The manufacturer of Activa the most popular scooter in India – Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. (HMSI) recently revealed that their first electric offering will make its debut sometime in March 2024. The announcement was made by the company’s president, MD, and CEO Atsushi Ogata and he stated that it will most likely be introduced in the FY 2023-24. The company head revealed this during the launch of the all-new Activa H-Smart.
Commenting on the development of this forthcoming electric offering, Ogata stated, “We are locally developing our electric two-wheelers in close coordination with Honda’s teams in Japan, and we aim to be ready with the first scooter around the same time next year – definitely within FY 2023-’24,”
He further revealed that the first electric scooter from the brand will be based on the country’s best-selling scooter Activa to gain the buyer’s trust. According to the CEO, Activa electric will feature a fixed battery setup and will be able to offer a maximum of 50 kmph top speed.
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Atsushi Ogata then went to add that the following the first EV product the Activa electric, the company will launch another electric scooter. This time it will be built on a dedicated EV platform and will offer a higher top speed and and a longer range as well. It is believed that this second EV offering from Honda could also ditch the fixed battery setup with a battery swapping technology as well.
Ogata stated that HMSI had the option to develop products specifically for the Indian market rather than supplying the Indian market with any of Honda’s EV products from China prior. He stated, “For the last few years, it was not an urgent matter for the company to invest into an EV programme from a business point of view, but with market expectations growing, we are going to get into the EV segment next year,” The majority of the company’s investments in FY 2023–2024 will go toward making its manufacturing infrastructure compatible to produce ICE two-wheelers and EVs in the same plant in a hybrid format. Over the past six months, the company has concentrated on setting up arrangements to localize the e-motor as well as the battery.
Before the second e-scooter is released, HMSI claims it will produce electric motors internally and will also establish battery-swapping stations across all of its 6,000 consumer touch points in the country. However, the company still thinks that because of their longer range between fill-ups, conventionally powered scooters would continue to make up a significant percentage of the Indian market for the foreseeable future.
The CEO of Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India also announced during the introduction of the new Activa H-Smart that the company, which continues to dominate the scooter market with a market share of 56%, plans to further solidify its position in the motorcycle market by introducing a 100 cc bike the following month. The company anticipates that the bike will aid in solidifying its position in the rural and semi-urban areas.
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