It looks like Royal Enfield is geared up for electrification a lot better than you’d assume. A few months ago, we told you about the company’s plan to set up a new factory exclusively for its future electric motorcycles. And now, Siddhartha Lal (Managing Director of RE) has revealed just how serious the brand is about EVs. More importantly, the top honcho revealed a timeline for the first Royal Enfield electric, which is surprisingly near in the future.
The First Electric Royal Enfield Will Arrive By 2025
Yes, you read that right. Revealed in an interview, Lal confirmed Royal Enfield’s plan to launch its first electric motorcycle in 2025. This means the testing would begin in a couple of months, and we all know what would come next—loads of spy shots. Once launched, the company plans to produce a specific capacity of 150,000 EVs from its existing plant, followed by an increased figure after the new factory is ready.
Elaborating on the matter, Lal said “EV is very much at core of Eicher Motors and Royal Enfield. Unless something dramatically changes, it will be within the Royal Enfield and Eicher Motors fold.” Now, we know this means there’s no dedicated EV initiative by RE (like Harley-Davidson and LiveWire). But the company has a special 100-engineer team just for its electric future, headed by CTO Umesh Krishnappa. A sizable percentage of RE’s $1.2 billion investment budget has been set aside, too.
Royal Enfield Is Working On Two Electric Motorcycle Platforms
Coming to the e-motorcycles, the Indian giant reportedly has two EV platforms in the works. The first is an entirely in-house platform (codenamed L1A) being built inside the closed doors of RE’s Vallam Vadagal plant. It’s expected to birth three motorcycles, suitable for Indian as well as international markets (U.S. included).
The second, meanwhile, is more interesting. It’ll be a product of RE’s partnership with Spain-based EV maker Stark Future. The former has 10.35 percent equity in the latter, which allows them to pool resources for future collaborations, i.e. motorcycles. Expect this to be more of a premium product with more than commuter-spec performance.
Commenting on the motorcycles, Lal said, “We are working super hard on it. We are riding our prototypes; we still have time. We don’t want to give half-baked stuff in the market, our idea is to be totally disruptive. It is not about taking some competition head on, we are working on a completely different paradigm on EVs. It takes time to put together something really fantastic”.
Some of you might think 2025 is too far away, and you’d be happy to know Royal Enfield has you covered with an assortment of new ICE bikes. The liquid-cooled Himalayan 450 is the most hotly anticipated offering, while the Classic 650 middleweight cruiser and a 350cc bobber are making headlines too. Meanwhile, a new Bullet is right around the corner, debuting in under three weeks.