Kymco, a Taiwanese scooter manufacturer has announced its entry into the Indian scooter market under a tie-up with a Delhi-based electric scooter start-up, Twenty Two Motors. The press announcement mentions that both entities share the same objective of providing better electric mobility — and that they will be equally involved in the partnership.
Under this venture, Kymco will be bringing in its ionex-battery-swapping technology which will be incorporated into the Flow electric scooter that is manufactured by Twenty Two Motors. The scooter, which has been already launched before will be re-introduced in the market with the tech by early 2019. Inspite of the added equipment, the e-scooter will continue to be priced at Rs 74,740 (ex-showroom), which is commendable since it was originally introduced at an identical price.
Apart from the incorporation of the removable ionex battery pack, the Flow e-scooter remains pretty much the same, mechanically. It’s powered by an electric motor sourced from Bosch that produces 90.17 kgm and provides a range of 160 km on a full charge.
The ionex-battery-equipped Flow scooters will be sold with two detachable lithium-ion battery units. Apart from the home charger provided on the purchase of each scooter, Twenty Two Motors has chalked out a plan to have fast charging stations installed (starting from Delhi) for the ease of mobility. The charging rate for the batteries will be affordable at Rs 20 to 30 for a full charge. The charging time for a full charge per battery is claimed by the company to be less than an hour. The Ionex smart battery weights only 5 kg and is designed for easy application. They can be charged via several options such as standard charging, fast charging, battery swaps, or any combination.
Parveen Kharb, CEO and Co-Founder, Twenty Two Motors said, “Twenty-Two Motors was founded with the sole aim to change the commutation landscape in India by providing powerful smart vehicles to generation next. Electric mobility is the future of the world – a near future, not distant. We envisioned to facilitate Indian customers with smart EV vehicles and a proper infrastructure with charging stations and efficient battery and our partnership with KYMCO is the next step in this direction. This unique partnership will prove to be a revolution for fundamentals of Indian auto sector which no one expected so far as we shall be creating a complete new ecosystem for premium EV mobility in India.”
“Our association will further strengthen our existing expertise which enables us to fulfil our commitment to facilitate the Indian customers with the most innovative and powerful, smart EV vehicles,” he further added.
Twenty Two Motors will be launching the updated Flow e-scooter in Delhi first by early 2019, followed by Gurgaon, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Pune and Bangalore later.
