The government has found a huge backing among the new age entrepreneurs for its proposal to electrify all new two-wheelers below 150cc in the next six years, reports Economic Times.
From Rahul Sharma (Revolt Intellicorp) and Tarun Mehta (Ather Energy) to Jeetender Sharma (Okinawa Electric) -- many founders of electric two-wheeler startups are of the opinion that such a move would help trigger the switch-over to e-mobility in the next three to five years.
“If you give them (users) a great looking product and then tell them that there are no daily expenses on fuel, why will the market not shift? Till now electric products didn’t give such performance. Consumers were looking for something which wasn’t available in the market. That is why I am saying the market will shift in three years,” said Sharma, co-founder of Micromax, who is venturing into the electric mobility space with his startup Revolt Intellicorp.
Meanwhile, the industry veterans like Bajaj Auto’s managing director Rajiv Bajaj, Hero Moto-Corp chairman Pawan Munjal, TVS chairman Venu Srinivasan have criticised reports that alluded to a plan of setting a 2023 deadline for three-wheelers and 2025 for two-wheelers up to 150cc engine capacity to run on batteries.
They have termed the deadline as ‘unrealistic’ and said such a move, if implemented, would risk derailing auto manufacturing, which supports millions of jobs.