Bharat Alt Fuel to venture into electric vehicles, set up unit in Krishnagiri district

Except for a few components like semiconductors which are imported, the electric scooter is over 80% indigenous

Bharat Alt Fuel (BAF) is the latest startup that has chosen the emerging electric vehicle (EV) hub of Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharmapuri (HKD) region for setting up its electric scooter manufacturing facility by investing Rs 250 crore over the next three to five years.

The sprawling factory which will manufacture electric scooters, batteries and motors will come up at an area of 40,000 square meters in Krishnagiri district. The company, which was set up in 2020, plans to sell the first set of vehicles, which will be assembled at the proposed plant, in the next eight months.

BAF, whose electric scooter project will be funded by Dr Vanki Penchalaiah an industrialist who has interests in education to mining, will begin with a capacity to produce 25,000 units a year which will be gradually increased to 1 lakh.

“The vehicle will also come with a fast charging facility that will charge the battery to 100 per cent in 20 minutes – each battery cycle will have a range of 120 to 150 km,” Sorubh Kumar Bharti, Executive Director, BAF, said here on Friday.

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The company recently signed a facilitation Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu government for setting up the factory – the factory will come up on a private land parcel owned by the promoters.

Except for a few components like semiconductors which are imported, the electric scooter is over 80 per cent indigenous and BAF plans to launch the two-wheeler in Chennai, following which it will be seen on the roads of Bengaluru, and Hyderabad. The company also has export plans.

With the prototype being tested in different terrain, the company has priced the scooter, which will be available in three variants, between Rs 89,000 and Rs 1.10 lakh. Bharti said the company chose the HKD region since it offers the ecosystem for the nascent industry.

“Our factory will be an integrated unit that will not just manufacture electric scooters but also the motors and batteries used in them. The company will create direct and indirect job opportunities for 3,000 people. We will also be getting fresh talents from the Audisankara Innovation and Incubation Centre owned by the promoters,” Bharti added.

BAF is the latest company to choose HKD as the base for its EV manufacturing unit. Ola, Ather, TVS Motors, Simple Energy, and Sri Vaaru Motors are investing in the region by building massive facilities to manufacture electric scooters.

Ampere is also rolling up electric two-wheelers from its factory in Ranipet. The Tamil Nadu government is also wooing battery manufacturers to set up their shops in the region.

Bharti said the electric scooter has been designed in such a way that it can handle payload up to 250 kg as two-wheelers are used for personal and business purposes in rural areas. Construction of the plant is expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2022-23 and will be partially operational by 2023.

To a question on whether the company has taken into account the recent incidents of e-scooters catching fire, Bharti said the two-wheelers made by BAF will use good quality ancillary parts as well as the latest lithium phosphate battery (LFP) technology that will be superior in thermal and chemical stability.

“We have signed MoUs with companies from the US and Taiwan that have experience in the field. Our scooters will have high payload capacity, battery swapping or fast charging enabled, more than 25° gradeability and CVT Transmission,” Bharti added.