Electric two-wheeler startup Oben EV has drawn up plans to launch the first of its products by March, the company’s co-founders said. The company will begin delivering its “high-performance” electric bike, Oben Rorr, between April and June.
Oben says its bike will have a top speed of 100 km/hr and a range of 200 kilometres. However, the Rorr will have a fixed battery, which will not allow for battery swapping. Oben’s future e-bike and e-scooter products including the Rorr, will be manufactured at a new facility in Bengaluru equipped with a capacity of 2 lakh units per year, the company said.
“We will get into different product segments and categories — motorcycles as well as scooters, however, we are only focusing on motorcycles for the moment and will divulge details about the rest of our products in the coming days,” said Dinkar Agrawal, Co-Founder, Oben EV.
Oben EV yet to announce charging station roadmap
Aside of announcing its plans to compete in a market that is seeing cutthroat competition between two-wheeler majors like Bajaj, Hero MotoCorp, TVS, and emerging names like Ola Electric and Ather, Oben EV has remained intriguingly silent about its plans on the sales, service and EV charging station front.
The company has said it plans on installing its own charging stations and those that it will develop by way of strategic partnerships.
However, Oben EV stoically refused to divulge information on how many charging stations it hopes to develop, how many dealerships it is looking to launch or what its service network will look like in the near to medium term. It has not given information on its next three products, capacity utilization or what its sales projections are like either.
“Our focus is presently on bringing things together as we take a step-by-step approach in servicing customers first, and then taking things up a notch,” said Dinkar.
“We will disclose all numbers at the time of launch,” he added, “Only once we disclose these numbers, will we expect customers to put their trust in us.”
The company recently secured $2.5 million in seed funding, led by UP-based We Founder Circle (WFC). Co-founder Madhumita Agrawal points out that it is the largest funding secured by an electric two-wheeler startup.
Rorr to have price range of Rs 1-1.5 lakh
For now, Oben EV has divulged a ballpark figure in terms of what it hopes to price the Oben Rorr at. “The price point would be in the range of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh,” said Madhumita, “Our product has to be ICE-comparable in terms of price, performance or design.”
And how exactly does the company plan to compete with bigger names in the electric two-wheeler space? “We are a young startup and this is a huge market,” Madhumita says. “We believe any company developing a good product and meeting consumer needs has space, here."
While the absence of a swappable battery seems like a disadvantage — especially given the government’s recently announced battery-swapping policy, Oben EV’s cofounders are not perturbed.
“If customers have good range on electric bikes, they can always come back home and re-charge for their daily commute,” says Dinkar, alluding to the Rorr’s 200-kilometre range.
>>Also Read | From Tata Nexon to Mahindra eVerito: Here are top selling EVs in India and their prices
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