YObykes crosses 10,000 mark in sales

Ahmedabad, Nov 3 (UNI) The 'no-petrol' YObykes, has sold over 10,000 bykes across various states since it was launched in February this year in Gujarat.

Launched by Indus Elec-trans, a division of Electrotherm (ET), the battery-operated YObykes are economical, pollution-free and do not need to be registered for a licence.

Electrotherm (India) Ltd Director Avinash Bhandari said, ''YObykes has sold over 10,00 bykes in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh.'' The cost per kilometre for YObykes is only 8 to 9 paise, while it costs 10 paise for battery charging, that amounts to only 25 paise per kilometre. In one charging that takes 6 to 8 hours the bykes can go upto 75km, he said.

YObykes, available in six models, are priced between Rs 16,000 to Rs 28,000. The prices may vary marginally across states due to VAT and transportation costs, he said.

All the models of YObykes currently launched have a motor power less than 250 watts and with a maximum speed of 25 km. Since these bykes do not require driving licence and RTO legislation as they are exempted from Central Motor Vehicle Rules by ARAI, Pune, a Central government vehicle testing agency, the Company provides its customers with a 'Certificate Card' based upon ARAI certification that can be shown to traffic police/RTO, Mr Bhandari said.

YObykes is targetted largely at women, school children and office going men whose travel needs are limited. Broadly it is aimed at all those people who are worried about the rising travel cost.

Although new to India, electric vehicles are very popular personal transport modes in US, Europe, Japan and China. Consequently, sales of electric vehicles are growing at a rapid pace in these markets, Mr Bhandari pointed out.

''We are also planning to bring in high speed, higher payload vehicles with a 600 watts power and 40 km mileage in March next year. In the third phase, the company plans to launch the bykes in eight more states like UP, Karnataka, Kerala by March next year.

Terming the arrival of YObykes as the 'right product at right time', Mr Bhandari said that these electric vehicles are a revolution in personal mobility not only giving a saving in financial terms to the customers but to the nation as well. India's 90 per cent budget deficit is due to fuel. And electric vehicles can bring down this deficit drastically, he said.

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