Kinetic Luna back after 2 decades, in e-avatar

Kinetic on Wednesday relaunched the iconic two-wheeler Luna in an electric avatar, addressing the demand for affordable electric vehicles (EVs), more than two decades after its initial introduction.

e-Luna will be available at an introductory ex-showroom price of Rs 69,990, as announced by Sulajja Firodia Motwani, founder and chief executive officer of Kinetic Green, after Union Road Minister Nitin Gadkari launched the vehicle.

Motwani pointed out that the current top 10 electric two-wheelers in the country are priced between Rs 1.05 lakh and Rs 1.49 lakh, making them a “luxury” that is not “practical and accessible” for most people in India.

She clarified that while Luna was a moped, e-Luna couldn’t be classified as a moped as it does not have pedals.

“It is a multi-utility electric two-wheeler.

"While it is born from its predecessor, it is a result of nostalgia plus innovation,” she said.

e-Luna features a 2 kilowatt hour lithium-ion battery pack that delivers a range of 110 kilometre (km) on a single charge.

Luna, initially launched in 1972, went out of production in 2000.

Currently, about 50,000 mopeds are sold in India per month, with TVS leading the market with its XL100.

However, XL100 is an internal combustion engine-run vehicle available at a starting ex-showroom price of Rs 44,999.

Gadkari said that the launch of e-Luna would be a boon for poor people, those living in slums, working on roads, in hair salons, and as cleaners.

He also commended the quality and sturdiness of the vehicle.

Motwani mentioned that the company has already partnered multiple EV financiers as well as small finance banks to ensure that e-Luna is available to customers at instalments of not more than Rs 2,000 per month.

She said that petrol-run two-wheelers cost an average of Rs 6,000 per month (Rs 3,000 for monthly instalment plus Rs 3,000 for petrol) for a person.

The e-Luna will cost a person less than Rs 2,500 (Rs 2,000 for monthly instalment and Rs 300 electric charging cost).

She noted that 70 per cent of India does not have any electric two-wheelers for their use, as the ones currently available in the market have issues such as low ground clearance, too much plastic and software, and high prices.

Kinetic opened the bookings for the e-Luna on January 26 and has already received about 40,000 leads to book the vehicle.

There is also immense interest from the “business-to-business (B2B) segment”, including e-commerce companies and last-mile mobility players, for the delivery of 50,000 e-Lunas over the next 12 months, she said.

Motwani, however, expects that the customer base from the personal mobility market would be larger than in the B2B segment.

She said that Kinetic currently has 350 dealer showrooms, which will be increased to 500 by September.

In the next two years, the company plans to have 1,000 showrooms.

On top of this, the company plans to open e-Luna shops, small showrooms in towns or rural areas.

The company would also be launching three other variants of the e-Luna, two of which would have different batteries.

One would give a range of about 80 km per charge, while the other one would provide a range of about 150 km per charge.

Kinetic currently has a production capacity of 500,000 units per month, she said, adding that the company plans to sell 100,000 units by March next year.