Paving the Way for High-speed E-scooters

While a majority of the electric vehicle manufacturers struggle to survive in India, Delhi-based Okinawa Autotech Private Limited is trying to carve a niche for itself with high-speed e-scooters. The company is planning to invest nearly Rs 270 crore within the next three years. It has just launched its first e-scooter model, the Ridge, in the country, priced at Rs 43,702 (ex-showroom, Delhi). In conversation with Jeetender Sharma, Managing Director, Okinawa Autotech.

Bike India (BI): Please tell us about Okinawa’s journey so far.

Jeetender Sharma (JS): I’d like to begin by stressing the fact that this is a 100 per cent Indian company. We established it in 2015 and started our manufacturing unit in 2016 at Bhiwadi, Rajashtan. Soon we developed the prototype model and conducted endurance tests in different parts of India for about 25,000 kilometres. We understood and resolved all the problems that the prototype model faced during the testing and, finally, we rolled out our production model based on that.

BI: Many local and international players have tried to foray into the Indian e-scooter segment but with little success. What will be unique about your products or your marketing strategy?

JS: The e-scooters that are currently available in India are slow-speed vehicles and their motor size is about 250 watts. They cannot be registered. Neither can they be insured nor do they offer any finance schemes. This is because all these products are considered to be cycles. Most of them do not meet the government safety regulations (required for a motorised vehicle).

What makes our vehicles different is that Okinawa scooters need to be registered with the RTO like conventional petrol-engine scooters and, similarly, need to be insured and can also be financed by banks, if needed. In fact, if you run our scooter, the product quality, pick-up and performance are as good as those of regular combustion engine scooters. As they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating; so you have to ride it to believe it.

BI: Tell us about the first product that you’re launching in India now.