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The electric shift hits two wheels
Financial Express Chennai
|May 31, 2025
India's first EV was the electric moped Komal, launched in 1981, but it was far ahead of its time, and was soon discontinued
WITH SUZUKI planning to launch the e-Access in June, and Yamaha readying an electric scooter, every legacy two-wheeler player will have an electric scooter this year.
India's journey from petrol to power, however, isn't new; it goes back to 1981, when Electromobiles India—a Mysuru-based company (then Mysore)—launched the Komal, an electric moped, but it was ahead of its time, and the company shut shop soon after.
Fast-forward to 2018, the country got its first electric scooters when Ather Energy launched the 340 and the 450.
Around the same time, companies such as Hero Electric and Okinawa Autotech started selling electric scooters made from Chinese kits, and many Chinese players entered India (Benling, Dao EVTech, Sunra), but Covid-19 shut their operations.
This story is from the May 31, 2025 edition of Financial Express Chennai.
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