EMotorad To Treble E-Bike Production Capacity, Says CEO

EMotorad plans to treble its e-bicycle production capacity in the 2024 financial year with an aim to become the country's number-one manufacturer of green transport.

"The company will raise $30 million, or Rs 246 crore, in the next three to four months in a series A funding round to fund the expansion," Chief Executive Officer Kunal Gupta told BQ Prime in an interview.

The Pune-based manufacturer will increase its production capacity from 1,200 e-bikes per month to 3,600 per month. This is believed to be slightly more than India's number one e-bicycle manufacturer—Hero Group.

EMotorad is also planning to fully automate the entire manufacturing process to increase efficiency and allow the company to produce up to 15,000 units per month using the same workforce.

After achieving sales of 51,000 units in international markets in the last fiscal, EMotorad will now focus on the domestic market as it seeks to penetrate tier II and tier III cities with its "affordable" X-Series bicycles, which were launched at a starting range of Rs 25,000, Gupta said.

EMotorad achieved sales revenue of Rs 120 crore in the international markets and Rs 21 crore in the domestic market in the 2023 fiscal. The total turnover was Rs 60.2 crore in the 2022 fiscal and Rs 3.6 crore in 2020–21.

There is a strong demand for battery-operated e-bicycles in smaller towns, according to Chief Business Officer Sumedh Battewar. "To everyone's surprise, we went out of stock after the launch of X-Series bikes," he said. "Although the news was not to be celebrated, it signifies the pent-up demand for clean, unconventional vehicles that are affordable, economical, and healthy."

The company is present in around 18 countries, including the US, UAE, Japan, Australia, and Nepal. "Our strategy going forward will be to deepen our reach in the existing markets rather than acquire new markets," Chief Marketing Officer Aditya Oza said.

The e-bike manufacturer will continue to serve the foreign locations from India as it believes labour costs and the cost of goods will make up for the logistics cost of supplying to these countries. "We may have assembly lines in a few locations, but not a manufacturing unit per se," Oza said.

The firm was founded by Managing Director Rajib Gangopadhyay in 2020, along with Battewar, Gupta, and Oza as co-founders.

The company is of the opinion that e-bikes or e-bicycles are the way forward, as they would play an important role in meeting India's 2030 target of converting every vehicle to electric vehicles. There is an untapped market in the age group of 17–18 years as opposed to the average age of 27 years for those who buy a vehicle.

"The age group of 17–18 years is the one that needs to be tapped, as they are health and mileage conscious and go to school and hobby classes," Gupta said. "This chunk will increase the volumes by three times and help in meeting the 2030 target."