NEW DELHI: Hero Electric, India’s largest electric two-wheeler maker, is expanding capacity of its production facility in Ludhiana (Punjab) to over 5 lakh units by March 2022 as it aims to maintain its leadership position amidst growing competition.
Sohinder Gill, CEO, Hero Electric, said, “We are witnessing huge walk-ins at our dealerships and are working overtime to avoid stock-out situations and long waiting lists... We are therefore redrawing our business plans to retain our leadership position that we have held all these years.”
Hero Electric’s aggressive expansion plans come on the back of blockbuster sales achieved by newcomer Ola Electric. Last week, Ola had announced that it clocked Rs 1,100 crore in combined sales in 48 hours when the purchase window for its e-scooters was open between September 15-17. While Ola is beginning its manufacturing facility with an initial capacity of 1 million units, other players such as Ather, TVS and Bajaj Auto are also expanding their presence.
Industry experts believe that competition in this space is expected to become more severe in coming days as new age players with strong financial backing are eyeing to pip legacy players. According to JMK Research, domestic EV sales in July 2021 witnessed a month-over-month jump of 134.8%, at 26,127 units, clocking the highest registrations in a month so far in 2021. The overall high-speed electric two-wheeler (HS-E2W) sales in the country in July 2021 stood at 13,345 units, witnessing a 229% month-over-month jump.
“The last few months have set the tone for the next few years to come... We are hence ramping up our production facilities to manufacture over 5 lakh vehicles and will go on to expand to add capacities to make over 1 million vehicles every year to meet the growing demand,” said Naveen Munjal, MD, Hero Electric.