E-biking - The story so far

Hi All,

Writing here for the first time, after lot of persuasion from friends (other bloggers).

I recently purchased my first vehicle (after lot of online research), that too an e-bike (Yo Speed 750W, misty grey) for Rs. 36,850/- (about $ 877.20) inclusive of all accesories. It has a top speed of about 45kms/hr and runs for about 70kms in one full charge. More detail about the bike can be found here:
Yo Speed.

This bike is being manufactured by Indus Elec-trans, a division of Electrotherm (ET), an Ahmedabad based company.

The vehicle purchase was a cake-walk for me, since the store people did all of my paper works. I really liked the warmth and customer care that they showed. (Telling you this, since during my research, I called up another store that keeps products of a very famous company that assembles imported e-vehicle. AND that person was bit rude to talk too, not to mention the vehicle costs more and has less overall performance statistics)

Yo Speed comes with 1 year or 12000kms comprehensive warranty, 5 years of road-tax exemption and with 3 free-servicing! Not to mention the Juice blending-machine that the company gave as a complimentary gift. (Being excited about the whole process, I called up my friend to inform him about my purchase, and he suggested I start a Juice-center with the blender. How enterprising!)

Riding the bike gives a sense of Green-freedom and self-satisfaction, since it contributes neither air nor sound pollution. The only sound that it generates is of the motor that is attached to the rear-wheel, and believe me guys, that sound is simply BEAUTIFUL! I feel it as MUSIC to the EARS. Its good for city drive and the acceleration is better than 4-stroke petrol bikes (I happen to overtake 2-3 bikes). Ride is smooth and its more of a glider in the road (with proper road of course!).

My main purpose for the purchase (apart from going green) was to commute the 24 kms (to and fro) journey that I take everyday to my office and back home! AND Bangalore being notorious for its traffic woes; it takes me an hour and half to reach office (12 kms) in public transport.

I celebrated my purchase with colleagues by distributing Éclairs. (In India, it’s common to distribute sweets in any auspicious occasion!) Few good friends did the test drive while others have shown their willingness to purchase an e-vehicle.

Life has been a rollacosta ride ever since, and my bike is in trip to the service center already (after 2 days of purchase)! The reason being the front wheel. Apparently, the front wheel is not keeping air within itself and its releasing it in the atmosphere! ;) That's what the mechanic told me, when I went to fill the tires with the "FREE-air" available in one of the many fuel depots in Bangalore. He charged me Rs. 30/- for that that information! Thank you!!! Still he fills up the air and I somehow manage to reach my office.

I called up the vehicle store to inform about the issue, and they being so keen on the customer-support front, sends a person to fetch the vehicle from my office. I am waiting for it to come back from the service center.

Meanwhile, two major problems that I faced with the vehicle are:

a) Charging problem: Since the vehicle comes with non-detachable batteries (4 in number, 2 sets), it is difficult to charge (since I stay in a rented house at the 3rd floor). I have made arrangement with the owner, who also had the pleasure to test-drive it ;)

b) Lower ground distance: One set of the battery is placed under the foot mat, which reduces the ground distance of the vehicle at that part, hence I hit the speed-breaker (speed-dump) while carrying a pillion rider.

There are many other e-bikes to choose from, and India is fast becoming a very lucrative e-vehicle market.

Most of the vehicle that I came across while doing the research has a top speed of about 25kms/hr and can cost from Rs. 10,000 to 30,000 ($ 238 - 714).

I choose Yo Speed 750W since it has the maximum mileage and good top-speed in the higher range of e-bikes presently available in India. The basic 3-pin plug point is required for charging.

I hope that Yo Speed would have come with detachable batteries, as it is available in few entry level e-bike.

Meanwhile if you are interested in knowing more about e-vehicles in India, go through this link:
EVFuture

"With Green power comes green responsibility"

By Jeshal