Electric scooter maker Jitendra EV is expanding to increase the production of electric scooters. The company said in a statement that it is targeting to increase its production capacity to 2 million units by 2027. At present, the company is manufacturing 24,000 units of electric scooters annually at its Nashik factory.
Jitendra Shah, co-founder of Jitendra EV said that the company is working on some new electric scooter models. These scooters are going to come with a fast-charging Lithium Titanium Oxide battery. The company is procuring these batteries from Bengaluru-based cell manufacturer Log9. He told that this scooter is currently in its testing model.
According to Jitendra, the company is selling around 1,000 electric scooters every month. The company recently got an order from Bengaluru-based startup FAE Bikes to deliver 12,000 electric scooters. Jitendra says that the company is working to the best of its ability to fulfill this order.
Jitendra has invested Rs 100 crore in the electric vehicle business, but in the next 5 years, plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore to set up a 2 million unit facility. The company is expanding its presence in the market by opening new retail stores. The company currently operates 170 dealerships, which it plans to increase to 300 next year and 700 by 2027.
At present, the GST on electric vehicles is only 5 per cent as against 48 per cent on petrol vehicles. The high cost of lithium, used in electric vehicle batteries, has pushed up the cost of electric vehicles, but higher production of lithium in the future will bring down the price. Due to this, the price of electric vehicles will also see a decline.
At present, 81 per cent of India’s lithium battery requirement is being met by local producers. Research on the development of alternative battery technologies is underway and breakthroughs in this area are expected soon.
The central government expects sales of electric vehicles to be 30 per cent for private cars, 70 per cent for commercial cars, 40 per cent for buses and 80 per cent for two-wheelers and three-wheelers by 2030.
