Q: How is the EV industry progressing in India especially in the 2-wheeler segment?

Munjal: People look at the EV industry as one large platform; that’s not really the case. We have to divide it up and look at 2-wheelers as a separate industry having its own requirements. Three and four-wheelers are different from commercial or public transport vehicles. All have dissimilar needs and will work at different levels; they will not progress together.

In India, 76 percent of vehicles on the road are 2-wheelers that consume 60 percent of fuel with 30 percent of the pollution. We believe that in India 2-wheelers would be the first to convert for the simple reason that it is a price market. The price points for 2-wheelers are much more lucrative and closer than they are for 4-wheelers.

Also, we don’t require the level of infrastructure for charging as needed for 4-wheelers. Our batteries are portable and we can provide vehicles in the 60-120 km range depending on customer needs. We need only to have basic charging points across the city as for mobile phones; we don’t need anything more special for 2-wheelers. The 3-wheelers are a different market where possibly swapping of infrastructure would work. Cars would be still more different because they require high-speed charging infrastructure. People require vehicles with very long range, in which case the price goes up and affordability becomes an issue. In India the majority of the market is sub-seven lakh rupees, the price point where cars work. To deliver an EV at this price with the required range is going to be very difficult; it won’t happen soon.

The 2-wheeler industry has both B2C and B2B. We find that there are regulatory challenges now. The policy is a bit of a problem right now as it supports high-end rather than mass vehicles. We are targeting the mass consumer. Unless we convert them we don’t think there is any point in having a niche market; in India we have to go mass.

Q: What kind of policy do you expect? Do you want a separate one for 2-wheelers?

Munjal: Yes, because 2-wheelers are the easiest and fastest to convert; it is also the biggest market for the industry. We can’t have one policy across the platform; it’s not possible. The policy is very different for 2-wheelers versus public transport. So there are issues but the government is trying hard. The intent is there, where they want to convert an equal performance IC engine to electric but it doesn’t always work that way because the moment we look at equal performance, electric would be twice the cost. A price increase of just 5 percent will have huge impact on sales. Also, there is minimal financing right now. In IC it is 65-70 percent financing while here it is 2-3 percent. That has got to change.

Q: Is the issue with the financiers or is it elsewhere? 

Munjal: It’s a chicken and egg situation in the sense that the financiers want a larger market in order to justify the efforts they have to put in, but larger markets are not going to be there without financing. Secondly, they compare it to an IC engine where the procedures are smooth while this is new machinery for which they have to start. Thirdly, there is no real diktat from the government on the financing part. If the public sector banks start it aggressively it would happen; special rates could always be considered.

In India there is a policy in place but it is targeted at the higher range of vehicles. FAME-1 was supporting e-mobility irrespective of the technology. Subsidies were given for both high and low speed. Post that, it got converted to only advanced batteries; In FAME-2 the thought process is very different; 10K per kWh but with a cap of 20 percent on the ex-dealer price. There should be certain speed (40kmph) and range (80km) and 50 percent localisation compared to last year; the figure should increase. With such restrictions customers do not buy. It’s not attractive at all and the market has gone down. Vehicles outside FAME are working better. The government has to relook and make corrections where required.

Q: What has been the USP of established players like Hero Electric and what will it be?

Munjal: We continue on the path we had set ourselves a couple of years ago. We watch the market very closely to see how it’s going to change on the basis of the price points and performance. Many people prefer lower cost to performance. Larger players do not change anything for us. We believe the market is going to expand faster; the projections made earlier may accelerate. Our market share might decline but volumes would grow substantially.

Q: How will the future be? Would new technologies, beyond Lithium, come through?

Munjal: We don’t work on the base technology. That is best left to the experts to handle because we have no expertise in things like figuring out the chemistry of the battery, the solid state, etc. Technology is going to change for sure. I’m already seeing technologies like sodium where there is no lithium content at all. It does not have the rare materials that a Li-ion battery has. Take for example, solid state batteries, which have a different chemistry altogether. Japan is already following hydrogen fuel cells, so is Norway.What is eventually going to work? Nobody knows at this point. But one thing is clear - any new technology will not happen overnight.

Q: In that case what could be the technological change that Hero Electric would introduce?

Munjal: One thing is clear that we are going to stick to zero machine vehicles. We are not going to get into any emission vehicles at all. For the past 3-4 years the battery chemistry for us has changed and is changing; it’s a constant process. Tomorrow if the hydrogen fuel cell is commercially viable for a 2-wheeler we will switch to that or to any other technology that is better.

Q: Has any new technology been tried in 2-wheelers?

Munjal: Not that I am aware of. Any new technology will take 8-12 years before it gets commercialised and even then there could be a stopover. This is not going to fade away completely. We may have switched to lithium but a large part of the market is still working on lead-acid.

Q: What will be the key driver for you to introduce new vehicle models without any technological change?

Munjal: We do a lot of work because we are the ones who are testing the vehicles on the road. Just as in lab testing, many issues do come out during road tests. We ourselves are making the chemistry change, asking suppliers to change their chemistry. We may not be doing the chemical analysis of the batteries here but we do adapt them to Indian conditions.There are many factors unique to India, that’s why the chemistries have to be very different.

Q: When you say power, the issue is on a couple of things like frequency and harmonics, the electrical pollution etc.; all these could affect EVs also. What are your initiatives?

Munjal: We do many things. First is the charger where we have to control the power that comes in. Second is that we never allow the customer to use the battery to 100 percent because then heating would become a problem. Thirdly, we educate both the dealers and the customers on how to use the battery, the correct way of charging batteries and other important points like pollution effects, load factor, etc. If 100 percent of the 2-wheelers in India are converted to electric, the additional load on the grid would be just 6 percent. As we go more solar we will have to take steps to store excess energy; of course that’s a separate issue. EVs help balance out the grid rather than cause a strain on it. So in an urban environment it makes absolute sense to go EV.

Q: What about recycling of batteries?

Munjal: Our volume of batteries on the road compared to IC engines is negligible. Traceability is available on all our batteries; anything given to the replacement market comes back and we replace with the dealers. The lead-acid ones go to the recyclers. Li-ion batteries have still not started coming back for recycling; a new one lasts for 6-7 years. The Li-ion batteries that come back will not get recycled immediately. They will get fine-tuned and go for stationary applications. For recycling, the batteries would not be coming out for at least 15-20 years.

Q: What have been the major milestones in your journey?

Munjal: It’s been an interesting journey; it’s 12 years since we’ve been doing electric; we introduced electric bicycles in 2000; but it was too early. There have been a lot of challenges but it’s been a very fulfilling journey.

Our Punjab plant has the capacity for 75,000 units and is capable of further expansion. Our dealers have stuck on with us and suppliers have been there for many years though volumes did take a huge hit some time ago. They all believe in the same goal we have, which is that electric will happen. We have made many changes. For example, when we switched from lead to lithium completely, it was done in 4 days.

Q: That means you had a compatible battery management system?

Munjal: We already had lithium but the transformation we were able to do very quickly. Now there is a diktat also so we can move in that direction.

Q: An electric vehicle has four modules: motor, battery, BMS and the cabling part. You are outsourcing all. Do you see opportunity to get into any of these?

Munjal: I don’t think so. At the moment a lot of collaborative modelling is happening whereby one does not have to be a manufacturer of everything oneself. That was the older thought process that one has to control the entire supply chain, but now it would be cheaper and more efficient for somebody else to make.

Q: Do you import all the four modules?

Munjal: No, we are also buying locally harness and some components. Motors are coming from outside right now. We are developing the motors here but we don’t have a reliable, strong source as of now. It will happen but it’s still a few months away. Batteries are both imported and locally made.

Q: In this journey have you noticed pain points that are still to be addressed?

Munjal: There is so much of technology we can put in the vehicle but then we have to stop somewhere. No point in going for the ‘overkill.’ It won’t make sense to the customer who will not buy. Technology changes very rapidly; at the end of 2 years it no longer remains a cutting-edge knowhow. Technology, price and performance are very critical to the benefit the customer sees in our product. The market is expanding and we are fighting to keep the prices low. The Indian customer is value conscious; he wants a balance between utility and price for a quality product.

Q: How do the customers of IC engine 2-wheelers embrace EVs?

Munjal: There are several ways. Why are people switching to this? One is ease of use with electric as compared to IC. The mobile service station will come to the customers; they can also charge the vehicle from home. Of course these vehicles are not meant for everybody, as is the case with IC also. There are segmentations in IC engines like 125cc or 350, 500, 700 and 1200cc. EVs are meant for certain segments of people.

Second is the cost of usage. Cost of operation is lower than an IC engine. In an IC if you are going 50km per day, it would take 1 litre of fuel at a cost of Rs 70. In electric for the same distance you would use 1-1.5 units of power which would come to Rs 10-12 but you have to sacrifice speed. The third is that this (at least the low speed EVs) targets the younger generation who are currently using cycles or some other means of transport. So in any way cost, ease of use or environment make it sensible to go for electric.

Q: When you plan to release a new model, what sort of benchmarking do you do?

Munjal: The benchmark is decidedly not about speed. Speed with performance makes the vehicle more expensive to operate than an IC engine. So it’s the overall efficiency we look at. A large number of our customers are scooter buyers, moped and motorcycle buyers. It’s difficult to say how many of them would convert to electric. It may not be 100 percent even in the next couple of years but a large part of them decidedly do not want an IC engine performance. They realise there is tremendous saving with electric every day - no theft of fuel, service cost is much lower and the job is done very well. They are converting.

Q: What is the price range of your vehicles?

Munjal: We are below one lakh rupees.

Q: There are some reports of poor sales of BS-VI 2-wheelers. Do you see that as a driver for people to come into electric?

Munjal: Yes, because IC will become more expensive with BS-VI while EV prices will come down. Lot of infrastructural changes have to be done at the dealership level, service level, etc. that would make it more expensive to run.

Q: 10 years from now, how do you see the company growing?

Munjal: Forget 10 years; we are going to be a very different company 3 years from now. We have various plans in place in terms of numbers. We have a realistic plan we are working on, an optimistic plan and a plan for ‘if nothing works, then what happens.’ In the next 10 years does it make sense if there is 30-35 percent conversion (forget 100 percent)? Can that happen in 10 years for 2-wheelers? That is the baseline plan. We have to convert; we have to change from oil dependency. There are several factors why we have to switch. The market of 30 percent in 10 years with the growth we have would be about 12-15 million units. That is almost what the IC engine is now. This is the baseline scenario which makes absolute sense for us. If we achieve more than that we will have to build up and expand.

Q: How are you gearing up?

Munjal: We initially set up one factory; now we have two of those sheds there in the same complex. We are also looking at a third one, at the same place or elsewhere, taking into account ‘Mitigation of risk.’ We are building up new facilities; have already moved here from Okhla and expanded in terms of manpower. Our B2B team is looking only at B2B and not focusing on the consumer segment at all. Technology wise we are improving substantially. I think the inflexion point has already begun. In the next 2-3 years the disruption that is going to happen will be faster than what we have ever seen. From ‘every which way’ I am extremely excited to be here right now. (MT)

 

Royal Enfield has announced the launch of its inaugural Himalayan Base Camp – Ladakh Edition, a three-day community confluence designed to bring together riders, climbers and overlanders.

Based in Leh, Ladakh, at an altitude of 11,480 feet, the event moves away from traditional festival formats to create an immersive, hands-on environment focused on the ‘Adventure mindset.’

The program is structured around active participation rather than observation. It will feature a range of curated expeditions, expert-led sessions and skill-based workshops covering multiple disciplines. Beyond motorcycling, the event includes activities such as overlanding, cycling and mountaineering. Technical challenges include bouldering, kayaking and high-altitude skills workshops.

Mohit Dhar Jayal, Chief Brand Officer, Royal Enfield, said, “The Himalayan Base Camp is a rendezvous point for all adventurers, regardless of whether they are driven by horsepower, willpower or their own two feet. The program combines action, instruction and a variety of expeditions that will take adventurers out of their comfort zone - and bring them back to base with a whole new set of skills and experiences.”

The Ladakh edition is positioned as a shared space for co-creators where aficionados define the spirit of adventure. By returning to its ‘spiritual ground,’ Royal Enfield aims to fuel specific subcultures within the adventure community, offering challenges that range from technical boulder crawling to high-speed valley expeditions. The event is designed to be accessible to all, emphasising a collective defining of what adventure looks like at high altitudes.

This new addition to the Royal Enfield calendar joins their established marquee rides like the Himalayan Odyssey and Moto Himalaya, further solidifying the brand's presence in the global adventure-lifestyle ecosystem.

Indian Motorcycle and Legendary Productions have announced a new premium touring event, IBEX26: The Iberia Experience, scheduled to take place from 30 September to 4 October 2026.

Following the success of the Indian Riders Fest, this new venture shifts focus toward a more intimate, boutique experience, limited to just 220 participants on Spain’s Costa Blanca.

The event will be headquartered at the Hotel Occidental Pueblo Acantilado in El Campello, Alicante. This 4-star cliffside resort, designed to resemble a traditional whitewashed Iberian village, has been exclusively reserved for the event, ensuring a private environment for Indian Motorcycle owners and their passengers.

The riding programme features three signature routes developed in partnership with IMRG Alicante, the local Indian Motorcycle Riders Group. These routes are designed to showcase the diverse geography of the Alicante province:

• Route A (115 km): Traverses the Sierra de Aitana, featuring high-altitude mountain passes and the medieval clifftop village of Guadalest.
• Route B (140 km): Focuses on the inland valleys, passing through the almond groves of Xixona and reaching the Xorret de Catí viewpoint.
• Route C (155 km): A coastal and cultural loop taking in the Castillo de Santa Barbara in Alicante, the colourful houses of Villajoyosa, and the Valor chocolate museum.

IBEX26 is designed as an ‘all-inclusive’ experience where the regional culture is as central as the riding. Each evening at the hotel will feature a different themed culinary event, including a Valencian paella night with live flamenco performances and a gourmet tapas gala. An on-site ‘Iberian Market Place’ will also allow riders to engage with local artisan producers.

Jean-Marie Guyon, Founder, IBEX26 and Legendary Productions, said, “IBEX26 is everything the Indian Riders Fest taught us — and then a completely new conversation. We wanted to create something where the hotel, the roads, the food and the community are all equal parts of the experience. The Costa Blanca in October is one of the finest motorcycling environments in Europe.”

José Vicente Gomis Reig, President, IMRG Alicante, added, “We know these roads better than anyone. We have ridden every one of them and we know exactly which ones reward an Indian Motorcycle. It is a privilege to put that knowledge at the service of IBEX26.”

Registration for the event includes accommodation, all meals, GPX route files, and daily technical briefings, offering a turnkey touring solution for the Indian Motorcycle community.

Italian two-wheeler major Vespa India has introduced the Vespa Tech 80th, an exclusive commemorative series launched on 23 April 2026.

This special edition marks the 80th anniversary of the original patent filing on 23 April 1946, bridging the gap between the brand's post-war origins and modern technology. Available in 125cc and 150cc variants, the series is designed as a tribute to the Italian icon's legacy of freedom and style.

The standout feature of the Vespa Tech 80th is its exclusive Verde Pastello green livery. This specific shade was retrieved from historical archives and is inspired by the very first single-colour Vespa models from the 1940s.

The aesthetic follows a minimalist and functional language where the body colour extends to the shield profile, passenger grab handles, mirrors and suspension linkages. This glossy finish is contrasted by darker green satin-finish elements, including a stitched saddle, rubber footrest inserts and handlebar grips.

Further historical nods include Verde Pastello rims with a diamond finish, inspired by the original 1946 Vespa 98. Each unit is marked by a commemorative ‘80th’ plaque on the front shield and a dedicated ‘80 years of Vespa Est. 1946’ badge on the backplate. To celebrate this milestone globally, Vespa will host a massive international gathering in Rome from 25 to 28 June 2026, which is expected to be the largest celebration in the brand's history.

Suzuki Motorcycle India (SMIPL), the two-wheeler subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan, is celebrating its 20th anniversary in India.

The Japanese automaker started production in India in 2006 and has evolved from its initial motorcycle launches to becoming a major player in the Indian mobility landscape, recently surpassing the milestone of 10 million units produced in India in 2026.

Suzuki’s journey in India began with the Heat 125 and Zeus 125 motorcycles, but it was the 2007 launch of the Access 125, which provided momentum for the brand in India’s 125cc scooter segment.

Since then, the company has expanded its lineup with the likes of the Burgman Street & the Avenis scooter, and performance motorcycles like the Gixxer series and V-Strom SX.

Suzuki Motorcycle India has also maintained a premium footprint with models such as the Hayabusa, GSX-8R and V-Strom 800 DE.

Furthermore, the Gurugram manufacturing facility now exports ‘Made-in-India’ Suzuki two-wheelers to 77 countries worldwide.

To meet increasing demand and prepare for the next decade of growth, Suzuki Motorcycle India has initiated groundwork for its second manufacturing plant in Kharkhoda. The company is also adopting a multi-pathway approach to carbon neutrality, focusing on diverse power solutions tailored for the Indian market.

It was just recently that the company entered the EV space with the Suzuki e-Access and is also developing Gixxer SF 250 FFV, featuring E85-compliant flex-fuel technology.

Kenichi Umeda, Managing Director, Suzuki Motorcycle India, said, “Marking 20 years of start of production in India is a significant milestone for all of us at Suzuki Motorcycle India. This progress has enabled us to build an ecosystem founded on trust and collaboration, with presence across all states through 1,240 touchpoints. Looking ahead, our future growth strategy will be guided by a multi-pathway approach to carbon neutrality, integrating diverse fuel and power solutions best suited to India.”

Year	Milestone
2006	SMIPL enters India; launches Heat 125 and Zeus 125
2007	Launch of the Access 125, defining the 125cc scooter segment
2012	Achieved first 1 million customers
2020	Cumulative production crosses 5 million units
2026	10 million units produced in India; 20th Anniversary