Orissa-based electric two-wheeler maker Eeve India will invest its own funds to double manufacturing capacity in five years while simultaneously lining up a series of launches next year.

The start-up aims to raise $10-12 million from its internal accruals to fund its manufacturing expansion plans which will see the doubling of capacity to 2 million units per annum.

Eeve India is among the several electric vehicle manufacturing companies like Ather Energy, Hero Electric, Ola Electric, Ampere Vehicles, Okinawa, that are looking to significantly expand their production capacities to cater to rising demand.

Harsh Vardhan Didwania, co-founder and director, Eeve India, said, “The target is to run our existing capacity at the full level which will generate enough cash flow to help power the next phase of expansion. Whenever required we will go to the financial markets but as of now, we are confident that we will be able to meet this requirement through our internal resources. We would need $10-12 million to increase the capacity.”

At the beginning of the current financial year, Eeve India was in talks with venture capitalists to secure funding for expansion. However, the talks fell through over issues regarding valuation and terms of the agreement.

“We were looking at venture capital funding but due to issues with regards to valuations and terms of agreement we decided against it,” Didwania added.

High-speed two-wheeler

Eeve will enter the high-speed two-wheeler category with the launch scheduled on December 14. Featuring a swappable battery technology, the company will launch an electric scooter having a range of 120-130 km with a top speed of 55-60km per hour.

The company has six models on sale, all of which are classified as low-speed models and hence do not qualify for the subsidy benefits under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME-2) scheme.

“Next financial year we will be upgrading all our products to the high-speed category. By April, we should be able to get the FAME-2 subsidy on the new model,” Didwania added.

Eeve India clocked cumulative sales of over 12,000 units in the last two years which includes the period marred by the pandemic and lockdown. In the current financial year, the company saw sales of 6,000 units till end of November. The company is confident of selling another 6,000 before March 31, 2022.

“We are targeting sales of not less than 100,000 units next financial year because of the kind of traction we are getting and the way the industry is growing. We are confident that next year the market will become even more lucrative,” Didwania added.

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