Toutche Electric seeks to invest $15Mn to ramp up e-bike production

Toutche Electric, a manufacturer of electric bikes in India, has recently unveiled plans to invest approximately $15 million in the coming 2-3 years for speeding up the manufacturing of its electric bikes.

In an interview, Raghu Kerakatty, CEO and Co-Founder of Toutche Electric, said that the firm would be using this planned investment to develop a new manufacturing facility, expanded design, product development, and engineering and technology teams. The firm is currently in talks with investors in India and the UK.

He added that the organization has used its capital investments wisely into technology platform development, product development, and inventory. Its two co-founders have made most of the capital investment, coupled with some added investments from their local network.

The organization commenced its operations in 2015 and manufactures electric bicycles. It has an R&D department operates from Bengaluru and a manufacturing plant in Mysore.

Mr. Kerakatty remarked that the firm is planning to update its facility to increase production by up to 2,000 units per month, taking the manufacturing capacity to 25,000 units a year. Furthermore, it is planning to scale up to 40,000 units by next year. The manufacturing capacity Toutche is attempting reach goes beyond 1.5 lakh units a year.

He also commented on the schemes offered by the government like Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicle (FAME) 1 & 2, claiming that it might not be helpful in the long run. Subsidies are a good option, but it is a general policy. It aids people to purchase EVs, but it is something the government should not do in the next ten years as only taxpayers money will go into subsidies.

Mr. Kerakatty anticipates that based on the leap in India's EV adoption, by 2025, approximately 40-50 per cent of vehicles sold in the country will be EVs.

Source Credit - https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/power/toutche-electric-plans-to-invest-15-million-over-3-years-ceo/85582652