Royal Enfield Electric Bike 2025 Launch On Track

Royal Enfield has been working on its electric bike platform for quite some time, and now, Siddhartha Lal, MD, has confirmed that there is no delay and that the company is working on developing a few different EVs with the first one projected to hit the market in 2025. 

He said that Royal Enfield is focusing on developing EVs that will deliver an authentic motorcycle experience. One of those EVs under development is past the prototype stage, and the engineers have already reportedly ridden the bike. That said, Lal mentioned that the company will take their time to develop and test it properly before launching it in 2025. Royal Enfield has set up a separate dedicated team for EV development, and the manufacturer also made an investment in Spanish e-bike maker Stark Future last year and the inputs from that partnership will make its way to Royal Enfield’s EVs. 

Siddhartha Lal also said that the biggest challenge they are facing in developing EVs is finding the perfect balance between range, weight and cost because a big range will require more batteries which in turn will drive up the cost of the e-motorcycle. The manufacturer is also focusing on localization in terms of sourcing parts like cells and batteries and as such, have partnered with 11-12 vendors so far. If required, they will also look into importing parts. They are also exploring the option of distributing the e-motorcycles through dedicated Royal Enfield EV dealerships. 

Since Royal Enfields are known for their iconic ‘thump’ in the bike’s exhaust notes, Siddhartha Lal said they won’t do anything like adding a speaker to recreate that experience and want to focus on creating an authentic EV experience with their e-motorcycles. He also commented on the future of ICE bikes and said they are likely to continue on for decades before the stricter regulations kick in.

Royal Enfield’s electric bike development comes at a time when subsidies are slowly being phased out. Even the recent FAME 2 subsidy revision came into effect at very short notice. So it would be safe to assume that by 2025, subsidies might not be substantial even if they existed. With this in mind, the average price of all electric bikes and electric scooters might go up. Consequently, expect the upcoming Royal Enfield electric bike to be priced at around Rs 2.5 lakh (ex-showroom). 

In related news, Royal Enfield is also working on developing tubeless tyre-compatible spoked wheels. Their biggest challenge has been finding vendors for the requisite parts. They will most likely debut with the 2nd generation Himalayan 450 in a couple of years.

Source