Honda Activa Electric and others coming from 2024
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India has drawn up a detailed plan to enter the EV industry in the country and has covered the most important bases – manufacturing, product and support. The Japanese two-wheeler giant plans to cater to the electric two-wheeler market by setting up a dedicated EV production facility at its Narasapura plant in Karnataka, which will be named Factory ‘E’. The company will manufacture its electric motors in-house and plans to produce 1 million units by 2030. The battery and power control unit will be sourced locally from Honda’s partner suppliers.
Honda will deploy its new Platform E architecture that will underpin the upcoming Honda electric two-wheelers. The new underpinnings are likely to be customizable and will accommodate a variety of powertrain arrangements. Honda’s first product will debut in FY2024 and is expected to be called the Honda Activa Electric. There will be a fixed battery setup in this EV. Honda is also referring to it as a “mid-range” product, which could mean that the EV could compete with more frugal options like the Ola S1 Air when launched. After this, by the end of 2024, another electric scooter will come which will come with swappable battery technology.
Honda’s third base, Support, will also play an important role in the company’s endeavor to enter the electric two-wheeler industry. Honda is aiming to set up battery-swapping stations across its 6,000+ touchpoints spread across the country. It is also planning to convert the service centers to work only on EVs and will be called Workshop ‘E’. Customers will also get the facility to charge their fixed battery EVs at such workshops. Honda’s battery swapping centers are limited to 23 outlets in Bengaluru under the company’s Phase I plan. The company intends to move to Phase 2 of the plan which will see the expansion of this network to other southern Indian states. Eventually, this network will be implemented in other states of the country.
