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Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) on Wednesday said its new factory at Narsapura (Karnataka) will produce one million (10 lakh) electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030.
The company will start mass production of the EVs by March 2024, and simultaneously launch its first product in the Indian market. The Narsapura factory will have a dedicated line for the EVsand HMSI will further expand that line for battery packaging for the EVs as well.
Flex fuel engines
While the first EV will be launched with a fixed battery, the second product will have swappable battery including mid-range EVs, and the company is strengthening its network of battery swapping stations for that. HMSI has also tied up with Hindustan Petroleum to install these battery swapping infrastructure.
“In line with Honda’s global direction — to increase EV and fuel cell vehicle unit sales ratio to 100 per cent by 2040, we will continue to improve the efficiency of internal combustion engine (ICE) with introduction of flex fuel engines, and follow government directions for alternate fuels while expanding electrification of models and ecosystem,” Atsushi Ogata, Managing Director, President and Chief Executive Officer, HMSI told reporters.
Focus on Make-in-India
Following the government’s direction of ‘Make in India’ and the focus on localisation, main components including battery and other critical components like PCU will be produced in-house, he said adding that the motors for EVs will also be designed and manufactured locally.
In an ideal case, there should be 6,000 touch points at one go for battery swapping, but it is quite tough because battery swapping capability is not made in India and imported from other countries. So, now we are trying to localise it here with our futuristic products,” he said.
“With our EV roadmap, now in the execution phase, we are taking substantial steps towards creating exclusive infrastructure for manufacturing diverse range od captivating EVs. Parallelly, we are also investing in the development of EV technologies, charging infrastructure of models and ecosystem,” Ogata added.
The company also said that its transition to on-board diagnostic system (OBD2) of complete line-up will be done by first half of FY24.
On exports
Talking about exports, HMSI said that it will expand its exports to 58 countries with 20 models in the next financial year from 38 countries and 18 products right now.
Ogata said the company also plans to soon start a new assembly line for scooters with an additional capacity of six-lakh units at its Vithalapur plant in Gujarat. HMSI currently has four plants in the country with an installed production capacity of around 52 lakh units per annum.
On the overall two-wheeler industry, HMSI said that the Indian two-wheeler market is expected to continue to grow by double digit this year. The market grew by 16 per cent last financial year in which HMSI grew by 21 per cent and this year also it is expected to similar growth, Yogesh Mathur, Operating Officer, Sales and Marketing, HMSI said.
HMSI will roll out a 125cc scooter and two motorcycles of 160cc and 350cc each, over the next few months, which will help generate more sales by Diwali, he added.
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