Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma is launching an electric motorcycle on June 18 and one can hear, if not feel, the difference. It will be produced by a new company called Revolt Motors.
The company claims that it will be the country’s first AI-enabled motorcycle. It has released a video teasing why motorcycles should sound the same everyday, countering the complaint that electric vehicles have no good exhaust note. This is most likely a speaker on the motorcycle controlled by the phone app.
In a recent interview to Businessworld, Sharma, who identifies himself as chief revolutionary officer at Revolt Motors, compared his company to Tesla in the two-wheeler market sector. “Our quest is to disrupt the market. We are not saying that this bike will be priced at Rs 3 or 4 lakh. But we are known to disrupt markets in the past (smartphone) and are confident of doing the same in this (automobile) market too. This bike will be competing with existing players,” he said in the interview.
The motorcycle, whose design seems to be inspired from KTM, has an approved ARAI range of 156km on a single charge. It is powered by a 4.5kW motor and has a 45-amp controller. Like Tesla and Ather (the electric scooter startup), this motorcycle will also be a connected device and receive updates regularly over the Internet.
Currently, the 2-wheeler market sector is dominated by petrol-powered motorcycles and scooters. Bengaluru-based Ather’s electric scooter costs around Rs 1.2 lakh and has a range of 75km. Popular American superbike maker Harley Davidson is also expected to launch an electric motorcycle having a range of 225km this year.
The launch event will take place at 1pm on June 18.