Greaves Electric Mobility has geared up to launch a new scooter and a passenger version of its three-wheeler, Eltra, over the next few months.
The electric two- and three-wheeler manufacturer will be introducing these vehicles as its first after returning the full Rs 124-crore subsidy it had obtained under the government’s Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles (FAME) scheme in October, along with the approximately Rs 15 crore in accrued interest.
Subsidies to the company under FAME were halted following an investigation over violation of manufacturing guidelines. Greaves Electric now hopes the government would soon restart the subsidies.
Sanjay Behl, CEO and executive director, Greaves Electric, said, “The ministry informed us that they are pursuing the process of withdrawal of show-cause notice and restoration of Greaves Electric Mobility back onto the FAME portal. We are hopeful that this will be done rapidly, but we have not been given any committed deadline.”
Greaves Electric was among the companies against whom an investigation was started by the Centre following allegations of violation of the Phased Manufacturing Programme under the FAME-II scheme. The removal of subsidy led to an increase in its product prices, which in turn led to a drop in demand. From a nearly 7% market share in January 2023, Greaves’ share fell to under 5% in August 2023, in the domestic electric two-wheeler category, data from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association show.
Sanjay Behl said, “We are keen to ensure that our customers get rightful incentives to adopt electric scooters over ICE alternatives and restore a level-playing field with other EV players in the industry.”
With the subsidy controversy now behind it, Greaves is pressing on with its investment plans for product development and market expansion initiatives. The company has lined up a capital expenditure of `100 crore for FY24, as per sources. In the September quarter, it had cash reserves of nearly Rs 850 crore.
Sanjay Behl, added, “Nearly two-thirds of our capex is for product and technology development. We launched the Primus in the early part of the year and we are about to launch another high-speed electric scooter Ampere NXG (80-85 kmph speed) with full-stack IoT connectivity before the end of the current financial year.”
In the electric three-wheeler segment, Greaves is currently doing several trials with large companies like Delhivery, Magenta, Zomato and Shadowfax to name a few. There are 27 such trials scheduled in seven cities for its newest product, Eltra, an electric cargo vehicle capable of high payload of over 500 kg. A passenger version of the Eltra will be launched soon by the company, Behl said.
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