[warrioraks]

I think we saw a similar trend in the nascent stages of mobile technology in India. The market was flooded with Chinese handsets which sold comparatively cheaper than Sony Ericssons, Nokias and Samsungs of the world. More than a decade later, we only see organised players now. I will put my money on the fact that we will see the same thing in scooter EV space as well.

Slowly and steadily, the market will filter these new operators and consolidate into the hands of few. How fast that happens is hard to predict. Government regulation can get this done in a jiffy. On the other hand, it might take upward of 5 years if the industry is left unregulated in the hands of market forces.

[Akshay6988]

I've seen handful of these chinese ev scooters on road, and while I've only ridden the Tunwal (I am not sure if that's correct name) ev scooter, the experience was just meh. Cheap plastics, weird throttle response and that constant whine of the EV motor. I understand these are built to a cost, but I'm concerned about what happens in case of a mishap ? What if batteries,motor go up in flames ? Few EVs are not registered (they dont have the green number plates) so if such EV scooter is involved in an accident and some serious injuries happen, then how the authorities will be able to capture these bikes and the owner ? If I have to buy an EV, I'd rather get it from the likes of Ather, Bajaj and Ola. I'm not speaking out of nationalism, it's just that I can't trust any product, of which the manufacturer has no presence in the country.
BTW, what does the "fly - by - night operator" means ?

[anjan_c2007]

These Chinese scooters come in the most attractive sometimes never, ever seen gaudy to not so gaudy shades in designs wherein each one looks different from the other. However, these designs are inspired by either Japanese, Italian, Indian or some European scooters.

In the 1980's Mithun Chakraborty was known as poor man's Amitabh Bachchan. It would be outrageous to drag the two Bollywood heroes in this Chinese e-scooter design debate though! But by all means, if we see a Vespa inspired Chinese (fly by day or night) design, it can be called as the poor man's Vespa.

Those of us who have visited or stayed in localities near forests can recollect about the several insect species that instantly reach the dwelling place once lights are switched on in the evening. Each one looks different from the other as a species or genus in colour, size and in its potential nuisance value.

About a decade and a half, Chinese e-rickshaws as kits got through our shores. The price of each was Rs 1.25 L. A workshop owner known to me would get these. He was able to sell a paltry one or two every month. Frustrated, he quit selling these. There was no accredited institution loan or financing available for buyers then and most potential customers would be from the lower class for whom loan mattered.

These fly by night Chinese scooters too have arrived in India since a decade or so. One brand was Yo-Yo that an acquaintance had bought. These thrived as private buyers did not mostly require finance/loan.

[Electromotive]

The Chinese aren't the ones here to blame.
I looked up 7-8 companies on the list and all of those are businesses registered in India and run by pure desi biznessmen, born and brought up in India and, of course, afflicted with the trader mentality.

I suspect these scooters are white label goods (made by the same Chinese manufacturer) being imported and sold under their brand by these Indian companies - like what Micromax did and Revolt does. Basically, desi traders doing what they do best - selling substandard imported goods at a markup. This also explains the lack of govt. action, these are Indian companies after all, they all have the connections necessary to do bizness in India.

I also looked up the specs for some scooters and those are pathetic - hub motors, the same generic controller, anemic batteries, less than 70Km range, speed limits of 60Kmph or lower. These things are built to a cost and it shows. It is also possible that some of the battery packs in these scooters are made from recycled batteries, that's a recipe for disaster.

Conclusion:
These scooters are a poor deal even at the price they are selling and neither the Chinese manufacturer nor the Indian importer is making a loss in the transaction, mind you.
The only loser is the end user dumb enough to buy one.

[fhdowntheline]

Indian 2 wheeler manufacturers have much deeper pockets and penetration. Why are they not getting aggressive enough? Bajaj and TVS came up with some sort of half-baked products. Why couldnt they do what Ather or Ola did? And then how does one expect people to wait for quality products from established OEMs. They will naturally try to use whatever they get, be it from China or wherever.
One potential advantage I see from some of these assembled models is the ability to remove the battery pack and charge at home (Okinawa for example). I think that's a great choice for those who cannot install chargers in their parking.

[sarav100]

Back in June 2020, one of my relatives needed a scooter urgently due to Covid situation. I was tasked with choosing one and I gave preference to EVs due to her low running.

Did some research and and found out exactly what this thread is about. Most of the manufacturers had similar designs and most products looked like rebadged versions of same platform.

Among the choices, Okinawa was the most known name and I thought of giving them a visit.

Tried calling their local dealership but couldn’t get through. Then I drove 40 km all the way to their dealership location as per website and guess what ? The dealership has shutdown even before covid struck the world. Not a fly by night manufacturer but certainly we saw a “Fly by night EV Dealership”.

I was disgruntled at the situation and wondered what would have had happened if we had brought a product and then they flew away.

Nonetheless brought a Hero Pleasure+ ICE 2 wheeler the same week and happily lived after.

[saion666]

This is what Hero electric claims on the topic.

[Venky03]

Both Bajaj Chetak and TVS iQube have been around for some time now, still no sign of them in Mumbai. Additionally there was a significant price hike after the subsidies were announced.

Ola has delayed the delivery again, from Oct to Nov and now Nov to Dec.

Simple One's presentation was not so promising; a long wait for the final product.

The only options available in Mumbai are Ather and other small companies, with the former costing significantly more(plus service and connectivity plans).

To try and make a product from ground up(like Ather and Simple Energy) needs a lot of time, resources and financial backing; now if a company is selling products imported from China just to make money with no focus on R&D, it is bound to perish.(Micromax recap)

[Samarth 619]

All my life I've just seen big companies go bigger and bigger, but not increasing their employment proportionately. I believe this decentralisation of Electric vehicle industry, is largely pointing out in the right direction.
It will increase competition and help in even distribution of wealth.

Now, I see 2 major problems:-

1. One is import dependance for something as trivial as the scooter body. Li ion battery is understandable, but body and design?
Solution is simple, somebody needs to make them in house. Is it a big challenge?

2. Yes, I do want this industry to be regulated strictly by the government, for safety issues.

All I'm saying is, every Tom, Dock and Harry opening their own startup is economically not a bad thing.
Let's not be inherently negative about it. Peace.

[TheHelix0202]

So, I got this ad that claims big, fancy numbers for a company that I’d never heard of. The marketing looked like a gimmick (calling it a “super bike”, lol!) but I thought of looking the brand up on Google. 150km of range sounds a little unbelievable. Even the Revolt RV400 has significantly lesser range.







Their “Evoqis”, which resembles a Ninja / Pulsar F250, is priced at roughly 1.5 Lakh (ex-showroom).

This is their official company website: Link

Is it just another startup e-scooter company that is aiming big but resorting to marketing gimmicks or is it something credible? Because the numbers sure do sound unbelievable.

[nairrk]

AMO Electric Bikes has launched its new Jaunty Plus electric scooter in the Indian market. The new AMO Jaunty Plus electric scooter has been introduced at Rs 1.10 lakh, ex-showroom. It is offered with a three-year warranty and will be available in five colour schemes, namely red-black, grey-black, blue-black, white-black, and yellow-black. The company says that this electric scooter will be available for sale across its 140 dealerships in India from February 15, 2022.

Read

[sagarpadaki]

The rate at which these electric scooter brands are coming with their rebadged white label scooters is alarming. Feels like a flea market.

In my opinion, fragmentation of this scale is not healthy. Companies with no credentials launch electric scooters and if they go bust the customers are left high and dry. And not to mention the way these customers may discard their electric scooters once they are at the end of life

[aargee]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

In my opinion, fragmentation of this scale is not healthy. Companies with no credentials launch electric scooters and if they go bust the customers are left high and dry. And not to mention the way these customers may discard their electric scooters once they are at the end of life

From 90s to 2000's there were software development companies in every street, atleast in India; followed by the era of training centers (and still continues) in the mid 2000s. In the early 70s to end 90s, there were many garage startups (DELL & Apple are quite famous) that succeeded in computer H/W in USA. In the early 1900s there were plethora of motorcycle manufacturers, most of them disappeared without a trace, around the world. In the mid 90s there were plenty of tile manufacturers (in India) as well & most of them gone without a trace now.

This is nothing new & has always happened in history & will continue to happen in future as well whenever there're new technologies emerges there're plenty of business opportunities as well & everyone likes to leverage the opportunity with a share in the pie.

Some of them sustain in long run (like Honda from mid 50s, which I'm sure you know started in a shed like HD in 1903 started in a garage as well) & others vanish without a trace; decades later we admire the big corporations due to their humble beginning. Like Nassim Taleb says, we all see the survivor, what we fail to see is the cemetery.

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by nairrk

... It is offered with a three-year warranty... ]

3 years is a very long time for even an established company. I am not sure this company even has plans looking ahead more than 6 months! I wonder at the kind of profit margins these companies operate with. I think they will abandon ship once their profits peak.

[sri_tesla]

Originally Posted by aargee

From 90s to 2000's there were software development companies in every street, atleast in India; followed by the era of training centers (and still continues) in the mid 2000s. In the early 70s to end 90s, there were many garage startups (DELL & Apple are quite famous) that succeeded in computer H/W in USA. In the early 1900s there were plethora of motorcycle manufacturers, most of them disappeared without a trace, around the world. In the mid 90s there were plenty of tile manufacturers (in India) as well & most of them gone without a trace now.

This is nothing new & has always happened in history & will continue to happen in future as well whenever there're new technologies emerges there're plenty of business opportunities as well & everyone likes to leverage the opportunity with a share in the pie.

You are comparing the unknown companies that import kits from China and assemble them here with the companies which have their own R&D.

The aptest comparison would be with the likes of Micromax, Lava, etc... who used to import Chinese smartphone kits in the early days of the smartphone revolution. Later when those Chinese companies decided to enter themselves in India, all these local brands closed shop due to low or no sales.

These Chinese scooters are available on Alibaba for 35K to 40K. Sadly, some of these companies are even getting FAME 2 subsidies through loopholes.

I hope the established brands like Hero, Honda, TVS, Bajaj soon realize that there is a huge demand for EVs and they are already cannibalizing their ICE scooter sales. Many people are holding off purchasing new vehicles because of higher fuel prices and upcoming new EV models.