Electric cars have had the lion’s share of attention during the EV revolution. But in some parts of the world, other modes of personal transportation are dominant. In India, it’s motorbikes, which is why the nascent FIM E-Xplorer World Cup has struck a chord. I talked to Abhishek Reddy Kankanala, the owner of Indian racing team Inde, about what the series means for decarbonizing his country’s transport.
“Despite having about 300 million bikes, India doesn’t have a racing team for bikes,” says Kankanala. “I am on a mission to create more opportunities in India for sport, beyond cricket, volleyball, and badminton. When I noticed that 300 million bikes didn’t have a team of their own to cheer when Moto GP came to India, I thought we need to change the narrative.”
Rather than build a Moto GP team, however, Kankanala wanted to help drive his country forward. “The future is electric,” he says. “Anything else would not have made sense. Out of those 300 million bikes, we’ve got about 2 million that are electric. There’s a long way to go. Creating an electric bike team showcases how you can push the technology to a point where you get longer battery life, better bikes, better frames. We are here to change the perception and show how electric is better.”
Motorbikes take precedence over cars as a focus in India because they are a more significant contributor to pollution. “If you look at the top 100 polluted cities in the world, India is ranking way up there,” says Kankanala. “It’s number one, and that’s something that the government is taking very seriously. We are starting to electrify buses and cars, and the government is giving subsidies for bikes as well. But at this point, it’s mostly scooters and not regular motorcycles. The challenge is to change the perception that it is not just scooters that can be electrified, but motorcycles as well. They also need to be cheaper. India is a very price conscious country. But because petrol is so expensive in India, compared to most countries in the world, it’s already starting to make sense. And a lot of youngsters are making the shift. If you look at the greatest number of electric scooters sold in the world, it’s India at this point.”
It’s not just their low cost that make bikes popular in India. They also hold an important place in India’s transportation culture. “A car is definitely an aspiration for a lot of Indians, but most people still continue to take their bikes to work,” says Kankanala. “It’s also a cultural thing, especially with the younger generation, that they tend to gravitate towards bikes rather than a car. When you have 300 million bikes and mostly in the urban area, changing them should be one of the first steps and the government is evidently being proactive towards that. They’ve realized that if you make that flip for bikes, it’s much more effective because there are so many more bikes than cars.”
This is where E-Xplorer comes in for promoting electrified motorcycles. “The series emphasizes the cool factor of a bike,” says Kankanala. “There’s always this conflict between electric and regular bikes being cooler because you grew up with them. But in India when they see something more valuable, they jump onto it. Cellphones are a good example. It didn’t take a long time for cellphones to take off in India, because the value shift was there. Electric is demonstrating that in this series. It makes it look accessible and cool. They see this as an extension of a motorcycle where you can easily move around, but without the noise. India has a huge biking crowd that likes to explore and calling ourselves E-Xplorers is also resonating with audiences. We have more engagement on our channels than the Formula E car manufacturers and every other bike team out there. We are three months into existence. Our female rider won the first race in Japan and that created more than 200 articles in India and a lot of awareness. Some of our Instagram posts have 350,000 engagements, which is very unusual for anything in the motorcycle world in India, or even car racing.”
The potential for E-Xplorer to reach audiences has not gone unnoticed by motorbike manufacturers, which are becoming interested in how it can help promote their own electrification journey. “When we raced in Osaka a month ago, you could see people from Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki,” says Valentin Guyonnet, CEO and Cofounder of the FIM E-Xplorer World Cup. “After the racing, Yamaha wanted to step in, and Hero MotoCorp from India wanted to join us too. On June 11th, we will have a round table with all the manufacturers, including Ducati, Triumph, KTM group. Together, these manufacturers represent 70% of global production. E-Xplorer is fully open. We have built the tech regulation around things like wheels and wheelbases. But the gearbox, battery and motor – everything’s open even the chassis.” This means manufacturers can use the series to show off their hardware technology.
Similarly, Kankanala sees the series as not just promoting electric bike use in India, but also as a vehicle to promote local manufacturing. “We’re going to hold E-Xplorer’s first race in India at the end of November that will improve awareness,” he says. “We’re also going to be tying up with a lot of local manufacturers for this event, who will not only have a platform to exhibit their products, but also a platform where they can develop technology. We’re trying to make the battery last longer. This provides a reason for a lot of battery manufacturers in India to come on board as well. Currently, we’re not collaborating with any Indian manufacturer, but we’ve got a lot of people talking to us already.”
India represents a huge potential market for electric motorbike sales, but there’s a big opportunity for local industry as well.
