Greaves Retail (GR), one of the three businesses of Greaves Cotton Ltd (GCL), has said it has seen early signs of success in its pilot programmes undertaken for retrofitment of existing ICE three-wheelers and two-wheelers into electric vehicles as the company gears up for the huge untapped opportunity in the EV retrofitment segment.
Even as the adoption of new battery-powered vehicles gathers pace across two-wheeler, three-wheeler, and bus segments, the country’s mammoth existing ICE vehicle population appears to present a vast opportunity for retrofitment. As India has the largest fleet of two and three-wheelers in the world, these two present huge scope for conversion to alternative fuels.
Greaves Retail is intensely working on offering retrofitment services in three and two-wheeler segments as it believes that its experience in multi-brand sales, service, and spares would come in handy to race ahead in this opportunity.
“Retrofitment of existing vehicles is cheaper than buying a new electric vehicle. This is a very large opportunity in India because of ageing fleets, which can be quickly electrified for the last mile transportation,” Narasimha Jayakumar, CEO, Greaves Retail told businessline.
Also read: New norms directing the electric vehicles sector
He said Greaves Retail was working on pilots for the retrofitment of existing petrol or diesel-powered three-wheelers to CNG or electric vehicles in States such as Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu.
The company is working with several established manufacturers of retrofitment kits and these kits are all Automotive Research Association of India/ARAI-approved ones for safety and other requirements. The company has already done a few dozen retrofits as part of the pilots. These are being tested and analysed for on-road performance for commercial assessment.
Unique services
“What Greaves brings to the table is its experience in handling service and spares for both ICEs and EVs. We offer technical capabilities and servicing skill sets across our 170-odd Greaves Care outlets (pan-India multibrand service stories for ICE two and three-wheelers, electric two and three-wheelers, and small commercial vehicles). Our teams bring competencies in the areas of powertrains, batteries, battery controllers and motors, etc. This is how we try to set ourselves apart from the rest,” said Jayakumar.
Also read: EVs are crucial for decongesting our cities
He added the kits supplied by the manufacturers would normally go through a lot of safety checks before the approvals. Similarly, the batteries that would go into EVs have to conform to required norms such as fire safety, stress testing, etc. Hence, the company partners with specialist players in these domains.
The company is also figuring out financing options for prospective customers who are looking at retrofitments. “Most of these people who run autorickshaws or small commercial vehicles have to incur anywhere between ₹60,000-75,000 to buy the retro kits and they might not have that money upfront. Thus, we are looking at the financing options too,” he said.
Greaves Retail, which has 3 verticals – AutoEVMart, Greaves Care, and Greaves Spare, is also doing pilots on the retrofitment of existing ICE commuter bikes and scooters into electric products. “Overall, we seeing some green shoots in our pilots. We are gathering feedback about on-road performance and after full satisfaction, we will go on a massive expansion,” he added.