Royal Enfield has been expanding its product line in recent years to include motorcycles that increasingly meet the needs of customers, and the manufacturer also has plans to launch several new motorcycles this year. Does an electric motorcycle form part of these plans? Well, a recent press conference revealed new details about the launch of the first Royal Enfield electric motorcycle.
The main revelation of this conference was that the manufacturer is making efforts to create a completely separate commercial team to manage the electric vehicle department of Royal Enfield. The team has also taken several steps in this direction. Umesh Krishnappa, who was previously the Chief Technology Officer at Ola Electric, has joined to lead this team. Mario Alvisi, formerly at Ducati, has joined the team as Executive Director of Development. Royal Enfield has been working on building its expertise in the EV space for some time now. In 2022, the manufacturer’s parent company, Eicher Motors, made a 50 million euro investment in Stark Future, the Spanish manufacturer of electric off-road motorcycles.
Advancing quickly to November 2023, Royal Enfield unveiled its first electric motorcycle prototype, the Royal Enfield Himalayan Electric at EICMA 2023. The manufacturer then said that the motorcycle is basically a ‘test bench’ for its future electric projects and offerings. As to whether the electric ADV will be the manufacturer’s first electric offering, we highly doubt it. If someone wants to buy an ADV, most of the time they will want to use it for tours and off-road adventures, which mainly require range. This is something that our current battery technology and charging infrastructure will not be able to provide adequately.
That’s why we think Royal Enfield’s first electric motorcycle will be something similar to a retro roadster intended mainly for use in the city and for occasional highway trips. We also think that a prototype of the final production version could be presented at EICMA 2024. Royal Enfield confirmed at the press conference that the launch will not take place in this fiscal year. We think this could happen sometime in late 2025 or early 2026.
Source: https://www.bikedekho.com
