DWS Auto India

Lohia Group launched two electric bikes, Oma and Fame, at at the India International Trade Fair in Delhi, on November 14, 2008. The two bikes will be priced at Rs 31,000 (ex-showroom Delhi.)

BSA Motors has launched five models of BSA electric scooters aimed at young people in the age group of between 14 and 30 years. All of which are going to lose a lot of sales, thank you very much, due to the company not having a proper website.

Long, long back this scooter segment was ruled by the Bajaj Chetak, and then there was the pretender LML Vespa. Alas, those days are long over. the original Kinetic Honda automatic 100 cc scooter hammered the first nail into the 150 cc geared scooter segment's coffin, and things have only gone downhill from there for them.

100 cc scooters, some 10 years back, were considered seriously underpowered. You HAD to have 150 cc, and gears too. the Kinetic Honda in 1990 changed all that - and introduced a whole generation to the concept of gearless automatic scooters. Now most scooters sold in India are in the 100 ...

Luminous Power Technologies plans to launch its electric scooter - possibly, the name would be Lectrix - in November 2008. The Luminous Lectrix will be part of a range of e-bikes that Luminous Technologies, part of the SAR group, will manufacture.

Year 2009 will see scooter maker Ultra Motors going in for a major expansion in India. The company, which had parted ways with Hero Electric, will now seek to capture the scooter market in India on its own, The expansion is planned with an eye on this goal.

Hyundai has announced that it plans to build an ultra cheap mini car for India, which would likely be launched by 2011. The proposed small car is expected to positioned against the Tata Nano.

Yet another Indian electric scooter will make its way to the US with the United States Department of Transport according approval for its imports. Bangalore based electric scooter manufacturer EKO Vehicles  will export its new EV 60 to the US.

  Kerala, this Onam season, is expected to see more YObykes on its roads. The manufacturer of the electric two-wheeler brand, Electrotherm, has come out with a special Onam offer in its bid to sell more vehicles in the state.

It seems to be raining e-bikes in India. Or it might soon. A couple of companies are in the race to be on top of the e-bike marketplace and that means a few launches are round the bend.