CHENNAI: TVS Motor is working on a strategy to develop a portfolio of electric products, top executives at the two-wheeler company said.“There will be a phased expansion,” joint managing director Sudarshan Venu said, adding that the company would have a portfolio of products in the electric segment in the coming years.On Saturday TVS Motor unveiled its first electric scooter, the iQube Electric priced at Rs 1.15 lakh, in Bengaluru. This comes soon after the launch of the electric Chetak scooter by rival Bajaj Auto. Sachin Bansal-backed Ather — the first mover in this lane of vehicles — is about to drive in with its latest offering, the Ather 450x, in a market where competition is expected to get stiff with the government too pushing for electrification of vehicles.While TVS is charting out its plans for the EV market, it is aware of the hurdles, mainly on charging infrastructure. “You have to get somebody to install the chargers at home … hopefully, Bescom (the power distributor in Bengaluru) will come up with some charging infrastructure that everyone will use…,” Venu said. “We will have to gear up our dealerships for service, the mechanics need to be trained; so, when we go in, we want to go the whole hog and delight customers,” he added.73649576 Queried about the possible challenges for Indian e-scooter brands from Chinese players, Venu said Indian two-wheelers were globally competitive as the country “exports over 2 million units a year”. TVS Motor will consider exporting the iQube, he added.While new launches will help widen the market for EVs, the success of the products depends on factors like affordability, how the manufacturer assuages concerns about the range and whether the buyer can get a return on investment in, say, three years, Deloitte India partner and automotive leader Rajeev Singh said.The iQube will be initially available in Bengaluru and Venu is targeting to launch it in 3-4 more cities through the next fiscal year. The company has a capacity to produce 1,000 units of the scooter a month at its plant in Hosur, Tamil Nadu.The scooter comes with features such as geo-fencing, battery status alert, navigation assist and speeding checks.
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