Wardwizard Innovations and Mobility will bring to market four electric scooters and electric race bikes by December this year followed by a passenger three-wheeler next year. Wardwizard markets electric vehicles under the brand Joy E-bike.
Four electric scooters, including one used for cargo application, are at the certification stage with a testing agency while two electric race bikes are under development. The four electric scooters will be launched in mid-August while the bikes will make their way to showrooms in December.
Wardwizard Innovations and Mobility chairman and managing director Yatin Gupte said, “Existing two models (Wolf and Gen Next) will get FAME 2 subsidy and the balance two are new ones. These will be high-speed models. All these will be scooters including one which would be a cargo model used by online delivery platforms.”
The company at present has five high-speed models (including four superbikes) and five low-speed vehicles (four scooters and one bike). However, none of these gets FAME 2 (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) subsidy from the central government but gets a state subsidy. Only high-speed electric two-wheelers are eligible for FAME 2 subsidy.
The domestic electric two-wheeler market is filled with electric scooters. With the exception of Revolt Motors no manufacturer offers electric bikes presently. Wardwizard’s race bikes will be the first of their kind in India.
“The technology for the high-speed motorcycles is a bit complex so we wanted to do more R&D on that and the last one year has been gone into doing that. These are European standard racer bikes. We had a JV with a Chinese company that has the European standard certificate. We are developing these for India and at least two of them will be launched in December,” Gupte added.
Three-wheeler foray
Wardwizard intends to also launch a passenger electric three-wheeler early next year. “We started work on the three-wheeler in February this year and by November the product will be ready for certification. Starting February 2022, its mass production will begin,” Gupte added.
Three-wheelers, both internal combustion and battery electric, have suffered the biggest knock due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Demand for these vehicles plunged due to concerns over sanitisation and the need for personal mobility.
Distribution
Wardwizard has a current dealership strength of 400 which the company aims to scale up to 650. Its current dealers are based in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhatisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, and new dealers are based in Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
The company presently has one factory in Gujarat with an installed capacity to make 150,000 units a year in a single shift. It is now exploring mini assembly plants in Kerala and West Bengal which would cut down costs and make products available faster to the market.
“The investment for these assembly plants will be done in collaboration with our super stockist,” Gupte added