- Jeetender Sharma, founder & managing director of Okinawa said that this move makes Okinawa the first electric two-wheeler maker to have own assembly line for motors and controls, the two key components in an EV after the battery
- He said with own motors and controls, its localisation will be near 100 per cent as already its local sourcing is over 92 per cent
Okinawa Autotech is setting up a plant to manufacture motors and controls for its scooters at its upcoming 5-lakh units per annum plant at Alwar in Rajasthan which is scheduled for commissioning late next month or early June. Jeetender Sharma, founder & managing director of Okinawa said that this move makes Okinawa the first electric two-wheeler maker to have own assembly line for motors and controls, the two key components in an EV after the battery, which it is already manufacturing at its Bhiwadi plant. It has sold over 75,000 e-scooters so far since launch in 2015, and has a portfolio of six models.
Sharma said that the company is setting up a motor and control manufacturing unit at the upcoming facility in Alwar at an investment of around Rs 70 crore. This will make it the first and the only EV two-wheeler manufacturer to have own motor and control unit in the country. He said with own motors and controls, its localisation will be near 100 per cent as already its local sourcing is over 92 per cent.
200-crore new plant in Alwar will have an annual capacity of 5 lakh units
He said the Rs 200-crore new plant in Alwar will have an annual capacity of 5 lakh units when fully built, and the first phase, ready for opening by late May or early June, can roll out around 3 lakh units. Sharma said the current plant at Bhiwadi can roll out 90,000 units a year in two shifts, but is running only one shift now, he said, adding in the year to March, they’ve sold 32,000 scooters, up from 31,000 units in FY20.
He also said that in two years, they will have at least two bikes, and the first bike will be rolled out by the end of this financial year as Oki 100. Sharma is expecting to sell at least 1 lakh units this fiscal, for which he is also nearly doubling the dealership count to 500 by adding 200 more, most of which will be small towns.
