Sohinder Gill is the CEO of Hero Electric and a Director of the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV). Mr Gill believes electricity is the fuel of the future, and the only viable alternative to combustion engines. Bike India caught up with him at the Expo.

BI: How do you see the market for electric scooters evolving?
SG: Five years ago, this segment did not exist. Now, there are 100,000 electric two-wheelers on Indian roads. We can expect the market to double in the next couple of years.


BI: Electric bikes have a limited range, take a long time to charge and are slow as well. How is Hero Electric looking to overcome these challenges?
SG: See, we have already developed quick charge stations which can replenish up to 80 % of the charge in less than 1 hour. As these charging stations become more widespread, the acceptability of use of electric bikes will go up. Batteries have a limitation of weight, so we have to find a compromise – a bigger battery will give you more range, but at what cost? So we evaluate the optimum compromise. We can make the bikes faster with a more powerful motor as well, but then again we will be limiting range.


BI: You have a displayed a scooter with a Li-ion battery, which is much lighter and has a greater charge density…
SG: Yes, but that scooter costs Rs 75,000. How many takers would be there at that price? The cost of making a Li-ion battery isn’t all that much more than a regular acid battery; the high price has more to do with the higher research and development costs which battery companies are trying to recover, but we’ll probably see as much as a 40 % reduction in battery prices in the next 5 years.


BI: Cynics say that electric vehicles aren’t the answer because the costs of generating electricity and the environmental impact of generation are still high.
SG: See, it’s all relative. Primary generation of electricity still costs money, and it also does have an environmental impact, but the fact remains that that cost and environmental impact is still only one-fifth of what the most efficient internal combustion engine can manage. Also remember that the electricity generation takes place far away from city centres, and also that electric vehicles don’t spew emissions in dense urban areas, so the health concerns are also met with electric scooters. So, relatively speaking, electric vehicles are a far better solution.


BI: What about hydrogen as a source of energy?
SG: See, there are packaging and safety concerns with hydrogen. Also, the cost of generating it is still enormous. I don’t see hydrogen technology being viable in the next decade. Then there is the inherent disadvantage of transporting it because it is volatile under high pressure. Electricity is the answer, because the electric infrastructure is already in place, and transmission efficiency of electricity is 99%.