Lord’s Mark Industries has achieved a rare feat of illuminating Indian Navy warship INS Vikramaditya, beating some established names in the lighting arena. The same has entered the electric vehicle segment in India and here’s how it plans to do something significant.
Lord’s Mark Industries Pvt Ltd, a tech-driven manufacturing company that happens to be one of the pioneers in the lighting business now has a presence in the Indian electric vehicle segment as well. The brand says that its several exhibitions visits across the globe introduced it to the innovative aspects of EV technology after which the company constituted an expert team of IITians that made sure the development of a range of EV products along with EV infrastructure. The company’s EV-dedicated startup – Lords Automotive Pvt Ltd manufactures electric scooters under the brand Zoom that are sold through a 300-strong Pan-India dealership network. Express Drives recently got in touch with Sachidanand Upadhyay, Founder, Lord’s Mark Industries Pvt Ltd to know more about the company’s future plans, strategies, and how the brand is looking to tap into the EV segment that has enormous potential right now. Here are the key takeaways from the interview:
Lords Automotive has plans to launch an electric bike in India by December 2021. This will be a high-speed model and in order to resolve the range anxiety issues, the company has developed battery swapping stations that would also be launched by this year-end. The company says that these stations will be GPS enabled that will ensure continuous monitoring of the driver’s movement. If there is a power gap or the battery charge is about to get over, the customer will be immediately notified through an app about the remaining range of his or her vehicle. Upadhyay says that they have created an advanced infrastructure that connects the app with the GPS through their VMS, battery swapping system, and the individual battery of the customer.
The company has also successfully undertaken a trial of this in Indore for a dealer. Lords Automotive will install at least 500 battery swapping stations across India this financial year out of which 200 would be non-GPS based while the remaining 300 would be GPS-based. The company says that it is trying to provide a common solution where an electric bike or electric scooter or electric rickshaw can be charged at the battery swapping station. Moreover, Lords Automotive has also developed an electric vintage car which it plans to launch in January next year.
The same has been patented in the company’s name. Earlier, the patent was with one of the subsidies that will be merged into Lords Automotive in another two months. The said model will have detachable and fixed roof options and the same will be launched in 4, 6, and 8 seater options. The company’s electric vintage car will have a leather dashboard along with bits like alloy wheels and also, a sound system.
Currently, the company has two electric scooters and both are slow-speed models. Both models have been certified by ICAT and Panchkula Municipal Corporation, Bhabha Atomic Research Center and Indian Oil are already using these electric scooters. As a part of its product range expansion plans, the company will be coming up with two high-speed models in the near future. The first one will be a 120 km range EV and the battery on this one would be able to get charged in just 2.5 hours. The said vehicle will be able to reach a top speed of 120 kmph. The other one would be the sports model that will be good enough for an 80 km range with a top speed of 140 kmph. The latter is still under the R&D stage. While the first model will be launched in this financial year, the sports model will be launched by April or May 2022.
