Rajiv Bajaj spoke about BET (Bajaj, Enfield, TVS) companies as opposed to OATS (Ola, Ather, Tork, SmartE) companies in one of his interviews with the media. In this article, we have gathered the details on these companies in both groups for a quick read and the fierce competition that we are likely to witness in the coming years.
The BET companies are established players with iconic status having built a formidable brand and reputation over the years. They are now having to deal with disruption in the automotive market where vehicles are being increasingly tech loaded.
The BET companies have amassed enormous intellectual property over the last several decades on vehicle engineering. They have enlisted thousands of dealers and service centres across the length and breadth of India and have deep knowledge of the two-wheeler consumer psyche. And most importantly, these companies are cash-rich and hence, investment costs on new research into EVs will not be a major problem. However, we will have to wait and watch if the BET companies can hold in good stead in the new Electric Vehicle (EV) space loaded with technology with equal ease and precision.
OATS, on the other hand, caters to customers who look up to trendy and innovative designs in a product that is unique as well as reliable. OATS are also seen to be aspirational companies bound to come up with interesting products in the future which are sure to attract the Gen-Z crowd.
Scroll down to see the table and the charts of the vehicle comparisons.
Bajaj Chetak
Bajaj Chetak re-entered the market with a bang unveiling the electric avatar of its iconic “Chetak” brand in January 2020. It has its dealers in Pune and Bangalore. Since its launch, the company sold 3330 units in total till the end of July 2021.
The electric scooter promises a range of 95 km per single charge. It reaches a top speed of 70 km per hour, an acceleration of 0-40 km in 4.5 seconds. Its battery is lithium-ion with a capacity of 3 kWh and a voltage of 48V.
Bajaj Chetak is built with a steel monocoque chassis and has a steel body. Its motor is BLDC with a power of 4080 Watts. It has got a ground clearance of 145 mm and a wheelbase of 1230 mm. It also has a reverse option for graceful parking.
The company provides a charger at a cost that can be installed at home or at work. Its ex-showroom price starts at Rs 1 lakh to 1.15 lakh.
Enfield Electric Bike
Eicher Motors, the parent company of Royal Enfield states that they are not planning to rush into the EV segment anytime soon. The Chennai based bike makers also mention that the EV segment is just developing and will take more than a decade to form a proper market.
However, the company is working on the research of their electric version prototype in UK based research and development. The company has strategies to enter the market when the market is ripe with sorted products and ecosystems.
TVS iQube
TVS iQube is also manufactured at Hosur, it has a plant capacity of 1.2 lakh units annually. It was launched in January 2020 in Bangalore and in Feb 2021 in Delhi. It promises a range of 75 km per single charge. iQube reaches a top speed of 78 km per hour, with an acceleration of 0-40 km in 4.25 seconds and 0-60 km in 9.65 seconds. Its lithium-ion batteries have a capacity of 3 kWh.
TVS iQube gets a plastic fibre body and has a metal tubular chassis. It has a hub-mounted BLDC motor with a peak power of 4400 Watts. It has a ground clearance of 150 mm and a wheelbase of 1331mm.
TVS iQube is focusing on home charging solutions initially. They suggest using adapters compatible with iQube that can be used for charging in any public socket but do not advise frequent public charging. The ex-showroom price of TVS iQube varies from ₹90,952 – ₹1.11 lakhs.
Ola S1 Pro
Ola electric scooter entered the market with a big bang even before launching the scooter. Ola has its plant at Hosur near Bangalore, with a capacity of producing 2 million units annually.
According to the latest automotive news sources, the company is preparing to give their models: S1 and S1 pro for a test drive in Jan 2022. But the booking for the vehicle has already started by August 2021.
Outwitting all their competitors, they promise a range of 181 km per single charge on their scooters. The scooters reach a top speed of 115 km per hour, an acceleration of 0-40 km in 3 seconds and 0-60 km in 5 seconds. Ola comes with lithium-ion batteries with a 3.97 Kwh capacity.
The build is based on materials like metal and fibre with a tubular chassis. Its motor is a Mid-drive IPM with a power of 8500W. It has a ground clearance of 165 mm with a wheelbase of 1359mm.
The company promises 5000 charging points across 100 cities in the days to come. Its special features involve digital steering locks, cruise control options and reverse gear for effortless parking. Ola assures service at every location they deliver. One will be able to book a service via their Ola mobile app and a technician will visit the concerned person. The ex-showroom price of Ola starts at Rs.85000 – 1.10 lakh.
Ather 450X
Ather Energy started delivery of Ather 450X in November 2020. This electric scooter has a range of 116 km per charge and reaches a top speed of 80 km. Its acceleration is seen to be 0-40 km at 3.3 seconds and 0-60 km at 6.94 seconds. It gets a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 2.6 kWh.
Ather 450X is built with a predominantly cast aluminium chassis, which is a unique feature in the industry. It consists of a PMS motor with a peak power of 3300 Watts. The ground clearance is 160 mm and the wheelbase is 1278 mm.
The company is said to have an annual production capacity of 1,10,000 units with its plant situated in Hosur, Tamil Nadu. In 2020 they sold a total of 3024 units. The company installed 128 charging points in 18 cities overall.
Ather 450X is a smart connected vehicle, hence the service of the same is connected as well. They have a dedicated service team that offers the service of the electric scooter in the city they deliver. The ex-showroom price of Ather 450X is Rs. 1,44,500. It has a very futuristic design and is bound to get a lot of heads to turn on the street.
Tork T6X
Tork Motors, a Pune based company plans to launch its T6X model Electric Bike in April 2022. The company’s CEO and founder Mr Kapil Shelke made a post on social media revealing a few features of the Tork T6X. The company claims to have done research related work for more than 5 years for the enhancement of the product.
The bike gets a trellis frame chassis and reaches a top speed of 100 km per hour and also gives a range of 100 km per hour on a single charge. Tork T6X gets a BLDC motor with a peak power of 6000 Watts. It gets a state of the art chassis and lithium-ion battery pack. Most of the other details are yet to be revealed by the company.
This electric bike is claimed to reach 80% of its battery charging within 1 hour while it could take another hour for getting fully charged. The ex-showroom price of the vehicle is said to be starting at Rs. 1.20 lakhs.
SmartE
SmartE, a Delhi based start-up had grown from 30 three-wheelers to 1000 electric vehicles within a period of 5 years. SmartE is catering to a different segment of audience than other scooters mentioned here. They focus on increasing the electric three-wheelers for public transportation at low cost and also eCommerce deliveries.
The tabular form of the above details is given below
(Note: zero values of any parameters indicates the actual value has not been released by the OEM)
This article reviews most of the features a user might want to know and more. The one thing that is common in all the above vehicles is that they are smart vehicles that are connected to the network. They also come with TFT displays and mobile applications for clear communication.
A customer who is looking to buy an automobile will have a certain set of requirements for their vehicle based on their lifestyle. There are a vast number of EVs now in the market, from legacy as well as new and smaller companies with varying price ranges, capabilities and features.
This blog was written as an initial read for customers to discover various choices of EV’s available to them amongst the 2 broad categories (BET & OATS) and the various parameters to look for.
In our next blog in the series, we will discuss further the various parameters that determine the safety and efficiency of EV vehicles.
Nesh connectivity solutions for EV manufacturers retrieves and analyzes the battery and vehicle data discussed above to predict the battery’s state of health (SOH) and state of charge (SOC) at a given time. This allows prediction of range and timely notifications to the user for planning a trip in their EV. Additionally, we can also provide alert messages to the user if needed, upon harsh braking, accelerations and over-speeding. Such continuous monitoring of performance helps manufacturers to drive safety and efficiency of their vehicles along with a seamless customer experience.
To learn more about our solutions, please write to sales@nesh.live
Sources used for reference:
https://auto.hindustantimes.com/
https://www.bikewale.com/tork-bikes/
