Hero Electric Seeks Volume Over Profit

Hero Electric, the leader in the two-wheeler electric vehicle market, recently launched its latest model Flash at a price tag of Rs 19,900.

Sohinder Gill, CEO, Hero Electric, in a phone interview with BW Businessworld said that at present profit or loss is not as important as gaining sales volume for the company.

“The most important thing right now is to make people sit on an electric vehicle, tell them that there is an option available,” Gill said.

When asked whether the company will burn cash in manufacturing Flash, Gill said that they are in a position to give discounts like Uber and Flipkart to popularise their new product.

“There are two primary reasons why we are keeping price below Rs 20,000. First, we want to give money to consumers to ride the vehicle and second, we want to make it viable for dealers.”

In the first phase, Hero is planning to offer the product in limited numbers.. However, going forward it may continue to offer the product at the same price tag, depending on the demand from consumers.

Deliveries of Flash will commence next week in Delhi. It will be introduced across India within a month, covering all 350 outlets of Hero Electric. The company has plans to add an additional 100 dealers in 2017 to take the figure up to 450 by year-end.

On a light note, Gill said that they wanted to show the government that the industry is ready for an electrical vehicle revolution, given they get assistance from them.

Electric vehicle manufacturers want an infrastructure push to support EVs, reduction in the custom duty of batteries, higher incentives under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles (FAME) Scheme from the government.

Gill said the bike receives an incentive of Rs 13,000 from the state and central governments, so the real cost should be Rs 33,000. The bike has no hidden cost for buyers like road tax, registration fees, insurance (Hero offers insurance at Rs 250).

Coming to the product, Flash features a 250 Watt Motor, coupled with a 48-volt, 20 Ah VRLA battery that covers a range of 65 km per charge.

It weighs only 87 kg and comes with features like low centrum gravity which will help in sharp turns, higher suspension system which is available in premium bikes and the bike is relatively easy to stand.

The bike has a top speed of 25km per hour and is targeted at women, students and senior citizens to boost sales. It doesn’t require a driving license to ride the bike.