Demand for EV bike prompts Boom to pause bookings, refund some customers
Tamil Nadu-based Boom Motors said it got 150,000 bookings worth more than Rs 1,500 crore in four months for its EV bike Corbett: demand for the lesser-known brand marking the popularity of electric two-wheelers in India’s smaller cities and towns.
Demand was so high that the company stopped bookings and refunded some customers who are not within its service areas. “We are refunding money to those not within the visibility to deliver. Rather than booking for Rs 499, we are now going for only interest-based booking,” said Anirudh Narayanan, chief executive officer of Boom Motors. The company will make an additional investment of Rs 350 crore under the government’s PLI (production-linked incentive) scheme.
The company started supplies this January and has delivered more than a thousand vehicles to those who have opted for advance bookings. “For us demand is endless, but the shortage of parts like semiconductors has affected the ramping up of our production,” said Narayanan.
The company produces 50 EVs per day and has the capacity for 300 daily. With the PLI scheme in place, the company’s capacity is expected to increase three-fold.
The company unveiled the Boom Corbett on November 11. The bike features a 2.3 kWh batter–it can be doubled to 4.6 kWh—and can run up to 200 km fully charged. The vehicle can hit a top-speed of 75 kmph, with the two-battery option and it can support 200 kg load. The batteries are swappable and they come with a portable charger that can plug into any household socket. The product comes within the price range of Rs 86,999 to Rs 1,19,999, depending on the variant.
“From May onwards we will be coming out with at least 100 vehicles per day. We will be delivering vehicles to a minimum of 50 per cent customers who booked the vehicles,” said Narayanan. Boom has a tie-up with Ki Mobility Solutions, a part of TVS Automobile Solutions, to ensure customers get access to a wide service network across 250-plus towns for service, insurance, roadside assistance, charging stations, and spare parts availability.
“This tie up gives customers a lot of value. They give default roadside assistance and offer a network of service centers, which ensures long-term services for the customer,” he said.
Ki Mobility Solutions, through myTVS, is already associated with 2,500 garages across the country. It is India’s first full-stack online-to-offline digital platform that operates the myTVS brand.
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