Bajaj and TVS already have an EV on sale, andHero and Suzuki have made it public knowledge that their EVs are due to arrive within the next year or so.Now, Yamaha has also opened up aboutit developing an EV for India.
- New Yamaha EV being developed for India and other markets
- Development is underway at the company headquarters in Japan
- Yamaha India waiting for a stable EV policy before considering a launch
Yamaha EV for India under development
Speaking with Ravinder Singh, senior vice president – sales and marketing, Yamaha Motor India Sales Pvt Ltd, we have discovered that Yamaha is already developing an EV for India, as well as international markets.
Yamaha has a deal in place for the Taiwanese market with local EV leader GoGoro. Under this deal, Yamaha will sell its own, redesigned EVs that are based on the GoGoro platform. However, the funky looking EC-05 electric scooter that is born of this platform is not what we will get in India. That’s partly down to the fact that GoGoro has recently signed an agreement with Hero MotoCorp for battery swapping infrastructure, as well as the creation of new electric scooters based on the GoGoro platform.
Instead, there is a brand-new platform under development in the company’s headquarters in Japan, and this platform will be used in India as well as overseas. It has become quite common for Yamaha to offer unique designs for our market and that could be the case with this EV as well. However, it doesn’t appear that this product will be here any time soon.
Yamaha EV India launch only after stable government policy
While there is no clarity how far along the development process of this new EV is, Singh tells us that Yamaha will only launch it here after there is more clarity on a stable EV policy from the government. We are looking for a stable government roadmap for EVs, especially about infrastructure. With EVs, more than the product, the facilities are also very important. The government is clearly very serious, as can be seen from the revised FAME II policy and we are closely reviewing which way the government is making the policy. Once this is settled and we get more clarity, we will make our plans to introduce our EV accordingly. We have the technology, but we are looking at the right time for when to enter.”
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