LPT gets on the e-scooter bandwagon

Two years ago, electric vehicles were getting nowhere. Now, with rising prices of petrol and diesel, everyone wants to make and sell electric cars and two-wheelers. In India, there are various companies like Hero Electric and Ultra Motors that are already selling e-scooters in the country. And the latest to climb on the e-bandwagon is Luminous Power Technologies (LPT), which has announced that it will be launching an electric scooter – the Lectrix – in November this year.

LPT, which aims to sell in excess of 20,000 units of the Lectrix scooter by mid-2009, says it has spent two years on R&D and has already completed extensive testing of this e-scooter. According to Rakesh Malhotra, LPT’s founder and CEO, his company’s scooters will be priced between Rs 22,000 to Rs 35,000.

LPT is aiming at setting up 50 dealerships across the country, 36 of which are, supposedly, already in place. ‘Presently, we would be focusing our business in North India only. Most of the outlets are opening next month and they are located in all major cities in North India like Delhi, and also in smaller cities like Hisar, Karnal and Meerut,’ says Malhotra.

The LPT Lectrix will be produced at the company’s manufacturing facility in Gagret, Himachal Pradesh. ‘We are targeting an overall Rs 1,800-2,000 crore revenue by next fiscal, of which, I hope, around Rs 1,000 crore would come from our e-bike business,’ concludes Malhotra.