The Hindu Business Line : Multivac to earn Rs 60 cr from battery-operated vehicles

MULTIVAC India Pvt. Ltd, which has unveiled its range of battery-operated vehicles across the country, hopes to sell 10,000 units of the Pushpak e-trike range and 30,000 units of the Speedy e-bike during the fiscal 2004-05. This would translate into Rs 60-crore revenue for the company, according to the Executive Director, Mr Uday Karandikar.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, he said the company is in the process of appointing distributors for sale of its range of products in the country. These products, which have been unveiled in auto expositions across the country, were largely targeted at the rural and semi-urban markets.

The Multivac range of vehicles — e-bikes, e-trikes and e-carts — is manufactured at the company's plant at Gurgaon, which has been set up at a cost of Rs 2 crore. An additional sum of Rs 25 lakh had earlier been invested in design and development of the products.

According to Mr Karandikar, the Pushpak e-trike range has three variants — Passenger, Cargo and Combi. The application-oriented Pushpak can be used as a rural ambulance as well as for municipal solid waste disposal.

On a single charge and with a 250-kg payload, the Pushpak can cover 50 km without pedalling. The life of the battery is one year and the recharging time taken is six to eight hours. It has been priced at Rs 35,000-45,000 even as its battery is priced at Rs 9,000.

The e-bike Speedy has been fitted with a 400-watt DC motor that works on batteries and, on a single charge, it runs for 30 km without pedalling. It has been priced at Rs 8,000 with a set of additional batteries costing Rs 2,500.

The e-carts would be sold under the Azaad brand name and have been targeted at the physically-handicapped. It has been fitted with 500-watt DC battery and can run for 30 km on a single charge with an operating cost of less than 10 paise per km. It has been priced at Rs 12,500 with an additional set of batteries costing Rs 2,500.