Okinawa cuts prices of electric scooter

Electric two-wheeler firm Okinawa Autotech on Wednesday said it has reduced prices of its entire product portfolio, ranging between Rs 7,209 and Rs 17,892, in the wake of recent changes in the FAME-II policy. The company's Praise+ electric scooter is now priced at Rs 99,708 against Rs 1,17,600 earlier. Similarly, Praise Pro is now tagged at Rs 76,848, a drop of Rs 7,947 from Rs 84,795 earlier.

Okinawa has also reduced the price of Ridge+ model to Rs 61,791 from Rs 69,000 earlier. "Lowering the prices of electric scooters in the country will serve as a stepping stone and help persuade more riders to switch from a combustion-engine model to an electric one," Okinawa Autotech Managing Director and Founder Jeetender Sharma said in a statement.

The company's localisation strategy has allowed it to set the bar of high-quality products that are not only transforming the perception of electric scooters in the customer minds, but achieving this without burning a hole in customer pockets, he added. "With our plans to achieve 100 per cent localisation by the end of this fiscal year, we are certain to change the face of the two-wheeler electric vehicle industry in the country," Sharma noted.

Okinawa said it has already sold around 90,000 electric scooters as of May this year. The company also informed that it is in the process of investing Rs 150 crore to set up a new manufacturing facility in Rajasthan near the company's existing plant. Last week, the government made a partial modification in Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India Phase II (FAME India Phase II), including increasing the demand incentive for electric two-wheelers to Rs 15,000 per KWh from the earlier uniform subsidy of Rs 10,000 per KWh for all EVs, including plug in hybrids and strong hybrids except buses.

In the latest modification, the department of heavy industries also capped incentives for electric two-wheelers at 40 per cent of the cost of vehicles, up from 20 per cent earlier. On Tuesday, TVS Motor Company announced a reduction in the price of its iQube Electric scooter by Rs 11,250 in line with revision in subsidy under the FAME II Scheme. The model is now priced at Rs 1,00,777 in Delhi compared to Rs 1,12,027 earlier.