You can ride on electric rickshaws soon!

Six months after the launch of battery-operated two-wheelers- 'YObykes', the Kutch-based Indus Elec-Trans, the auto division of Electrotherm India, is planning an electric rickshaw (e-rickshaw) manufacturing facility near its existing bike manufacturing facility at Kutch, with Rs 20 crore (Rs 200 million) investment.

This facility is expected to start commercial operation by April 2007. Indus is also eyeing sales of 10 lakh units of its battery operated two wheelers by March 09.

Indus Elec-Trans has developed electric two-wheelers especially for city drivers. The manufacturing capacity of the Kutch plant is 2 lakh units per year. Now, the company is planning to its launch electric rickshaw (3-wheeler) by next year.

A senior company executive said, "We are setting up the electric rickshaw manufacturing facility adjacent to our bike facility at Samakhyali, Kutch. This facility will start commercial operation by April 2007 with the manufacturing capacity of 15,000 units per year. We are investing Rs 20 crore to set up this facility."

Indus had launched the rechargeable battery-operated two-wheelers in February 2006 in Gujarat.

In last six months, the company has sold 6,000 units in Gujarat. So far, the company has launched these battery-operated two-wheelers in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Maharashtra. Till date, the company has 67 dealers - 26 in Gujarat, 18 in Rajasthan, 15 in Haryana and 8 in Maharashtra.

"In next two months, we are adding 43 dealers in Maharashtra. We started focusing on Maharashtra from July 1 this year and have opened eight showrooms, including four in Mumbai, one each at Pune and Nashik. In Maharashtra, we have sold 500 bikes in July 2006 and we are eyeing sales of 35,000 units in Maharashtra by March 07," the company official said.

"We have set the sales target of 1 lakh units of YObykes for the current fiscal year (2006-07). Our target will be to touch sales of 3.5 lakh units by March 08. We are eyeing to touch total sales of 10 lakh units with turn over of around Rs. 2,000 crore by March 2009," he said.

One does not need licence and registration as the speed of these bikes is under 25 km per hour. Its weight carrying capacity is 75 kg.

Generally, one adult and one child can sit on the bike. Besides, bike does not have a petrol engine, gearbox, carburetor, clutch, kick, silencer, etc. The prices are in the Rs 18,000 - Rs 21,000 range.

These noise-free two-wheelers can cover a range from 60-80 kms, once the battery is fully charged. The travelling life of the battery is 25,000 kms. The discharged battery takes 6 hours to charge fully.