The U.K. will get Zapp’s first electric two-wheeler next month.
One of Zapp Electric Vehicles’ goals is to make its electric two-wheeler name a worldwide EV business. Parhlo World has learnt exclusively that India will be one of the places where it is launched.
The i300, an electric two-wheeler for city riding, will be the company’s first product. It will be released in the UK as early as next month, and then it will go to Thailand. In an interview with Parhlo World, Zapp founder and CEO Swin Chatsuwan said that the company is now expanding to India, which is a huge market that will really test the company’s plan to go global.
The Nasdaq-listed company moved forward with its plans for India after Chatsuwan saw how promising the country was. The country with the most people in the world not only sells millions of two-wheelers every year, but it also makes more than any other country in the world.
This year, Chatsuwan said, “We decided that India can’t wait. When we did our research a few years ago, we thought that India would be phase two for us.”
Bounce Electric 1, an Indian company that makes electric two-wheelers, has been hired by Zapp to make and sell the i300 in India. As soon as the homologation process is done, sales should start in 2025. The British company wants to be able to make at least 5,000 units a year in India. This is part of its larger plan to make 25,000 units around the world by 2026.
Indian bikes sold 17 million units last year, and Chatsuwan told Parhlo World that 2.8 million of them were high-speed vehicles. Three-quarters of those high-speed vehicles were heavy-weight cruiser motorcycles from the Chennai-based brand Royal Enfield. With its step-through model, which was first shown in 2018, Zapp wants to copy Royal Enfield’s success.
“We don’t want to take over the world.” We don’t want to sell 500,000 bikes in India and steal half of Royal Enfield’s market share. We’re not. “BMW, especially their CE 02 and CE 04 step-through electric scooters, are our quality and performance peers,” the official told ParhloWorld.
After Zapp’s i300 comes out in India, the company will be able to sell 25% more of its total targeted market (TAM), which is 60 million units per year. The company said that by adding India to the map, the TAM of its first phase of market debut has hit 30 million people per year.
Chatsuwan said that Zapp will learn more about the “breadth, depth, and quality” of the country’s supply chain by starting a business there early. Over time, this could help India sell more cars on markets around the world.
Zapp’s i300 will cost a lot more than electric two-wheelers made by Ola Electric, TVS Motor, and Ather Energy, which cost between $1,000 and $1,800. The bike’s first sale will be in Europe, where it will cost at least $7,590 before taxes.
Chatsuwan said it wouldn’t be “more than a million rupees, but I doubt it will be lower than 500,000 rupees” for India, but the price hasn’t been set yet.
Soon, The i300 Will Be On Sale
In 2018, Zapp showed off its first two-wheeler, the i300. The car has a load-bearing exoskeleton made of an aerospace-grade alloy and an underbone made of chrome-moly steel. The electric motor is air-cooled and has a high power of 14kW. It also has two portable batteries, each with a 720Wh capacity.
The company began taking pre-orders for the i300 soon after it was shown off, and a reservation fee of 100 euros was charged. It said that deliveries would start in the fourth quarter of 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic, on the other hand, stopped supplies and production.
No matter what, Zapp will begin shipping the i300 to the UK in a few weeks. It also has plans to start selling in Thailand this year through a store in Bangkok.
Zapp Is Going To Be A “Full Motorcycle Company.”
“We’re not just a one-hit wonder.” We want to show the world that we’re a full motorcycle company, but let’s get the first product done first’, Chatsuwan told Parhlo World when asked if Zapp plans to make more products.
The company also hopes to add “loads” of customisation options and extras to the i300. It already has four different versions of the two-wheeler, and customers can choose their own colour and wheel design. They can also add accessories like a fast charger and a secret storage space.
In the second part, Zapp plans to grow its market by entering Spain, Italy, Vietnam, and Indonesia. In the future, the company also wants to grow into countries in the Middle East and South America.
Also Read: Tokyo’s Uber Eats Will Use Cartken’s Sidewalk Robots to Start a Delivery Service
Chatsuwan said, “We want to be the Triumph for the 21st century, along with Royal Enfield and Norton.”
What do you say about this story? Visit Parhlo World For more.
