No More Thump: Royal Enfield Working On Electric Motorcycles

As the age of electric vehicles dawn, major auto makers are finding it extremely hard to not be a part of the transition to cleaner vehicles. As a result, there have been a string of announcements within this year, of OEMs working on electric iterations of their offerings. Joining the list now is none other than renowned two-wheeler manufacturer Royal Enfield.

RE¡¯s stance on electric vehicles was recently confirmed by the company¡¯s CEO Vinod Dasari in an interview with ET. The confirmation came as a part of the company¡¯s agenda for its near future, as Dasari confirmed that the company was still matching its earlier capital expenditure despite the slowdown. He mentioned that the majority of the Capex will be going into ¡°capability building, new products, electric and other stuff.¡±

Now even though this does confirm that RE is working to come up with something electric in its portfolio soon, that was that for the confirmation. How or when, is unknown as yet.

(Representative Image: Reuters)

The Royal Enfield CEO did, however, in another interview, confirm that the work on electric products is being carried out in the company's UK Technology Centre. He even mentioned that an existing RE motorcycle has already been retrofitted with an electric powertrain and that Dasari has ¡°driven it¡± himself.

RE has not publicly hinted at any of its motorcycles undergoing electrification as of now. A seen model that is most likely to feature an electric drivetrain, if ever, is the bobber-styled Concept KX motorcycle which RE showcased at EICMA 2018 show in Milan, Italy. Although the company introduced it as just a design study at the time, we won¡¯t be surprised if it makes its way to the international markets with either an IC engine or an electric drivetrain in the coming years.

For now, what we know for sure is that RE is planning on moving astray from what it has known since so long, building sturdy combustion engine motorcycles. As and when it finally leaps to an electric one is yet to be seen. It is happening though and the prospect is enough to excite many!