehicle (electric two-wheeler) to cost around Rs 3.50 lakh.

Hero Electric is working on indigenising the package here in India instead of importing from Germany, which will reduce the cost of the whole product (EV plus package) to around Rs 1.20 lakh.

The Government has recently announced National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 that envisages the adoption of six to seven million EVs and hybrid vehicles by 2020.

The policy will help electric vehicles manufacturers to boost sales as it will give subsidies to the customers (no VAT, no road tax plus 15 per cent subsidy on cost of vehicle), which only the Delhi Government gives currently.

Gill, who is also Director – Corporate Affairs at the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles, India (SMEV), said if such subsidies are not given then the industry cannot survive as in any case many of the players have already shut shops.

>ronendrasingh.s@thehindu.co.in

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