Reshab AgarwalElectric Vehicles are slowly but steadily taking over the automobile industry. One big problem with an EV is its range because there are no charge stations like petrol pumps all around. Though Electric cars have a range that gets the job done, electric scooters are still struggling. But no more, now a Bengaluru EV startup claims that it has crossed the 250-km barrier on its e-scooter.
How has the startup achieved such a range?
Image Source: DriveSpark
Their aim was to produce/manufacture an e-scooter that was practical like a petrol one, claims the founder of the startup Suhas Rajkumar. The battery management system was the prime focus and design of the body was optimised according to the BMS. Rajkumar said:
“We developed the BMS in-house from scratch and also have filed a patent on it. We then went for designing the chassis and built it according to our battery, and not the other way around. So we used the 4.2kWh, 3.7-volt single-cell battery, developed by Panasonic for Tesla. We installed a cooling system in the battery that gives it a higher efficiency,”
The founder claimed that they achieved a 240 km range on the test model in a range of 35000-40000 km and will be able to get 280 km on the production model.
Mark 2 vs Hero MotoCorp
Image Source: Business Today
Well for starters, the most noticeable difference between the two is the range. The Bengaluru EV startup Mark 2 comes with a range of 280 km/charge while Hero MotoCorp comes with a range of up to a 100km/charge. The charging speed is also noticeable faster on the Mark 2 as compared to Hero Motocorp.
The former takes 40 mins to charge at home fully and 17 minutes in a charging station. While the latter takes more than 4 hours to charge fully. The Mark 2 will be priced lower at 1 lakh as compared to Rs 1.15 lakhs on the Hero MotoCorp.
Let’s hope other e-scooter manufacturers also take advantage of this technology and bring high-mileage e-scooters for consumers.